Tuesday 12th September-We arrive in Kristiansund

We awoke to clear skies at around 0830 and following a quick cup of tea in the cabin headed upstairs for breakfast. The room was a little more busy this morning as nobody could leave the ship for any tours as we don't arrive until around 14.00.
Following breakfast we returned to the cabin and Jennifer started to catch up on her sewing and Noel on some magazines that we had brought with us. We also watched on the TV the ravages left by the Hurricane in Florida but we understand that Sarasota where we have stayed before, missed the best part of the storm, as it veered East again. Not sure how it affected Rotondo West where we have booked a house to stay in late December for five weeks. It also depends on how the infrastructure is coping before we finally commit to going and then if we decide to cancel what will we do then, Cape Town???.
So an easy morning followed by a slightly early lunch, we usually have a sandwich and a soup but as Noel’s last night dinner was quite small he decided to try the beef with oyster sauce and broccoli with rice which was very good, but only a small portion.
The boat arrived in the harbour on time and by 14.00 you were free to go ashore and so off we went and did a reasonable walk along the harbour front for quite a a way taking the odd photo. We also discovered a, what we call a ‘Chinese Shop’ which will sell anything and in this case we found a very cheap plastic computer mouse for about £ 8.50 and so plus batteries it cost just under a tenner. Thank heaven’s as using the computer to try to adjust photos without a mouse when you are not used to is is difficult. We also found a SPAR food shop where we acquired some salt free nuts.
The weather was holding up quite well and the outside temperature is due to reach 17c degrees this afternoon with the possibility of rain later but it was mostly blue sky with clouds
The town is composed of multiple islands which are all served by ferry boats and some of the ship tours include this ferry ride but somehow it will never compare with the Hong Kong Star Ferry crossing of Kowloon Harbour. There were quite a few shops compared to the other towns including a shopping mall which was quite nicely laid out. The amount of housing overlooking the Harbour entrance would indicate quite a large population for Norway and there appears to have been a lot o conversions from old warehouses in to apartments.
After a couple of hours of walking and sitting watching the world go by we adjourned back to the shopping mall to test out the cake shop and was very pleased with the result. Jennifer had apple pie with ice cream and a Noel bun, both were good. Then we returned to the ship at about 17.30 and spotted the Hurtegraten Passenger Ferry which visits all the ports up the West Coast of Norway just leaving town . It looked quite busy.
So back on board ship we tasted the canapés before heading off to the restaurant for our 18.15 sitting. So far the preplanning of Noels Low Irritant high fibre diet with NO Garlic, tomatoes and fatty cheese BUT ITS GETTING BETTER.

Monday 11th September- Flam and cruising Sognefjord

Umbrellas to fore

It was a bit colder this morning and there was rain around and there were lots of people going on organised tours. One of the main tours and the major reason people visit here is the famous ‘Flam Railway’ which travels through some of the most beautiful parts of Norway. We had been on this trip some years ago when we did a self drive holiday in Jennifer's MGF  open top sports car and fabulous weather and so we decided not to do it again.
If you wish to know more see following link
The Famous Flam Railway

However we decided to have the day walking around the town and taking a few photos. Flam is quite a nice but small place and there is only about 400 residents and so often when a couple of cruise ships arrive they dwarf the local population several times over. The lake and the mountain here are quite stunning and although the weather was not good we were able to walk around for a while and find a free Wi-Fi signal where we could pick some emails and Noel for to download to hopefully regain some lost photos.
By mid afternoon we decided that Noel would go back to the ship for a sleep and then Jennifer would go for a walk around as she wanted the exercise.
So we both enjoyed the day and were ;looking forward to an early evening dinner with a couple of glasses of wine and watch the world go by as we left to cruise through Naeroyfjord in the early evening light from the observatory lounge.
The back to cabin to check out the latest news on the storms in the Caribbean and Florida. Boy these storms look really bad and wooden homes will never survive winds of the speed predicted.
Oh well that was a pleasant day.

Sunday 10th September-A morning in Eidfjord

The Ship arrived in Eidjfjord overnight after sailing through Lysefjiord and then up through the islands, which we could not see as it was dark, and finally arriving at about 0730 which for those anxious travelers with tours meant an early start to the day. For us it meant a late'ish breakfast, they close at 10.00 and then we did some walking around the very small town with one of everything viz Hotel, Café, Tourist shop and a Loo plus a few houses dotted around.
The Fjords are really quite beautiful with lots of inlets etc. , the river that runs from the hills down in to the Fjord is well known for its salmon fishing which you could do as a tour but extremely expensive. This tour includes the possibility to eat you own catch for lunch but as the boat has to sale at 13.30 its pushing it a bit.

So having walked around the town, Jennifer wanted a longer walk so of she went whilst Noel stayed behind and watched the world go by. We re-joined the ship and had a sandwich lunch as we sailed off down to the Fjord and now we are heading for Flam where you can take the famous railway, again at extra cost but as we have already been on this train some years ago we decided to forgo this trip. For the rest of the afternoon we let the scenery slip by as we slowly passed by mountain villages and lakes but no big towns. There was in places still snow on the high outcrops.
In the evening Noel loaded his photos from his camera on the PC and then found they had all been deleted, all 47 of them including video, not sure why this happened but it is very annoying as I now don't have any photos of the first part of the trip which is extremely annoying. In addition my little computer mouse has packed up so times are tough in the technical departments at the moment.
In the evening it was Formal night so we put on our finest and as we had booked at the ‘Grill’ for a good steak we were quite surprised that perhaps only about 40% of the guests bothered to dress up which was quite unusual really. The dinner was very good the steak, we both had Rib Eye was very tasty and tender and together with a glass or two of Merlot it went down a treat. We thought about testing out the evening show and already thirty minutes before it was due to start there were several hundred people waiting so we gave up on that idea and went to a lounge bar for another glass of wine. The Fred Olsen rules about an inclusive drinks cost is that is strangely does not include tea or bitter lemon, you can drink yourself silly with wine, beer or spirits ,all included, but for a cup of tea you have to pay £2.00 , bloody silly really.
We went up to bed and had a quick look at the news from Florida and if it carries on this way there is a strong chance we will have to cancel our trip at the end of the year  as based on what happened to the Islands there may not be an infrastructure left, we shall what happens

Saturday 9th September- Crossing the North Sea to Norway

We awoke in the morning with the sun streaming through the windows and had a cup of tea whilst the sea rushed by. Breakfast was being served between 0800 and 1000 in the Spey restaurant which is where we headed for our first taste of cruise breakfast.

Sea, nothing but Sea

Well the restaurant was already very busy with the majority of people tucking in to their eggs and bacon etc with some plates piled very high and however can they eat that amount god only knows. By comparison we were very stringent in knowing that we should not eat to much and put on weight and also Noel has to watch what he eats particularly;y having discussed the requirements with his Dietician it was important to follow this through. So Noel had some muesli and and Weetabix and yogurt and Jennifer some fruits and a yogurt quite light really by comparison.
Noel had a meeting planned with the Maitre D and Chef to discuss his dietary requirement and was rather surprised when he got to the meeting place to find about another 50 or so people with all sorts of eating disorders. There was a presentation by the zee German chef, who was difficult to understand, and then the another member of the service crew, this time in part Indonesian and part English, also a little difficult to understand, but it became clear you could have most things and if you tell them your allergy they will adapt the meal to suit. This sounded very good, perhaps to good to be true, but to be fair it did work well.

After this little excitement we went back to the cabin and watch the world go by from the balcony until lunchtime where we both had a sandwich, self made, and a little tea cake and yet again people were walking around with large plate full of food, ughh!!
The afternoon was spent listening to music and Jennifer spending some on her sewing and then before dinner we received some canapés in the cabin and so enjoyed same on the balcony with a glass or two of Chardonnay. We tried our new table for two in the lower restaurant and the service was far better than upstairs and the room was much quieter and as it was still light it was pleasant looking out of the window's whilst enjoying dinner. Following dinner we headed up the observatory bar which was busy and noisy and then found another bar which was a lot quieter but still that musac playing.
So around 1030 we headed back to the cabin for some light reading and a quick look at the news.

Friday 8th September-A Norwegian Cruise starting with a visit to Costco

After  a good nights sleep and  a breakfast in the Hotel we had some time to kill and had decided that as we would need to purchase some fuel for the journey home, where better to buy this but at the fuel station at Costco Gateshead which is not far from the departure port.

A welcome aboard drink

So we headed of to the store and filled up the car and then did a walk around the store for a while before leaving for the Port of Newcastle upon Tyne where we arrived at around 12.30. We had pre-booked our car parking space and this was quite well organised and the porters came to collect our luggage from the back of the car and take it direct to ship and we would only see them later outside the cabin door.
We had to wait for about 45 minutes before boarding and we went directly to the cabin which was of a reasonable size and the good thing was it had a walk-in shower rather than a shower in a batch which we don't like when the seas are little rough.

Having changed we went to the bar for a pre-dinner drink or two on our prepaid drinks plan and then went up to the restaurant for out 20.30 table booking only to find that the table for two that had been requested could not be honoured, according to the head waiter, Head office always offer more tables for two that we have and it not our fault, This annoyed me even more when the staff start blaming each other and so I asked the see the Maitre D only was told he was busy, this made Noel even more annoyed. The food however was good but the service was extremely slow to the point where we had to ask for water after 15/20 minutes and how about some and wine and bread. Not good Mr Fred Olsen and his shipping company
So finally we settled for a table of four with the other two guests being an American guy and his daughter who were quite nice really, he was a retried engineer and his daughter was studying to be a nurse. They were also upset that after a very long flight from San Francisco to Portland, then wait for the flight to Amsterdam and then wait for the flight to Newcastle apparently took about 30 hours to find that the cabin they had requested with two single beds was in fact set up as a double. They were even more annoyed when they said they could not change it till tomorrow!!! not good.
First impressions of the ship is that it rather old, 1988 actually and the new paint does not fully cover the rust and broken bits whilst the upholstery in our Superior Suite, they called it, looked a bit mucky. Oh well let s see how we get on

Going up, to that there ' North' !!

Well we leave this morning to head 'Up North' , to Newcastle actually where we will spend overnight in the Doubletree Hotel at Newcastle Airport before boarding our Cruise ship in the nearby Port

.
The journey will take about five hours, if we go non-stop, which we wont, as we will need to stop for lunch and the occasional Loo stop whilst taking a break.
We plan to share the driving to make it easier. Today was all about packing bags and getting the house ready for leaving but just to complicate matters the toilet in our bedroom decided to pack up so with our local plumber on the job it was fixed within a couple of hours.
Its nice having built in units but it makes it very difficult for the plumber to repair and in this case what he thought was a quick change of the plunger meant to complete removal of the toilet and then refit all taking about two hours.
However with that complete we could continue with packing until the Denovan-Smith clan arrived full of spirits and ready for anything. Katherine speech is improving by the day whilst Christopher just sits and there smiles and makes noises, absolutely wonderful and the kids are so happy and a credit to their mum.
We hope to leave Weybridge around 09.30 and get to our Hotel at Newcastle Airport around 17.00 hrs and hope we have a good journey up the M25 and A1M.

Our route to Newcastle

This blog will be updated on a daily basis whilst we are travelling but may not get published due to lack of Wi-Fi on our travels.
Speak to you tomorrow

Just a week to go before we leave for our cruise

Well the excitement is mounting perhaps just a little bit as we start to consider packing our suitcases next week but we have a Wey Road Street party tomorrow which if the weather is great should be a lot of fun.

The link below is a Norwegian produced video of the Fjiords. Take a peek.


/A visitors guide to the Fjiords

A Bacon Sandwich and walk alongside the River Thames

The sun was shining and what better can you do but head down to the bridge at Walton on Thames and go to GINO's Cafe for an excellent Bacon and egg sarnie.

A view along the river towards Walton Bridge

Satisfied after bacon sandwich

This was followed by a walk along the river until Noel needed a rest due still having problems with knees, chemotherapy has made my knees worse unfortunately, however we fight on and hope they will improve but I have stepped my walking activity quite a bit in the last month so as to be able to get the best out of the forthcoming Cruise. Also this will help later in the month when we take to family to a surprise weekend.
The afternoon was spent relaxing and watching qualifying for the Belgium F1 GP.

Lets hope the weather stay like this.

Well we are planning a cruise

Well dear readers, we have decided to book a cruise to the Norwegian Fjords leaving from Newcastle on September the 8th for a nine night trip on the good ship MV Balmoral

 which is run by Fred Olsen Lines.

So we have to drive up to Newcastle on September 7th (which will be very exciting) and stay overnight in a hotel before going to board the ship at between 12.00 and 15.00 hrs. So we are both looking forward to this trip with the route and ship information see below.

I will do a BLOG everyday but it may not be able to post it for a while as Wi-Fi on board ship is always slow and and very, very expensive and best to be avoided. At ports of call it may be possible but will not know until we get there.
So watch this space.

Date

Arrive

Depart

Destination

September 2017

Fri 08

Late PM

Newcastle

Sat 09

Late PM

Late Night

Cruising Lysefjord

Sun 10

Early AM

Early PM

Eidfjord, Norway

Sun 10

Early PM

Late Night

Cruise Hardangerfjord

Mon 11

Early AM

Late PM

Flåm (Flam), Sognefjord

Mon 11

Late PM

Late Night

Cruising Nærøyfjord (Naeroyfjord)

Tue 12

Early PM

Late Night

Kristiansund, Norway

Wed 13

Early AM

Early AM

Cruising past Strandafjellet Mountain

Wed 13

Early AM

Early PM

Hellesylt, More og Romsdal

Wed 13

Early PM

Early AM

Cruising Geirangerfjord

Wed 13

Early PM

Early PM

Cruising past Seven Sisters Waterfall

Wed 13

Early PM

Late Night

Geiranger, More og Romsdal

Thu 14

Early AM

Late PM

Olden, Nordfjord, Norway

Thu 14

Late PM

Late Night

Cruising Nordfjord

Fri 15

Early AM

Late Night

Bergen, Norway

Sun 17

Early AM

Newcastle

Monday 10 th to Wednesday 12th July 2017 -Well we are home now

We got the awning down in the hot sun with the help of our two Dutch friends who work for rent-a-tent as site managers. Boy it was hot and we had to stop every 20 minutes for some shade and drink some water but it was good to get the awning down and packed in to the car.
Over the next two days we packed up the rest of the caravan bits and pieces like putting away tables and chairs and then set about preparing the caravan with the putting away of food supplies and and all the condiments that we take.
Noel then checked the tyre pressures and used the torque meter on the caravan wheels and took off the security systems to make for a fast departure. On Tuesday evening we went to the Creperie  and briefly met up with Ingrid but she was on the way to the Doctors having got a a 'Tick' in her leg which had swollen up.
Wednesday morning arrived and it was raining overnight and first thing, just what you need when moving the van and connecting to the car but with the help of the caravan motor mover we moved back on the to the road and connected to the car in a light drizzle, what a bummer. We then had a bit of trouble with the electric plug connection to the car which delayed us ten minutes but finally it worked and we left the site at around 10.15.
We went out through Moyaux and the truck route without any difficulty and it then started raining again and it pretty much rained all the way to the Port at Ouistreem. The security people checked the van looking for illegals and then we were on board and went direct to the cabin to drop off our stuff and then to the main restaurant for some lunch.
An afternoon was spent listening to music and relaxing until we had to leave the cabin 30 minutes before arrival in to Portsmouth and enjoyed a cup of tea and a strawberry tart as a snack. The ferry arrived at 7.15 pm and by 7.45 we were on the main road heading home and as there was no traffic we were back in Weybridge just after 9 pm and the caravan in the driveway and locked by 9.30 pm, pretty good really.
So that was a really great holiday and we were so lucky with the weather this year and it was certainly good for Noel to rebuild his strength after so many operations over the last two years and although there were some tough moments during the trip whilst getting used to the new bowel system things are on the up.
Looking forward to the next trip which is in the planning department at the moment.
Hope to see you all soon.

Sunday 9th July 2017- Its awning down day

Gosh another early start but the sun was shining and it was beginning to get warm again around 0900. The weather forecast from Meteo was showing rain showers this afternoon and so we immediately set about putting away and folding up tables, shoe racks etc to make space for the awning to come down. So bit by bit we took out the sides and at that moment Arie and Henny arrived to assist which was necessary as I still find it difficult to fully bend and still warning about carrying heavy loads so left the majority of the heavy bits to them.

Ghosh its hot again which was not forecast, they say 26-26 Centigrade but again it hit the early thirties which made it very hot work and the need to stop every so often for a water break but midday it was down, cleaned and put away in the car which was great which then just left Jen and I with the last few bits to be put away, As a thank you we gave them a Costco Sirloin steak and a bottle red wine which we hope they will enjoy.

We then had a little rest under the umbrella and then set about preparing lunch of a rib eye steak from the grill and vegetables with Noel trying two glasses of red wine to see what happens, hopefully nothing. Later on in the days there were lots of tummy rumblings and a little flatulence but nothing to bad. We then did a small caravan sort and then a rest before watching the Austrian F1 GP highlights on Channel 4, not a bad race but have seen better. It’s not Hamilton’s year again one feels but let’s see what happens at the Brit GP next week.

We chatted to an English family which had arrived yesterday but also noticed during the day and increasing number of arrivals and particularly children and mostly from Holland where the schools have finished for the term. The site is looking a lot busier now and so as usual it’s time for us to leave this fair and pleasant land. Tonight its cooler but there is clouds around and the odd rumble of thunder with rain expected so let’s see what happens.

We have decided that tomorrow will be a quieter day for us and although Jennifer has some final food sorting to do and we need a little shopping we plan to have lunch in Courmeilles  for a change.

Weill try to see if we have a wifi connection tonight otherwise will have to wait again and will find a better place to upload the reports.

Saturday 8th July 2017- A busy day at the office

Another beautiful morning with the birds kicking in at about 5.30 Am so if you need an alarm call at that time it’s quite perfect. And of course this place is so quiet that any birds that tweet will be heard from some way away.

So prior to breakfast we had set ourselves a target to clean the awning and specifically the windows both inside and out and although you can hose down the outside you cannot do this inside for obvious reasons.

We also purchased some while ago the special cleaner made by the awning manufacturer called Isabella and we are both pleased with the result and the windows are far better. Let’s hope they don’t get to dusty before we pack the awning tomorrow afternoon. We also sorted through the caravan and discovered that we had some old and pointless bits of flooring which is not needed and also we have one broken chair courtesy of a very large guest who plopped herself down so that the plastic bracket broke and we did consider looking locally for a replacement but we have decided to do without until we get home and then re-assess our requirements. We may decide that this style of chair is not strong enough and that we should spend a little more and get chairs with aluminium frames and brackets.

In the afternoon Jennifer caught up with some washing in one of the sites big industrial sized washing machines as this would save time when we arrive home. We also did some other sorting and planning in readiness for packing up over the next couple of days in readiness for our departure on Wednesday morning.

We have placed our caravan on the same location for the last few years and it enable us to plumb in the water and waste as there are only about 6 locations in the site where this can be done, however with so much hot weather this year the little road alongside our van kicks up lots’ of dust and so we went on a walkabouts and think we shall take site A15 next time. So providing our waste pipes are long enough it should be fine but we will be out of the WIFI zone which we understand is due to change next year anyway, lets us see.

Channel 4 is showing the highlights of qualifying and also the race of the Austrian F1 race and so in the evening we watched the qualifying and based on the grid it should be a good race which we can watch the highlights of tomorrow night.

The site seems a little busier than recent and interestingly there are far more tents than we have seen before, what this means I don’t know but it is usually mostly caravans and motor homes that fill the place.

So tomorrow morning we have a busy day with putting the awning down and also packing up the tables and all the other bits and pieces we seem to have and so that should take a while. We hope to be finished, providing it does not rain somewhere during mid-afternoon so that we can have our steak BBQ and then watch the F1.

Was hoping to post this tonight but cannot get internet connection, ah well will just have to be tomorrow.

Friday 7th July 2017- A nice day in the sun

Following a relative early breakfast we headed downtown to Courmeilles to visit the local market and purchase some fish for the evening’s dinner. As usual the town was quite busy with about forty market stalls selling everything from ladies dresses to live chickens and ducks, we considered buying a duck as a sign of opposition to the amount of people who have arrived with a multitude of dogs. Why anyone would need five dogs we cannot imagine, however we decided against the duck as it would not have time to get a passport to come back to Uk with us next Wednesday let alone the problems of immigration. If it was an Afghanistan ducks perhaps it would be different with the offer of a free apartment in London. Anyway with a brief walk around the market for a few photos we ended up at the fishmongers and purchased some fine whiting for tonight’s dinner plus some nice seafood volavents.

We spent the afternoon relaxing in the sun under the umbrella and watching the new arrivals, about 20 today, we have been reliably informed. It’s often fun to watch, perhaps if not a little rude, to see people who have arrived either camping or caravaning for the first time and are not quite sure what to do . You would thinks that people who have never camped before would put the tent up at home so as to understand what to do but no, you watch them for hours as they the put the pole in there and then see the tent fall over, its quite fun but sad at the same time and perhaps we should offer help but that can also be misconstrued.

It was a mixture of Brits and Dutch arriving today, as always, for some reason the French prefer sites on the coast, perhaps overlooking the UK and thinking about, if only we had a Brexit vote.

Tonight’s fish was excellent with boiled rice and vegetables consumed along with a bottle of Saint Veran wine followed by a Normandy apple tart. Tonight we have decided to watch one of our last films this time its Oceans 11, old but still fun.

Tomorrow we need to wash the awning windows in readiness for the awning to come down on Sunday afternoon ion readiness for our return to the UK on Sunday. As the site fills up we recognise its time for us to leave.

Just seen the headline, Putin meets Trump face to face??? What did you expect arse to arse???

Anyway quote of the day from Ronald Regan Ex USA President

“ I have wondered at times about what the Ten Commandants would have looked like if Moses had run them through the US Congress.”