BOARDING

Busy old day in port, 5 large cruise liners, 15000 people or so not including crew. Roads were really congested into port, cabbie was really fed up. Congestion also getting on board, took an hour to drop our cases & pass through security. Otherwise all good, had a snack & drink in the buffet, cabin is really nice, 2 big rooms right at the front of ship, view over the bow & to the side. Just trying to sort out dinner, Italian tonight. Just to cap it all Lil's nil, Arsenal one. Norris also good.

SOUTHAMPTON

Good run down to Southampton, lovely Uber to Waterloo, carriage to ourselves on the train - left home 11:15, in hotel 3pm. Cases are a bit weighty, packed for one months journeys in unknown weather!  Good dinner in Slug & Lettuce, espresso martinis two4one for afters. Then off to the theatre to see Aladdin. Now lying knackered in bed - hoorah

ON OUR WAY

Travelling again, just back from Pompey, & now off to Southampton to board our cruise to USA & Canada.

Portsmouth was good, can you see what was making the ripple on the water. The Hovercraft was excellent, fast, comfortable & such a rapid turnaround, land, disembark, board & off again - all in 10 minutes. See Queen Elizabeth in the background?

FINAL DAYS

Docked in Amsterdam, but a short drive took us to visit Utrecht, a university town with a canal network. We took a guided tour on the canals, that included a Gouda cheese tasting. I really enjoyed the oldest that had salt crystals formed in it rather like vintage cheddar or Parmesan. Utrecht was a bit dirty & tatty with a lot of closed shops.

Won the quiz again, Linda's poem was the tie breaker winner.

All in all the river cruise was very nice, visiting some lovely places, the boat was very comfortable, but there were too many early tours for our liking. Food good, you just had to be careful with your selection. The entertainment was limited but good & Noel, the Northern Irish activities manager was brilliant. Would go with the company again.

Flight home good, trains cancelled because some Muppet crashed into a bridge, but we worked our way around it.

KINDERDYCHE

We've left Germany and rocked up in the Netherlands. Kinderdyche is a well preserved set of wind pumps that were used to reclaim a large tract of land in Dordrecht, now a suburb of Rotterdam. We climbed a working wind pump and the power of the whole thing is incredible.

It's a World Heritage Site & a lovely spot to visit, nice walking scenery.

Won the quiz again.

KOBLENZ

Koblenz sits at the confluence of the Mosel & Rhine. Medium size city. The free tour was to an original but destroyed castle, unrestored. It was too tough for us & too hot, so we went out early & caught the cable car to the fortress overlooking the city. The statue is Kaiser Bill.

Boot moored in town, so took the bike out early evening while Lin chilled.

COCHEM

Further back down the Mosel to Cochem, another wine growing region with a restored fairy tale chateau now owned by the town. Views are lovely but I went wrong walking to mustard museum and took Lin over a mountain goat ridge. That finished her off for the day, just to cap it all the museum was closed.

In the evening we had the German Swiss bell ringers. Interesting.

That thing hanging on the chateau ceiling grants your wishes. I tried it, let's see what happens.