Suddenly, it is nearly time to leave! With Xmas and New Year and helping our youngest daughter move to Paris for four months for her degree programme, it has come around suddenly. We are now awash in packing for the trip. The weather will mainly be warm but there are cool/cold portions so we have to take winter clothes too. We are also packing a "shop" suitcase full of extra supplies that we will/may need along the way like toiletries, medicines, wine, gin, :), sun products. It will avoid having to use the expensive ship's shop or waste time ashore searching these things out. Checking the weather/sea forecast for the rest of the week, it doesn't look too bad for the crucial few days acros Biscay and until we reach balmier waters in Madeira - so fingers crossed.