Cobh Beautiful, beautiful Cobh. We were woken by the sounds of docking. Having a cabin so far forward we are always disturbed by the noise of the hawsers and thrusters and whatever else is used to tie us up. If the anchor is dropped the racket is even more deafening and the cabin vibrates as the huge chain scrapes through the opening in the ship's side. Each link is about a metre in length. I can't imagine what the weight of the whole chain plus anchor mus...

Delicious Dublin. I was so excited to be visiting Ireland at last, even if for such a short time. I don't know why we never came when we lived in London. There was a shuttle to take us into the city. Usual price - $7 each way. As it turned out we could have shared a taxi for less but you don't know these things until you've done them and it's too late. Never mind. We were dropped off just around the corner from Nassau Street. From there we took our favouri...

Greenock, Scotland. I was happy to be back in Scotland, the land of my forefathers. I definitely feel an affinity with the land. Must be a trace of race memory or something. Greenock is the nearest port to Glasgow, dreary old Glasgow. We waited until all the tourists with their numbers stuck obediently to their chests had left in their buses and then went ashore. It was easy to find a taxi on the dock and after a stop for some cash, the four of us were on ...

Beautiful Bergen What a pretty and quaint city! Once the largest city and capital of Norway, Bergen is set on the side of a mountain and makes its way in an orderly fashion down to the sea. It has an interesting past and in the oldest part, many of the ancient wooden buildings were built out over the water, confirming its history as a base for the herring industry. We caught the shuttle into the city and were dropped off near the large park in the centre. A ...

Rough seas. Having left Dover yesterday we headed east towards Holland to our next destination of Amsterdam. As soon as we rounded the south eastern 'heel' of Kent the seas grew rough and the wind increased in speed. We were tossed about in all directions like a dog's toy in play. The stabilisers were out but they are only effective in a lateral motion, not when the ship is being pushed up and down from forward to aft. It was as though we were a shipload of ...