Our mini cruise, day two

We woke up to coffee being delivered to our cabin and we watched the ship go up the Tyne to its mooring in Newcastle. We had a hearty breakfast and got ready to disembark and get the courtesy bus into town.

The bus dropped us by the police station and we made our way down to the river where there was a Sunday market being set up.

Along the river Tyne

We had a lovely walk along the river looking at the various stalls... selling things from home made jewellery, some amazing glass mosaics to food products, like home made cakes, bread, jams and chutneys,  We didnt have too much time as we had to get back to the boat by 12 noon.  We walked along the river to the Millenium bridge and then made our way back to the bus.  By this time the sun had finally started to come out.

The Millenium Bridge in the background

The Millenium Bridge

The Tyne Bridge

We arrived back at the ship about 12 noon... managed to get a quick photo of the boat before boarding... our room was about 4th from the right.  Another shot of the boat is below.  It was hard to get good photo so close up to the ship!

Quest for Adventure

Quest for Adventure

Back on the ship we went to the Verandah "self service" restaurant for lunch where we both had steak and Newcastle ale pie which was absolutely delicious.  Everything we ate on board was fantastic.  Paul served up desert - so we had 2 large portions of plum sponge cake with custard - yum!

After eating all of that we needed to walk some of it off so we went out on deck and watched the ship sail out of the Tyne on its way to the North Sea.

DFDS Ferry to Ijmuiden

Thompson Cruise Ship

It became very noisy as we passed these two ships as our ship acknowleged them with several loud blasts on the ship's horn and they reciprocated!  Great fun!  As we continued down the river we came across the RNLA having and open day and the lifeboat was performing various manoeuvres - mainly going round in circles which was very impressive!

RNLI lifeboat

As we got closer to the North Sea, we said good bye to the pilot to more "hoots" on the ship's horn.  It was becoming more and more windy so after walking around on deck for a while we decided to head inside to a relaxing read in the library.

The pilot leaving our ship, next stop North Sea

I took a couple more pictures outside before we were blown off deck!!

The swimming pool from above

Deck above the pool

 So after reading and relaxing for a while in the library we decided to go and chill in our cabin before getting ready for cocktails before dinner.  I had a pina colada complete with fruit and umbrella and Paul had a BBC which was a Baileys Irish cream, creme de bananes and pina colada mix again with fruit and brollie... he said he felt like Del boy!

Dinner was another fabulous 5 course feast with fantastic service as always. There were always interesting people to chat to over dinner.  I was concerned about sitting with different people each evening at meal times but everyone we met was so friendly.

Our mini cruise, day one

We recently had the opportunity to try out cruising to see how we liked it.  We had an offer which we could not refuse for a 2 night cruise from Leith, Edinburgh down to Dover, calling in at Newcastle on the way.  The train fare from Dover to Edinburgh was included in the price.

So early, 5.45 am, on Saturday morning Paul and I left home to get the 6.09 train from Sandling up to Ashford, then transferred to Ashford International to take the High Speed train to St Pancras.  Then a quick cross over to Kings Cross to wait for the 08.30 train to Edinburgh.  I was so excited I thought I would burst!

The roof at Kings Cross station

Kings Cross has changed a lot since I was last here when I went to see my sister who was studying at college in Hull.... some 30 years ago!  It has a beautiful new roof which constantly changes colour... really lovely.

The journey from Kings Cross began fairly sedately and remained so until we arrived in Peterborough, when the carriage filled up with some "air scouts" and 6 ladies off to see Madonna.  After several bottles of wine the ladies became louder and louder and so it was a relief to arrive at our destination.  I thought it would be the scouts that would disturb us... how wrong could I have been?

Four and three quarter hours later we arrived at Edinburgh Waverley station to be met by the cruise organisers and directed on to a coach which took us with other fellow passengers to the cruise terminal where our bags were taken from us.  The next time we would see them would be in our cabin on board. 

We had to go through the normal security checks and we were through to start boarding our ship.  There was a photographer waiting to take our photo before we embarked.  Once on board we were given our security passes and our passports were taken from us.  We were then shown to our cabin.

Our cabin

This photo was taken after we had settled in!  It was much smarter before we arrived!  The cabin and beds were very comfortable and in the bathroom there were lots of lovely smellies!

By this time, mid afternoon, were were feeling quite hungry as our lunch, some sandwiches, were eaten hours ago on the train so we went in search of food which we found in the self service restaurant.  As usual the food was delicious but we were careful not to eat too much so we could enjoy the afternoon tea which would follow in an hour or so!!    After tea we had the life boat drill, and on return to our cabin we had a while to relax before changing and getting ready for dinner.

Royal Yacht Britannia

Interestingly our ship was moored across the way from the the royal yacht Britannia, but there was no time to visit, so a photograph would have to do!  Still, we were on our own "yacht" and it was time for a cocktail before dinner.  We met some really nice people at dinner and ended up doing a short quiz with them after dinner in the bar.  We were runners up!

The ship was due to sail from Leith at 22.00 hrs and so after dinner we went on deck to watch the tugs help us on our way and into the lock to leave the harbour.

Took a picture of Paul on deck before we watched the ship go through the lock.

It started to rain as we were leaving Leith and after our early start that morning, we were quite tired and so we decided to call it a day and retire to our cabin.

Jubilee Tuesday, June 5th 2012

We decided to have a drive out to Canterbury and walk through the gardens.  We were lucky with the weather as the forecast was for rain, but it held off until the afternoon.

The West Gate

The Sheriff of Canterbury's Building

Punting

The West Gate, Canterbury

Bulkhead by Rick Kirby outside the Marlowe Theatre

Jubilee Weekend June 2nd, 2012

The weekend started with a visit to the Folkestone Air Show.  The weather was a little disappointing but we loaded up the bike with our chairs and picnic and left.  I was a little anxious as it was my first time on the bike for over a year but it was OK.  As we arrived in Folkestone the weather started to perk up.  We found a spot along side a hedge to shelter us from the wind and waited for Neill and Catherine to join us.

Paul bagging our picnic space!

Some more photos below of the day......

Paul, Catherine and Neill

The Red Arrows

The Red Arrows

The Sea Fury

Our Trip to Assen

Breakfast at the B & B Villetta was delicious starting off with a lovely fresh fruit salad, followed by fresh bread bought from the bakers that morning.  After paying the bill and packing our bags it was time to set off.

Paul and Steve loading the bikes.

..and the other guys staying at the Villetta

Our Trip to Assen

We left home about 6.30am to get to Dover in time for our ferry to Calais. It was a lovely sunny day and so I felt wearing my "summer jacket" would be OK.  I was feeling quite nervous as I didn't know how I would be on the bike with my dodgey hips!  Painkillers taken all I could do was wait and see.  We got to Dover in good time and boarded virtually as soon as we got there.  There were lots of other bikes of course on the ferry.  We arrived in Calais in about an hour and 10 minutes which was a pleasant surprise!

We headed off up the road through France, Belgium and suddenly found ourselves in Holland - Paul noticed the car registration numbers were Dutch!!  We were travelling through some lovely countryside.  We stopped off at the only bar in this village where the people were not so friendly and had a couple of diet cokes in the only shade we could find and moved on.  I was so pleased I had my thinner jacket on!!

We came across and fruit and vegetable shop en route which looked quite attractive.  It had some pigmy goats in the garden so we pulled over for a look!  We bought a very large punnet of strawberries and a bottle of homemade apple juice.  The shop was very popular with people coming and going constantly in cars and on bicycles.  I cannot get over how many people ride bikes over here but with the excellent cycle paths everywhere I should not be surprised!!

Paul sampling the strawberries surrounded by some of the many bicycles there! and me below with my lovely cool summer jacket!

Some of the flowers on display outside the shop.  If only we had room to take some home!

Paul had planned a route across the islands on Zeeland to get to our B & B in Zonnemaire.  We crossed all these bridges linking the islands.  There was the choppy North Sea on our left and the peaceful waters to our right.  There were marinas and beaches here, all looking very inviting in the heat.  We stopped for a snack lunch and another drink at Vrouwenpolder.

After a refreshing break here (it was quite windy!!) we continued our journey to Zonnemaire and the Bed and Breakfast. We arrived there at the Villetta about 4pm and were met by our host who spoke fluent English and took us in, introduced us to his wife who showed us the facilities and took us to our room. The rooms were all decorated in specific colours. Ours was red!

We got changed and settled down in the garden outside our room waiting for our friend Steve who was riding from St Helens to meet up with us. 

                            

  

He arrived about 6.30pm and we made our way into the village to get something to eat.  We found a really nice bar/restaurant with some very friendly people there.... Paul made a new friend, called Peter, who helped us translate the menu etc etc.  We all had mussels  which were absolutely delicious!  Shortly after we arrived another 4 English guys arrived for dinner.  They were also coincidentally staying at the Villetta.

Mucking around

Was messing around in the garden trying to get together a "Country Living" kind of shot...

Not too good but I will keep on trying!!

Scotney Castle

Took ourselves off to Scotney Castle to take our minds off Pumpkin.  It was one of the hottest days of the year so far.

This is the main house now open to the public.  The last owner died in 2006.

This is the view from the top of the hill.  It certainly is a beautiful place, especially on such a sunny day.

The old castle.... beautifully reflected in the lake.

This white wysteria is a sight to behold. The scent was absolutely delicious.  A magnificent specimen.

A Canada goose and its young.

The courtyard

The wysteria through the archway