The sea was like a mill pond when we woke. I thought we must've been hardly moving but when I checked the TV channel we were doing 30.6 knots (as fast as we can go). We went and sat outside the library to watch outside, waiting for breakfast, and we can see land quite clearly.

We packed, had a lovely lunch and said goodbye to the staff we'd made friends with - Tim and Donna, our waiters (they only have 4 tables to look after), and Myriam and Andrew, the Assistant Restaurant Managers. Tim is Scottish, Donna from Yorkshire, Myriam Irish and Andrew sounds a bit French.

We arrived in Southampton at about 2pm, disembarked ab about 3pm and rang the car rental people. The man came and collected us in our hire car (a Mondeo 1.6) so we dropped him back and then drove 2.5 hours to Wrotham and found our accommodation - a lovely little cabin in a clearing in the woods at Butt's Hill Farm on Labour-in-Vain Road. Our cottage has 3 bedrooms (we got a free upgrade) and is enchanting. There was a miniature Australian flag, and a bottle of wine to welcome us. About 50 feet away is a little box that houses an international phone - so we rang Sophie and Charlotte.