Doc Strines Explores

Quiet early morning drive to Manchester Airport for the 9.15 flight to Cork. Short flight to Cork. Bus transfer stops outside the terminal. Decided to take the bus to Kinsale. About 35 minutes to Kinsale for €4.50. TFI app was useful for purchasing tickets and viewing the timetable. Kinsale is a small coastal town renowned…

Overslept! Awoke 9.45 and hastily got ready as was meeting friends at La Vista at 10.30 to go to MuMa in Le Havre, which fortunately does not open until 11. MuMa lived up to expectations. Although the ground floor was closed, the upstairs gallery hosted a fabulous exhibition of paintings. After a hot chocolate in…

Slept so well! Quick dash to grab a smoothie and pastry for breakfast from the buffet on deck 16, the deck above me. Then disembarked at 8.20 to join the excursion to Bruges. Bombarded with information from the moment the coach driver started the engine. Half an hour later and enlightened on the import and…

This morning there is a particular song by The Beautiful South I can’t get out of my head! After a leisurely breakfast disembarked to join the coach for this morning’s excursion to Kinderdijk, an UNESCO world heritage site. As with all excursions the outward journey is full of information. About an hour out of Rotterdam…

The morning started with a lovely breakfast at the Pearl Restaurant Today was a fund raiser on the Promenade Deck in which I participated. 5 laps of the deck for Teenage Cancer Trust. After a warming drink time for the Iona vocalists. Today after the breathing exercises we tackled Supercalifragilistic. The weather was fantastic so…

An early start, so grabbed some pastries from the buffet before disembarking for the excursion to Medieval Lüneburg. The coach was waiting by the gangway and all had boarded by 8.30. A grey but mild morning, apparently rather good weather for this time of year. An hour later, filled with information about the Hanseatic league…

As we travel across the North Sea to Hamburg today is a sea day. The day started with breakfast at the Pearl restaurant. Couldn’t resist the salmon! Sea days can be very busy. The morning started with a very popular line dancing class. To recover, up to the Crow’s Nest bar at the front of…

Embarkation Day A day of food and drinks!!! After an excellent night’s sleep I started day2 with a super breakfast at The Carnarvan Arms, salmon royale. An hour later I was at the quayside in Southampton to drop off the car and luggage. As I my embarkation time was not until 2 I wandered into…