Janet came with us to the Peak District, so called because of the very undulating land with rocky peaks quarries and mines. It was the May long weekend, one of the first weekends leading into summer, weather was lovely and warm and people were seen in shorts, but proper Englishmen were still well dressed in coat and tie when picking up their morning papers. We had a very nice B&B located in a small village called Oakamoor for the two nights. Interestingly the...

On the Great Union Canal travelling on a narrow boat with Ray & Esme Lloyd of Balmain. A "narrow boat" not a "long boat" as a long boat is what the Viking used to invade Britain with. We arrived at Berkemsted by train, picked up some wine at Waitrose (a smart supermarket) which was located on the canal bank metres from where the boat was waiting for us. It was great to catch up with some friends from Birchgrove! We moved off quite quickly ...

St Petersburg our last port adjoined a new motorway bridge similar to the Anzac Bridge and ahydrofoil base where they were refurbishing the 40 year old hydrofoils and putting them back in the water for the tourist season. The refurbished boats do not fly the hammer and sickle flag, now just the red, blue and white striped flag of Russia. Our city tour included many palaces, St Isaac's Cathedral , the Peter and Paul Fortress and the Singer building. This is now a ...

Our cabin on the Nicholai Cherneshevsky, is located on the entry/reception level which is very handy to everything but quite private as the walkway outside the window is hardly ever used. The cabin is very small but fine with a fridge and good shower. The boat carries about 300 passengers and is very pleasant with two restaurants, two bars, conference rooms, and lounge areas. At first we used the bars and had drinks served at meals however we soon discovered that...

We spent three nights in Moscow on board our boat taking tours each day and one night tour. Our friends from Newcastle, England, Helen & Don travelled with us. Moscow traffic is very slow they used to have a great road system before private cars were allowed. Red Square (named from the Russian word beautiful), a cobbled square basically for military parades lies between the Kremlin outer wall and the Gum a large department store similar in ways to the QVB but...