Allthegobro

Halifax is our next stop in Nova Scotia, it is the largest city on this part of the east coast and one of the largest natural harbours in the world. It is also a gateway to the countryside and rugged coastline pock marked by small coastal villages.

Between 1924 and 1978 nearly a million immigrants to Canada came through this port. It is also the city from which rescue operations for Titanic survivors was coordinated.

Our arrival in port was accompanied by a thick fog that slowly lifted revealing Georges Island close alongside. Later in the day after the fog had cleared and the sun was retreating a totally different view of the Island was had.

We spent time ashore in the morning looking around the waterfront and seeking out a lobster roll for lunch. We found one too!
In the afternoon we had arranged a shore tour down to Peggy’s Cove at the end of St Margarets Bay. This is the home of the much photographed lighthouse and fishing village.

We passed by some wonderful countryside and coastline around the bay. It was a bit of a bun fight at the Cove with a few buses arriving and hoards of tourists scrambling on the rocks and lounging around the lighthouse. Have to be here at sun up to get a people less pic!

The village and harbour is definitely photogenic and we had some great weather for it.

We returned to Halifax but along the way pulled into the Fairview Lawn Cemetery to have a look at the graves of 120 or so victims of the Titanic sinking in 1912. The graves are arranged in three rows in the form of the bow of a ship, pointing out into the Atlantic to where the ship had sunk.

The grave area and headstones had been arranged by the White Star Line, the Titanic’s owners. The headstones were very minimalist. Simply showing a name, a number and the date. The number was allocated when a body was recovered, the name came later after identification. Not always easy for the second class and steerage class passengers.

Some bodies were repatriated back to their families, if they could afford the cost. Other families embellished the headstones, or replaced them with more elaborate ones.

The job of identification was not always easy and there are a number of graves without names. Our guide was a little emotional when he recounted some of the stories lying at and under our feet.

Back on board the ship just in time for departure. We have a day at sea before arriving in the Big Apple.

We are in Sydney on Cape Breton Island, part of the Provence of Nova Scotia. Slobro was rather confused having woken up thinking we would soon be back in Brisbane. He was soon put right.

We had decided against a shore tour here, instead a wander around the town, some people watching and a local lunch somewhere.

The town is well organised for tourists. There is great array of craft and souvenir places right on the dock when you get off. As we later found out you can’t get back on the ship unless you walk through them. Trap to extract that last dollar, Allthego succumbed and got some local cheddar cheese to take back on board for pre dinner snacks.

Nova Scotia was initially a colony of France, part of ‘Arcadia’ or New France, in the 1600s and first half of the 1700s. Following the American War of Independence, British loyalists settled here and ultimately the French were evicted after the previously mentioned wars with the English. Sydney was founded in 1785 and a wave of Scottish immigrants followed. Nova Scotia is Latin for ‘New Scotland’. Apparently there is a big Gaelic speaking population here and there are Scottish shops and memorabilia all around the town.

Sydney was a big coal and steel town for much of the 20th century. Steel is now gone but some coal is still mined and exported away. Because of its proximity to Europe, it is the most easterly point of Canada, the large harbour was used as a staging point for convoys to the UK during Botha WWI and WWII.

Our walk took us up and around some of the prewar housing areas and then down the Main Street. Avoided the museums. Some great murals along the way particularly near the theatre, a repurposed church complex.

The main game in walking around was to find a place for lunch, it was Sunday so a few of the options were closed .

There were a number of French cafes in this closed category, so we ultimately settled for Daniels. It had a Scottish ambience with local craft beers and burgers, wraps etc. Not a bad choice and Allthego was able to secure another glass for the collection back home.

After lunch it was a slow stroll back along the waterfront to the ship, ran the gauntlet of shops with the afore mentioned cheese the only acquisition. Slobro was a little persistent wanting to be photographed with a lobster, settled for an old lobster trap.

Back on board we sailed away down the harbour with great views of the town.

Our next port of call is Halifax, the main city on Nova Scotia. The blog is running a little behind real time. We are now sailing down towards the Caribbean, two sea days out of New York with another two sea days before reaching the Panama Canal. Should be up to date by then!

Saguenay is a night’s sail back down the St Lawrence River and up to the end of the Saguenay Fjord, a left turn off the river to the north west. The fjord is Quebec’s largest and the most southerly fjord in the northern hemisphere. It is 105km long and 270m deep in some places.

Saguenay is not a place as such but more the name for a region of districts. We dock at La Baie near the confluence of the Saguenay River and the Fjord. This is a small port town, the main commercial area is around Chicoutimi further up the river.

We had a short shore excursion taking us around La Baie and then to Chicoutimi. Along the way we stopped at a Mohair goat farm, this operation did things the traditional way.

Homealone examined the wool offerings and left with a skein to make something with, not sure what. Allthego found a pair of super socks to keep the feet warm on wintery van trips back home.

Back on the road we made for the ‘painted house’ of the famous local painter Arthur Villeneuve. This guy used his house as his canvas, apparently a great frustration for his wife. He had a strange style, depicting history, local geography and his life’s activity on the walls of the family home. He wasn’t trained and depicted things in blocks ‘standing’ out from the walls. The house is a maze of frescos in vibrant colours. The house had been relocated to the interior of one of the old paper pulp mills, now a museum. Couldn’t take photos, but the one here is a copy of a postcard.

The other thing the area is known for is the Little White House which survived a devastating 1996 river flood. The house managed to avoid being washed over the falls and sits precariously on the edge. It is the town’s symbol of survival and hope!

Rio Tinto is the town’s major employer at an aluminium smelter. Bauxite feedstock for the smelter comes from various parts of the world, including Rio’s mines in Australia. It is a prominent sight coming into the port after the sail down the magnificent fjord, greenies I suspect think it is a blight on the environment. Probably is!

Saguenay has a very French flavour as we found out after the tour when lunchtime arrived. The east coast of Canada is well known for its seafood. Particularly lobsters, crabs and scallops.

Allthego and Homealone have decided to give these ago in the ports before New York. So we give a seafood burger a go at Pavilion Noir. The waitress struggled with our English, seemed to prefer French. The burgers were great. A combo of crab and scallops in a creamy sauce, with some salad and French fries. A big tick for this place!

Sydney on Cape Breton Island is the next stop, Slobro is very confused thinks we are almost home!

We arrived in Quebec City in good time, the weather not so good on arrival but the skies cleared as the day played out. We are in port until 10pm. We had an all day excursion around the old town and then went further afield into the countryside arriving back in plenty of time to go back for an evening in the streets.

Our guide, looked to be 70ish, was the usual mine of information delivered with a strong gravelly French accent and accompanying nonchalant shoulder shrug as if his English didn’t quite do the job! Not the greatest of guides we have had, thought we were mostly Americans too with a couple of Kiwis thrown in.

He gave us a bit of history about the old town before we had some time to look around. The French established Quebec City in 1608 and hung onto it for the next 155 years when it was ceded in 1763 to England, at the end of the wars mentioned in the last post. Still a very French place though, 95% of the locals speak French in the home as a first language, 3% English and 2% other lingos.

The old town area, the Place Royale, is still surrounded by the city walls and parapets overlooking the St Lawrence River. The old town was originally wooden buildings within a wooden fort, but after a number of fires and wooden rebuilds over the years wood gave way to stone around the 1670s. The whole fortified area is known as La Citadelle.

There is a great view from the top across and down the St Lawrence River, ‘spoilt’ today by a thick haze. We have a look inside the foyer of the famous landmark hotel Le Chateau Frontenac. Nice spot to stay!

Back on the bus it was a drive by the ‘Plains of Abraham’, the now grassy parklands where the Battle of Quebec was fought, for a photo stop. This whole area is surrounded by cannon after canon lining the roadway. Tucked away on the side is a statue of Joan of Arc in a beautiful garden setting.

It was then out of town and into the countryside for a look at the rural activities in the region. Mostly grain and vegetable crops. Beside us in the port is a huge complex of silos, not a great look. Quebec acts as a major export terminal for the large grain production areas in central Canada and the top end of the USA.

After the rural romp we stopped in at the Roman Catholic Basílica Sainte-Anne-de Beaupre. This was something else I might say. In our travels up in Iceland/Greenland we had got used to Lutheran austerity. Well, this was at the other extreme. What an ornate structure. A couple of pictures say it all.

After the Bascilica the nearby falls were the next stop. These are 30m or so higher than Niagara and there was a huge amount of water coming over them from all the recent rain.

It was then back to the city and some early evening time in the old town. We had a short stop for a light refreshment in a bar and a look see in some of the numerous art galleries and souvenir shops. It was all very reminiscent of Paris.

We thought Quebec was one of those spots you could easily return to again and have more time to explore.
Around 8 pm the smell of rain was in the air and a light drizzle started on the walk back to the ship. A bit of lightning flashed around as we made it back in time.

There was no serious rain though and we watched a spectacular fireworks display as the ship sailed away back down the St Lawrence River for the next stop at Saguenay.

According to schedule we arrived at Corner Brook on New Foundland. We had come into the Gulf down the wide channel separating Newfoundland from Labrador, on the mainland. Over the next few days the cruise course takes us further down the Gulf and into the St. Lawrence River to Quebec. We then retrace our path back out into the Atlantic and head south west to New York stopping at a few places along the way.

Allthego and Homealone don’t know much about this part of the world and have never been here before. Slobro has no idea. It will be a learning experience. So it is quite appropriate for our tour in Corner Brook to be on a local school bus. This style of vehicle is all over North America.

One of the first things we learn is that Newfoundland and Labrador only became part of Canada in 1949 and there was a contingent of Newfoundlanders at Gallipoli in WW1. A referendum was held offering two options, stay independent or join Canada. 51% went with Canada. An earlier referendum had the USA as another option, none got a majority.

Our tour took us to the Capt. Cook memorial lookout, great views down on the town. Corner Brook has a strong connection with Captain Cook, he was based around here during the late 1750s and first half of the 1760s. This was the time of the squabble between the English and the French about the control of what is now eastern Canada.

The English controlled the seaboard areas from Labrador south to the American colonies and the French the interior region, the present day Provence of Quebec. Without dwelling on this much more the English finally kicked the French out at the Battle of Quebec. Cook was involved in a lot of map drawing of the St Lawrence River, so accurate that they are basically still in use today. The French were always peeved about the loss of New France and it is one of the reasons why they backed the American colonies against the English, with money and men, in the War of Independence some ten years later.

From the lookout the pulp and paper mill is shown to dominate the town’s landscape. It has been here just on a hundred years and is the major employer. For much of its time it was an ecological disaster, a toxic plume extended out into the harbour. Salmon stopped coming and entering the Humber River to spawn. Today, it is a model of ecological success, the plume has gone and the salmon are back.

We are then back to town passing by the Heritage Pole, ski fields and the Man in the Mountain (he is watching out for raiders of pirate gold supposed to be buried on the island in the river below). Slobro struggles to see the image!

In town we have a wander around the streets and enjoy lunch at a micro brewery. Allthego was starting to look a little scrappy hair wise so dropped into a local barber for a 3 blade trim up.

This was looking scary as the barber, a young lady of modest size, with bright orange hair and wall to wall tats did the job. Allthego checked the top of his head for any engravings, none. So all ok, and should make it back to Brisbane before needing another trim.

Next is a day at sea before reaching Quebec.

‘Cack-gore-dork’ is the way you say the name of our last stop on the southern tip of Greenland. It was a relatively short stop as we were a bit sluggish in getting up and ashore in the water shuttle.

We had a guided town walk organised for 11.30am and had half an hour before for a quick look around the souvenir shop. Really liked the little fluffy stuffed seals made from genuine seal skin and hair, but at around $A50 we passed and found a less genuine fluffy stuffed polar bear for the cabinet instead.

Our guide for the day was an interesting local young lady who lead us around the town, there was a moderate amount of up and down hills road walking for an hour and half. We had a few pauses along the way to hear about life in this part of the world, a chat about society rather than landmarks.

As we learnt she was nearly 18 and eagerly awaiting getting her driver’s license. I am not quite sure why as there are no roads out of Qaqortoq. Most families have small motor boats to get to other places along the coastline. Or, use the helicopter which we saw coming and going several times.

Qaqortoq is Greenland’s fourth largest town, about 3,000 people. Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, although mostly self governing, with a population of only 65,000.
We hear about the role of the small town square as a social gathering area, the education system, the health system, water reticulation and sewerage. She tells us that by the time kids finish primary school at age 16 they will normally be speaking three languages. Greenlandic being the Inuit native tongue in the home, Danish in school (most of their teachers come over from Denmark) and they learn English in class. She can speak French as well, having spent two years in France on some sort of ‘gap’ period after primary school before high school, which is three years. She doesn’t seem to have completed that yet, not compulsory.

She does like seal and whale meat. Smoked whale meat is served with onions and potatoes. A soup of boiled seal meat, rice and onions is the National dish. A bit foreign to us I suppose but they traditionally live from the fruits of the sea, there are not many ‘fruits’ on the land here, except for farmed sheep and reindeer.

The last stop on the walk is at the town’s ‘murals’, carvings in the rocks around town. The ones we see celebrate whales, seals and fish. Slobro is excited in trying to wrangle a stone polar bear with a head lock, unsuccessful.

After the tour we poked our noses into the souvenir shop and picked up some nick nacks, including a pack of Greenlandic salt laced with some local herbs. Looks ok! It was then back to the ship on the water shuttle for some R & R before the sail away.

We left the harbour headed for Canada, Newfoundland is the first stop. It was to be our last sighting of icebergs . Sun blazing over a deep blue sea. Things would be warming up soon!

We had a full day in Nanortalik, Greenland’s most southerly town, and went ashore on a water shuttle. No guided tour, just a wander around by ourselves. More substantial bergie bits were floating around offshore the town.

The town is spread out a bit from the small wharf where the shuttles dock. Not a lot of tourist infrastructure around, apart from an open air museum. The buildings appear to be old houses that have been repurposed to house memorabilia. Although the building in which the seal processing techniques from the old days are explained, along with the traditional equipment, appears to be the spot where it all happened.

Problem is that most of the signage is in Danish, so a little hard to work out what it all is and does.

The old Lutheran church dominates the town’s streetscape. An impressive interior.
The houses are fairly basic but very colourful and make for interesting photos against the surrounding ground vegetation, rocks and skyline. Buttercups are out and blooming. The face in the rock looks skywards.

The fish market is also interesting for its offerings of fish and seal meat. The later is a bit off putting, sort of a twisted pile of seemingly bloodied raw stuff! Blubber I suppose. Homealone didn’t want to stay long here and the fish guy wanted $US1 to take a photo!

We headed off to check out the supermarket to see what the locals could get. Everything here is brought in by ship, no local production. Some interesting prices.

Small avocados $A3.50 and a 500g pack of cornflakes $A12.30. T shirts in the lone souvenir shop circa $A50. The local incomes on average don’t match that back in Aus!
Down on the waterfront a kayak is offered for rent, 1 hour $A91. Slobro had been interested, but his pocket money had run out!

We had a plate of Greenland nachos for a late lunch snack at Cafe 43, before catching a shuttle back to the ship.

The weather for our day in Nanortalik had been excellent and as we sailed off the sun was glistening on the bergie bits. It had been cool, around 5/6 C, so beanie weather!

It was an interesting day looking around the town and observing a culture and environment very different to our own.

The Captain was making a quick run to our next stop at Qaqortoq, about 100 km away, hoping to make it before dark, about 11pm. So avoiding navigating among the growing number of larger icebergs and possibly fog during the dark.

We have had a little surprise on our way to Greenland. The Captain has decided to divert our course and we are going to enter Prins Christianssund at the tip of Greenland.

Coming into the channel we see our first bergie bits and growlers. This 100 km channel is awe inspiring.

The channel was an ancient glacier cutting sheer walls in a valley that has now been submerged. Higher up the walls are the U shaped valleys of long gone tributary glaciers.

We pass by a number of present day glaciers that feed off the Greenland Ice Sheet that covers most of the country.

The weather is overcast, mist and cloud floating around creates an eerie atmosphere. Bergie bits and growlers float around in the channel.

There is one small village on the edge of the channel, seemingly in the middle of nowhere.

Three kayakers paddle by!
The channel narrows considerably and finally joins fjords and the ship twists and turns through these making its way to the open sea.

Our first stop in Greenland is to be the small village of Nanortalik, on an island of the same name. About 1300 people live there. It has taken all day to navigate along the channel and fjords and we will reach Nanortalik in the morning.

During the two days at sea on the way to Iceland the weather has greatly improved and we have blue skies and a brightly shining sun. Akureyri, on the north coast is the first of two stops in the Land of Fire and Ice, or Ice and Fire, depending on what you read! The sail here has taken us, during the early hours of the morning, briefly over the Arctic Circle. Slobro looked overboard but couldn’t see it, unlike when we crossed the equator and there was a bump he said. It is not getting dark in these parts until around midnight and the light comes at about 3.30am.
Akureyri sits at the end of the 37 mile long Eyjafjorour, Icelands longest fjord. We have a full day ashore here on a tour out into the countryside.

The town itself is quite small and the town highlights section of the drive is quite short, there is a colourful central shopping area and the impressive double towered church overlooking the harbour area.

The drive out into the countryside is awe inspiring, we were blessed with the one day in ten average ‘sun out’ day in summer and it got up to 19C. Green fields and rolling hills rise steeply from the fjord. The green keeps going when we get up onto the largely treeless long ago glaciated plateau.

Our first stop is at Godafoss Waterfall, the ‘Waterfall of the Gods’. So named because, according to Icelandic sagas, the then king after converting to Christianity through his statues of the Norse gods into the waterfall. Pretty impressive landscape!
I may need correction, but Iceland only has a 10% permanent ice cover, there is plenty of snow though in winter. Greenland on the other hand has an 80% cover. This gives rise to the suggestion that Iceland should be called Greenland and Greenland should be called Iceland.

Next stop is to view Lake Myvatin, situated in the centre of a geologically active area and at the heart of a major lava flow several thousand years ago. We have several stops in these parts to look at different aspects of the volcanic activity. A walk around the lava field among remnant eroded rock formations, quite eerie in places. Then on to a ‘small’ crater field, the circular depressions caused by ‘pops’ in the lava flow now covered with grasses. Great views of the lake from here.

Iceland is nicely located over the point where the North American and European tectonic plates are grinding against each other. As a consequence earthquakes and volcanic are not uncommon. Hence land of ‘Fire and Ice’. On the way to our next stop at a hot springs sight we pass by an exposed fissure in the rocks showing where the two tectonic plates are pushing up against each other, at a rate of 2cm a year according to the guide.

The hot springs sit at the base of a tree ridge line where they bubble and hiss away, strong sulphur odours waft around the site.

The drive back to the ship takes us the same way we came. Few alternative routes in the country. Overnight we cruised around the island to the southern side and docked at Reykjavik at 12 noon, but didn’t leave till 11pm. We decided here on a city tour around the town. Stopped for a photo of the old house where Reagan and Gorbachev met to end the Cold War and the on to the skyline dominating Lutheran Church. Apart from the organ, the inside was quite austere and in line with Lutheran traditions.

Then onto an open air museum where traditional Icelandic buildings have been moved for preservation in the face of the city’s expansion. It is the site of an historic farm area, with original turf river structures still in place. Interesting stop. The Icelandic horses very friendly!

After a short time back on the ship we took the shuttle back into town for a wander and some dinner. There are quite a few tourists about due to three cruise ships bring in port.

Souvenir shops selling the usual array of stuff, trolls are an ever present temptation for the shelf back home. Resisted. One particular restaurant was a great temptation for those wanting a traditional tasting plate of Icelandic tit bits.

Homealone was not particularly keen, the menu shows how to use what is available. Contrasts with back home where we have crocodile, camel, kangaroo, goanna etc ! So we settle for the dependable old fish n chips, with a local Viking ale.

Allthego was able to negotiate with the waitress to acquire a Viking ale glass to join the others in the cupboard back home.

After dinner and farewells to those Nordic heroes, Eric the Red and Leif Eriksson , it was back to the ship around 8pm to settle in for the night. We are off now for two sea days bound for Greenland.

We have had a day at sea after leaving Dover and are now docked at Invergorden, about forty minutes from Inverness by the local train. Invergorden is an old port town and used to be a base for the Royal Navy’s fleet until the mid 1950s, the old oil tanks sit in a line on the hill above the town. North Sea oil came to the rescue for the town as well as cruise ship tourism. Inverness, the Scottish Highlands and Loch Ness are just down the road from the port.

We decided to stay in Invergorden rather than going further afield. Slobro was a bit disappointed that he wouldn’t see Nessie and jealous that we had seen the loch creature when we last here. No need to see it twice. Slobro had to accept a cool Highland Cow encounter instead.

We again had a nice sunny day to wander around the town for a few hours looking at the murals recounting the past. Allthego and Homealone like murals. The only thing though is that they tend to dwell on the past glories of places. Is it ‘old times’ for ‘old memories’. Maybe it would be good to have futuristic murals as well?

The local museum also had the usual array of things from the past. The local distillery’s former drum major uniform was rather good.

Back on board the ship we sailed away down the port past some oil rigs and out into the North Sea headed for the Shetlands and the port of Lerwick. Some good views of the town and highlands as we left.

Overnight the weather turned rather foul, no rain but fog and some strong winds. Arrived off Lerwick but the ship was unable to get into the harbour, we were going to use shuttles to get to shore. Too dangerous, so unfortunately the Shetlands had to be abandoned and we departed for a day at sea and set off for Iceland.

We have been on the Shetlands before so it wasn’t a big blow, some onboard though were very disappointed but accepting of the decision. We have now started stage 3 of the journey, from Dover to New York.

The course to Iceland was to take us around the east of the Shetland and then north west over the top of the Faroe Islands out into the deep North Sea.

Dover is referred to as the ‘Lock & Key’ of England. The town is the gateway to the Continent and is strategically located to guard the English Channel from invasion efforts by others. Historically, the French and Spanish. It was also the place from which the English Kings launched their numerous forays on the Continent. Dover Castle was built here by Henry II in the 1180s.

After coming around Lands End we had made our way up the English coast and came into Dover Port with the sun at our backs gleaming on the White Cliffs. Some small sailing vessels were out early in the Channel. Ferries were making their way in and out of the port.

Many of our fellow travellers were making the trip to London for the day. We had decided to stay in Dover and tackle the White Cliffs walk out to the South Foreland Lighthouse. This disused 19th century icon sits gazing out across the Channel, popular spot with picnic tables, cafe in the lighthouse and National Trust outlet. There is a good view of the lighthouse coming into port.

After getting off the ship we made our way into town by the shuttle bus service and then by taxi up the hill to the start of the walk. It is about a 10 km return walk to the lighthouse, the guide sheet says 50 minutes there and back.

The track is moderately flat in some places but does cross undulating country with a couple of stepped steepish sections. There is an old track much closer to the cliff line which we first started on, Homealone found this a bit uncomfortable so we reverted to the main pathway.

The track passes over former pasture areas which have been rehabilitated by the National Trust. The grassland now supports a great display of wildflowers, some weeds no doubt in the mix as well.

We also get great views of the cliff line. The French and Belgium coastlines are though a smudge on the horizon.

We had some sandwiches for lunch at the lighthouse cafe and put our feet up at a picnic table before starting back. The 50 minute walk took us a bit over 3 hours, counting the lunch stop of course!

We headed back down to the town via the Dame Vera Lynn pathway, glad we didn’t walk up it! Many readers will have heard of her WWII patriotic song, The White Cliffs of Dover. It’s about Blue Birds returning to and flying over the White Cliffs, symbolising the return of peace after the end of the war.

Allthego finds it a pleasant tune, but didn’t know it was written by two Americans who had never been to Dover! The writers also blundered by using Blue Birds which don’t inhabit England. Barn Swallows do and they have some blue on their wings. But Barn Swallows just doesn’t have the same ring to it! The National Trust also make a bit from it with their Blue Bird coffee mugs and tote bags, we couldn’t find any CDs of the good Dame’s rendition. Just have to get it on Utube.

Finally made it back to town after a stroll along the waterfront. Had some fish n chips for an early tea at the Elephant & Hind, overlooking Market Square, before taxing back to the ship.

Dover is the end of the second leg of the cruise and we know head north up the Channel.

But it hasn’t always been that way here in Cobh, the port for Cork. We have come to the end of our jig around the Irish Sea at Cobh in Ireland.

For much of the nineteenth century the Irish were under oppressive colonial rule by the English. Forty thousand Irish convicts left Ireland through the port here at Cobh bound for the penal colonies in Australia. During the potato famine and its long aftermath several million Irish left for the US and Australia as free but very impoverished migrants.

Today things seem much happier in Cobh, although our guide on our side trip into the west Cork countryside is pretty intense about the English!

The side trip took us down the green coastal countryside to Bantry Bay and then in a loop back to Cobh.

We passed through a number of picture perfect villages with names that sort of roll around in your mouth and refuse to come out.

It is not all beer and skittles though in these parts. The guide’s story telling reveals that these parts are suffering issues in common with other parts of the world: Rural depopulation, inflation, interest rate rises, lack of workers in hospitality, housing prices and so on. Sounded like the Courier Mail!

Of the several spots we stopped at along the way the highlight was the last, I suppose that is why it was last! Gougane Barra was an absolutely beautiful locale.

Here below the Shehy Mountains is the source of the River Lee that later flows through central Cork and then into the harbour at Cobh.

One can see why St Finn Barre chose this as the spot for a monastery in the seventh century. The group had a late lunch in the Gougane Barra hotel. A sixth generation establishment, would be great spot to stay a few days. Lunch was all cooked up using local or nearby sourced produce, including the Stag stout! Simply great and we had to get their little cook book, ‘Cooking with Katy’ for future reference.

Back in Cobh the town was celebrating Australia Day, apparently an annual event. But Allthego was a bit suspicious that it may be a marketing ploy and ‘Australia ‘ Day happens whenever a ship is in with a lot of Aussies! Anyway flags were out and a band was playing Waltzing Matilda, though we didn’t hear Bound for Botany Bay!

We now leave these parts and have a sea day ahead as Lands End is passed and the White Cliffs of Dover beckon. Got to get out the Dame Vera Lynn song book!

Greenoch, the port for Glasgow, is near the mouth of the River Clyde estuary. Greenoch is an old port town and during the 1800/1900s was a hive of shipping activity acting as the import/export hub for the industrial city of Glasgow. Today it is a lot quieter.

We have been to Glasgow city in the past and so have decided to head out into the nearby coastal Highlands and the sea lochs that are scattered along the coast.

The first stop was at Loch Lomond, in the small village of Luss. It was early, just before 9am and none of the handful of shops were open. The Loch is Scotland’s largest fresh water loch by surface area. The overcast sky made for a sombre atmosphere as we raised the Scottish flag at the water’s edge.

Our enthusiastic kilt wearing guide is a German chap, an honorary Scotsman having migrated to the UK thirty years ago. He leads us on a short walk around the village and waterside trails.

Luss would make a good base for a few days to explore this part of the Highlands!

We then headed off into the Highlands on the way to Inveraray, situated on a sea loch down the other side. We stopped along the way for a view down the glen we had travelled up and the tarn that was nestled beneath a mountain on the way towards Inveraray.

We stopped in Inveraray for a look around the town and to have lunch together in a small restaurant up a lane way.

The town was quite compact and clearly geared to the tourist. A big old hotel looks out over the loch, nice spot to stay for a couple of days!

It was then on for a tour of Inveraray Castle, the local digs of the 13th Duke of Argyle. He is also the top dog of Clan Campbell and is the keeper of the clan quaich. Together with his wife and three kids they live from time to time in a private section of the castle.

The public rooms are all decked out with period furniture and numerous paintings of the line of dukes and others. The armoury room quite impressive with its display of weapons. The Campbells were a very politically important clan in Scotland. They were careful to be on the right side of any conflicts and were handsomely rewarded with land and titles by kings for their input!

There was time to wander around the Castle’s gardens before heading back to Greenoch. We returned a different way along the coast and around a series of headlands and sea lochs, great views. Caught a ferry across the Clyde to reach the ship at the dock.

There is now a day at sea ahead of us as we work our way back down the Irish Sea to Cork in Ireland.

Overnight we have moved up to Belfast. The day is little dreary, a bit of light drizzle. As the day moved on it cleared a little for the sun to come through at times. As down in Holyhead it is much cooler up here in Belfast 13 C, and almost winter like. A cool breeze too, how different to back in the Mediterranean!

We have a short tour planned for today that visits the Game of Thrones studio housed in former linen mills at Banbridge. Many of the outdoor scenes in the TV series were shot around Belfast and the surrounding countryside.

But first we have a spin around the city taking in some of the main sights. We had been to Belfast back in 2007, quite a few changes in the intervening years. Including a big new Titanic Centre and the old hotel we stayed in back then has changed its name from Days Inn to Holiday Inn. Still looked the same!

Allthego is a bit of a Game of Thrones tragic, one has to look through some of the more violent and unsavoury scenes. The studios were an eye opener to modern TV production.

The tour takes you through major scenes and themes of the TV series, interspersed with costumes and props. One of these themes is ‘Winter is Coming’.

The Night King who is Master of the Living Dead has a mission to bring ‘winter’ from the deep cold north to the south. The south spend most of the series fighting themselves and only at the end seek some sort of common unity to defeat the Living Dead, the White Walkers. Enough of GOT!

We returned the ship and then returned to the city centre for a late lunch and wander. Found the old pub The Crown, but it was packed so headed next door to Robinsons another old establishment that had been recommended for a feed. Weren’t disappointed with the Fish n Chips and Irish stew.

The weather closed in again and we had some light rain on the way back to the ship.

Next stop is at Greenock, mouth of the River Clyde, Glasgow’s port.

Having left Lisbon we made good pace up the Portuguese and Spanish coasts on two sea days before making landfall at Holyhead on the Welsh coast. The Bay of Biscay was a mill pond, belying it’s reputation for a stormy crossing.

Holyhead is a true old port town, being the ferry transport hub to Ireland. Looks a bit drab. Dublin lies almost directly opposite across the sea.

It is here we start the jig around the Irish Sea. Over the next seven days we are dropping into Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Ireland and then back around Lands End to Dover in England.

But first it is Wales. We have been around this part of the UK before exploring the Welsh coast and the Snowdonia Mountains. However, back then we avoided seeing any of Edward 1 string of castles he had built following his conquest of Wales in the 13th century. We had already had our fill of castles elsewhere!

Conwy (‘Conway’) Castle was the tour choice. Holyhead is on the large island of Anglesey, separated from the Welsh mainland by the Menai Straits. Anglesey is mostly an agricultural area, sheep, cattle and grains.

We stopped for an early lunch on the island at Beaumaris and to also see Edward 1 incomplete, but well preserved moated castle beside the Menai Strait. Had some local pies here, as always rather good with a nice crunchy pastry.

The Menai Strait is a challenging crossing by water due to different tide times at either end creating strong eddies and whirlpools. Our bus crosses over it on a suspension bridge built in 1826 by Thomas Telford, the famous inventive engineer of the times.

It was then onto Conwy for the tour through the castle that is perched on a ridge line right beside the Conwy River. Great spot for a defensive position. We were late getting there because of a big traffic snarl on the motorway. Sheep were loose on the roadway and some had got into a tunnel causing the problem.

The Conwy Castle is also linked to the walls that encircle the town. Edward as part of the Welsh colonisation planted an English settlement beside the castle. They needed the wall to keep the Welsh out, who weren’t impressed by the invasion.

Allthego climbed up the stairs to the top of the Castle walls, great views of the castle construction and the town. Homealone stayed below to look after Slobro who didn’t like the look of the steps up.

We were then back on the bus for the return to ship, the sheep had been cleared from the road and tunnel, and to move on overnight to Belfast.