SALISBURY

Lin & I spent a lovely weekend in Salisbury in the midst of the turmoil that is rail worker strikes, bad weather (they say there is no bad weather, just wrong clothing - try telling that to someone in a category 5 tornado that is just about to drop a cow on his head!)

The strike was not too bad, we had to change trains, overcrowding and incorrect destinations announced on the train intercom but it was compounded by an embankment slip at Woking and further compounded by bridge damage, I think was caused by the embankment repair heavy equipment crashing into it.

Salisbury is a beautiful, small town situated on the Hampshire Avon, one of the few chalk streams in the world. Not many can afford to fish some of the exclusive stretches. Salisbury dates back to the 1100's, which the walking tour guide showed us. Cathedral is very imposing and was the tallest building in the UK until the Post Office tower built in the 1960's.

Enjoyed a lively Mexican tapas meal with mezcal & tequila cocktails. Heaven for melted cheese lovers. Bit blowy at times, too much for Lin's hair. Visited the Xmas market & St Thomas Becket's church where there was a festival of Christmas Trees and the local primary schools singing carols.

Will visit Salisbury again in the summer, more to see, you see.

A CORUÑA, LISBON, PORTA DELGADA

Journey proceeding, but not completely smoothly. Persistent rain in A Coruña, which we managed to dodge OK. Nice little port town with decent promenades to walk around the harbour. A town that has seen conflict with English, first Francis Drake who attacked the town with his fleet - that statue celebrates a Spanish heroine who killed some of the attackers, second the British army who fought with the Spanish against Napoleon. The English general Sir John Moore is buried in a local cemetery.

Lisbon, always a nice place to visit, we took a bus down to the Aquarium which is purported to be the best in the World. I don't know about that - Monterey in California was better for me, but it is up there with massive 3 storey tanks that give great views. Their version of Christ the Redeemer on the way out of the harbour is impressive.

Weather has taken a turn for the worse, big storm (Babet?) took us on a southerly diversion on the way to the Azores that caused us to arrive at 8pm instead of 9am. Sea pretty bumpy & high winds across the deck was spinning up mini waterspouts in the swimming pool. We went ashore in Porta Delgada but the Wally walking tour wasn't as good in the dark. Left around 1:30am and now have to make up lost time to arrive in Fort Lauderdale on schedule - weather permitting.

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Le HAVRE & BILBAO

I have organised some tours by WallyTours. The ship's tours are sooo expensive now. Le Havre, St Joseph's Church was spectacular - over 100m spire with hand blown antique glass squares that had been designed in a colour palette to show off seasonal shades & mixtures at different times of day & season. It compared favourable with Sagrada Familia. It is built of concrete in a brutalist style. It commorates all the dead at allied hands in preparation for D-day.

Went In to Bilbao for a WallyTour. Not the greatest of days as it's a Spanish national holiday & all shops, cafés etc closed. The Guggenheim gallery is  a stunning place on the river bank. Picasso sculpture exhibition, large steel structures, a Japanese interactive mirror room & Gilbert & George also on display. Bilbao looks a nice place to return for a short break.

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GOOD START

The journey has started well for us. The journey from home to Waterloo went well, Elizabeth line was great, all changes without steps. We snagged ourselves a good first class train ticket, £9.50 each, especially as the rest of the train was heaving - nice. Portuguese meal followed by 42nd Street at the theatre rounded the day off lovely. You may recognise Samantha Womack of EastEnders, Les Dennis & Faye Tozer of Steps who were in it. 

Spent Sunday on a cultural trip about Southampton. Firstly we had a look at the Titanic story, the number of crew from Southampton who died was shocking. They had a street map on the floor with red dots on the houses that had lost someone. Southampton was smaller and there were many dots per street. One group of sailors had a good drink in the pub to celebrate and were late back to ship & prevented boarding - they survived.

Southampton was the home of Supermarine. R J Mitchell was lucky when he got the chief designer job because his predecessor had a German wife & was sacked. It was WW1, even the King had to change his name. When you look at Mitchell's designs, lumpy looking seaplanes, & his first attempt at a fighter plane, it's amazing he came up with the Spitfire. I wonder how much credit should have gone to his draughtsman, Joseph Smith and his wing designer, Beverly Shenstone. Joseph went on to design 24 marks of Spitfire, such that it developed almost beyond recognition & was still in service in 1954.

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OFF AGAIN

Busy day as we prepare to set sail from Southampton to Fort Lauderdale - following in the initial steps of the Titanic. Let's hope we have a better trip. Been a hectic day, NHS have screwed up and failed to update my records following my latest covid jab. When you phone them all you get is shoulder shrugging. TD Bank account has been hacked, spent a lot of time on the phone to Lolita. She was more helpful than the NHS. Packing is always stressful, ended up with 16 and 19 kilos, so happy flight days. We're hoping the trains are all in the right place to get to Southampton following this week's train driver strikes. Trying to plan a golf break but the only tee times offered mean we finish in the dark! On the bright side we've just booked a river cruise on the Rhine.

If you're wondering, it's the oldest motoring organisation phone box still standing that we saw on our trip to the Malverns.

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AJACCIO, CORSICA

AJACCIO is Nappy Bonaparte's birthplace. Very small town overcrowded by the 2 cruise ships in dock. Easy walk to town, visited Bony's house, the cathedral & the fort. Read about Fred the hero who volunteered for secret ops & landed in Corse to prepare for liberation. Caught by Italian fascists & tortured. Refused to talk & committed suicide. Food still excellent, mushroom pate with the tiniest mushroom's on the side was delicious.

Been to some entertainment, the Shi# Show, the Scarlet deck party and a R&J Shakespeare's show by the acrobats - excellent. The whole set up here is very different to traditional cruises. Cunarders would be horrified at so much fun going on

La Spezia

Didn't visit the town, chilled on board. Lin got some boxing practice so she could force me to dance. Ate in Test Kitchen, spectacular 6 course dinner in a very different setting. Lots of smoke from the dishes, waiters dressed as scientists. Very Heston Blumenthal. Interesting dishes - fillet of beef & venison with chocolate, a dessert pudding combining sweet creamy mouse with blue cheese.

TOULON

First day on the Virgin, very different in style to other cruises we've been on, guests much younger, no large buffet restaurants. Ship's not full. Cabins small, but well laid out & equipped. Been to the Italian & Mexican restaurants, both very good although we are over eating. Staff good.

Visited Toulon, Neil gave us a rundown on all the French navel assets, AC carriers, destroyer frigates etc. Nice town, easy walk from ship. Took the tourist train to see the sights & hear the history (beats walking in this heat) and then chilled in the bar. 

LEAVING BARCA

Lovely couple of days here, ate & drunk too much - that's life. Went to Sagrada Familia, might be nice to come back when it's finished. That's a sculpture of Antonio Gaudi, the architect, looks a bit like the Bayern player, Harry Kane Boarded the virgin OK, although we had to wait around a bit. Ship is lively, I don't think it's full, but let's see how we get on. Still roasting hot here, but nice on balcony as we set sail. Next stop Toulon.

PLAGUED

After our last holidays when we left the flat and encountered smoke pouring from the BT footway cover and then next time a flood of water from the road, I fully expected locusts, but no we drove to Heathrow no problem apart from a small issue with the car park. Flight was good and the airport was very good in having baggage handlers, unlike Terminal 5. All good to go, our taxi man met us.........except we couldn't leave because a bus had caught fire on the concourse.We finally made made it and are in the bar with beer & tapas. Balmy 39deg Celsius.

BARCELONA

We are staying in Olympic Marina district which is nice & quiet, yet close to the centre. We were very tired walking yesterday, so tackled the bus network today. Pretty good, modern & Aircon, they accepted our contactless cards with no problem, 2.40euros for any 1hour15 minute journey.

Visited the Stanta Creu & Sant Pau Recinte Modernista which is the Holy Cross & Saint Paul art nouveau former hospital built in the early 1900's It is beautiful inside & out, simply stunning.