Cruise around British Isles summer 2015

 Cruise around British Isles summer 2015

This was to celebrate Astrid's retirement after a lifetime in schools.
19/6/15  Took the Manchester train from London to Stoke on Trent. At the Station there is a statue of Josiah Wedgwood who started the whole ceramics pottery and porcelain industry in the Staffordshire. Passing through the town by train you see many chimneys and kilns used to make pottery most seem to have fallen into disuse.
The connection from there to Uttoxeter was a train of just one coach with a diesel engine. The track had fallen into disuse and was revived in this way. When we returned the train consisted of 2 coaches.  Uttoxeter is a market town known for its racecourse and the famous Dr. Johnson came from nearby.
At the music festival there was a ukulele workshop and I learned 4 chords on it and 5 songs. Ukuleles can be bought for as little as 16 pounds and it is used to teach children basic musical literacy .  It has 4 strings each 5 semitones apart.
Here we saw people with dogs mostly Greyhounds that were old and some had been retired from racing.

20/6/15 We were enjoying the festival and hard rain fell and everyone moved into the big marquee. The organizers asked those seated  to fold up their chairs so that everyone could get out of the rain and the atmosphere changed for the better with everyone standing.
Amongst the singers were a professional pair from Texas as well as a professional women singer from NY. There was a professional youth orchestra that were very good.
Our B and B called Lanes was excellent as was the local Pub called Dapple Gray.

Returned to London and visited Minna and Lionel Fry.
We were supposed to meet up with Brenda and Frank in London but Frank went for a blood transfusion that day.
Saw the musical Bend It Like Beckham which is the story of an Indian girl who becomes a professional soccer player.  Lots of Indian dancing.
The following day we took a coach to Oxford where we spent the day with Brenda and Frank and walked around the wood land park next to the Oxford canal where there are ducks and birds but the swans were not there. Later when we walked along the canal to get to the bus station we found the swan family with 2 cygnets.

23/6/15 Tuesday went to see the Museum of Cartoons. Besides explaining the history and development of cartoon drawing and comic books, there was an exhibit of the original drawings of cartoons in the press during WW2 some of which I knew from history books. On the history timeline it showed that Shultz started his Snoopy / Charley Brown in 1950
That evening we went to a play called "the Red Lions"  very up to date in that soccer supporters are loyal and devoted to their club. But the club is run by shady wheeler dealers.
In front of us were 2 people writing notes on the play and they told me that every play has a few days allocated to blind or vision impaired groups and they hear descriptions that they cannot see to explain the play.


25/7/15  To the coach from London to Southampton.  This came off the highways and went through the centre of Winchester which had a few very old homes and building as well as the cathedral. This whole area would have been forest and there are tall trees along the side of the roads as well as between the fields.
In Southampton our hotel was in Highfield and we took a long walk through the suburb shopping centre and the Highfield Campus of the University of Southampton.  This is one of a number of campuses and most impressive.

28/7/15 Went to the port on a bus that started at the university and went through the old city.
Boarding process was efficient and our cabin was central and large on Deck 12.
On the cruise you start with an emergency drill in case you have to abandon ship so you go with your life jacket and you know where your muster point is. From the ship we could see the Southampton Port with 5 storied car parks with identical new cars either just arrived or waiting for export. This port also has the biggest oil storage and refinery in the UK.


 27/6/15 Guernsey  The cruise arrived at St. Peters Port and you have to get tenders for a 20 minute ride to the dock and that is where we met cousins, Lauren, Mark and Hannah, on Hannah's 4th birthday.  It stuck me that Lauren was probably 4 years old when I saw her last.   It was great getting up to date with family news.

  Lauren, Mark and Hannah took us for a long walk around the town in what was very good weather for them and sat down for tea in the sun. We also took a walk to Candie Park where there is a statue of Victor Hugo and nearby the house he lived in while he was in exile.  The Channel Islands consist of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark and Heme and these are each independent states under the Queen but not under the British Parliament.  A  Guernsey French was spoken but during the war a lot of  population were evacuated and children returned speaking English.  Amongst the memorials and plaques are to those who fought in the Boer War , WW1 WW2, 6 Jews who died in Auschwitz and others deported during  Germans occupation.   180 cruise ships visit Guernsey in summer and there is no VAT there and taxes are lower, but you cannot buy property unless you are a citizen.

28/6/15 Cobh  This was called Cove in English till it was visited by Queen Victoria and after that it was called Queenstown till Irish Independence in 1921, when it reverted to the Irish name Cobh. There was a British navy as well as army base here and that developed the town and its architecture. The museum is in the unused  Scots Presbyterian church.
During WW1 the Lusitania was passing southern Ireland on the way to Liverpool when it was hit by a German torpedo.  Even though it was a passenger liner it was carrying armaments and had a secondary explosion.  1200 people drowned and only 761 survived as the ship went down in 18 minutes,
The museum also had a section devoted to horses of WW1. 8 million horses or mules were used or died in the war many came from Ireland or were imported from many countries. A ship loaded with horses was sunk in this area. After the war most of the horses were sold to French butchers or many were sent to Egypt. They could not be returned to where they could spread diseases.  Cobh is on the same river as Cork which is a half hour train ride away but we had visited Cork the 2nd city of the Irish Republic 32 years ago.

It being Sunday there was a string quartet in the park which was very good and I enjoyed it, very much but suddenly a black cloud came over and we returned to the ship where there was a show of Irish dancing and singing.

29/6/15 Monday Dublin. On the bus into the city you go along the Liffey Rivers past a number of bridges some very new including a suspension bridge. You go past a sculpture to remember the famine and one of the ships that took people to America at that time.  We saw youth diving off a bridge into the river but they were all wearing wet suits. We went for a  walking tour of the city and started with a pub and ended with another one. Astrid tried different Irish beer while I drank tea. We walked passed the Doyle (parliament) the National Library and through the campus of the University of Dublin or Trinity University.
The walk took us to many places that James Joyce or his fictional character Leopold Bloom frequented.  Past the homes of Oscar Wilde an Samuel Becket.  Then there is the statue of Oliver Goldsmith who wrote "The Vicar of Wakefield" and "She Stoops to Conquer" as well as the places that the writer Sheridan(School for Scandal) lived and worked.  Opposite Oscar Wildes childhood home is a park with a statue of him as as there was recently a referendum allowing Gay marriage, Gay rainbow flags were all around.
Bono and U2 also came from Dublin.  There is a museum to the Irish diaspora and many visitors come to look up their family genealogy. The Irish language is taught at all schools but only 5% of the population speak it as a first language.  The English were in Ireland from the times of the Norman conquest.

On the ship there was a lecture on the Beatles, Interesting 3 of the 4 lost a parent as children and the 4th Paul McCarthy’s parents died soon after the Beatles were successful.  Paul's 1st wife was Jewish and quite a influential, especially after Brian Epstein died.  His 3rd wife is also Jewish and he converted to Judaism. Once Brian Epstein died there was nothing to keep the Beatles together especially once Yoko Ono married John Lennon.

30/6/15 Liverpool: Took the On/Off bus for a tour around the city. Which has been cleaned up since we were here in the early 90s. The building have style and no longer are there derelict boarded up post WW2 buildings many of there have been demolished.
Astrid went shopping while I went to the new Liverpool museum. From there they announced a tour of the old pilots ship that worked in the Mersey bay between 1953 till 1982. It would spend 3 weeks at a time out at sea and pilots would get onto incoming ships and guide them in. It was 700 ton ship and we were shown the accommodation, galley and engine room.  I was surprised that it was riveted when in the US, long before ships were welded together.

Today the story of the Beatles is Liverpool's great attraction more than previously as the music has stood the test of time. It reminded me of the times I would push Tal and later Adam in the stroller from Woolton to Beaconsfield Park always past the institution with a sign Strawberry Fields. Today tourist all visit these places and many original homes of the Beatles have all been preserved as tourist attractions.

1/7/15 Belfast Took the free shuttle bus into the city and then the Hop on/ off bus for a live guided tour of 1.5 hours.  It started from the city hall and took us past the Titanic Museum and the port. On the mountain is you see what looks like a sleeping man with his face profile. This is what gave Jonathan Swift the idea of the giant in Lilliput in Gulliver's Travels.
Belfast built its last ship 6 years ago. Now it repairs ships and oil rigs and there were 2 in the port. It has the worlds biggest dry harbour with 2 enormous cranes that dominate the skyline. To most tourist the interesting thing is the murals in Shankhill Road to do with the troubled period in this Loyalist neighbourhood.  Most of the better mural were hand painted but the later one were printed and stuck up including an Israeli one with a quote in Hebrew.  There is one commemorating George Best the soccer player who was born in Belfast. The bus went to Belfast Castle along a very narrow road to the top of the hill and we could get a good view of the bay.
Belfast also used to have a big rope making industry.  At the port there were huge stacks of coal and gravel probably imported.
C.S. Lewis the writer of Tales of Narnia was Belfast born but lived in Oxford.  In the city hall there are glass windows put up over the years to commemorate events even one in memory of the Irish Horse Regiment that fought in the Boer War.

2/7/15 Greenock.  This is a container port along the Clyde and many people took a train to Glasgow.  We took a live guided bus tour around Greenock which has an old paddle steamer  The Waverley used for trips in the bay.  Tate and Lyle had a number of sugar refineries here and these old buildings have been converted to residential flats. The better houses are built of local white sandstone.   There is a memorial to the Free French whose ship Maillé Brézé on 30 April 1940 sank in the bay. The Clyde has miles of natural harbour but it had to be dredged years back. Roman Abramovich (Chelsea owner) luxury yacht was in the bay.  Once 18% of world shipping was build on the Clyde and my father always said that if you ever met a ships engineer he was usually a Scot.
We returned to the ship early as I had a cold, and we were entertained to Scots music, bagpipes and highland dancing by an organization that promotes this culture.

4/7/15 Invergordon We arrived in the Scottish Highland on the most miserable weather colder than a winter day in Israel. took shelter in a the Presbyterian church which was open to welcome visitors from the ship. In every Scottish port, pensioners volunteer to be around to meet the visitors  and help them. In this church the glass window have only designs and no pictures.
In a side room was an exhibition of art run by an 80 year old David Tyson ex Rhodesian, who gave me a copy of his a autobiography. He was able to come to the UK as his wife had a UK passport. In the town there are lots of beautiful murals but unlike Belfast they are not political and a real effort was put into each one.
The Invergordon town museum is also run by retired volunteers with a crafts exhibit when cruises come in.  One of the people displaying his hand carved animal told me all about the area as well as the displays of the navy and shipping there. There was a base of Free Polish during WW2 and some of them remained on and married the local girls.There is a jetty there that is in shallow water that reaches the deep water where the ship docked. There are half a dozen oil rigs stored there, they come from the north sea where I suppose they ran dry.

5/7/15 Queensferry. This is in part of the River Forth under the railway bridge to Edinburgh example of a cantilever bridge was built in 1890 and is recognized as UNESCO Heritage site . Whereas the road bridge was built in 1964 and is not in a good state of repair and another new bridge is being built beside it. Before that a ferry had regular business. The town has a pub called Haw's Inn and that is where Robert Louis Stevenson wrote the book Kidnapped.
We took a tour to St. Andrews which is the 3rd oldest University in the UK after Oxford and Cambridge. This was where the main cathedral and the Archbishop of Scotland lived. During the Reformation icons in the cathedral were destroyed and the building fell into disrepair so one sees only the outer wall.  Leading Protestants were burned at the stake here. and there is a memorial column to them.
The university has a modern claim to fame and has a tea room that says " where Kate met Wills"
St. Andrews is also the place of the origin of golf which is Gaelic for 'strike" and the basic rules started in 1750. We walked around the 18 hole and hallowed turf of the old course and putting courses one is flat and the other is grassed sand dunes finely mown grass but a challenge to putt. We had tea and scones here and saw the grandstands and marquees set up for the Open to take place  a week later. There is a pedestrian bridge over the burn(river) that everyone was photographing and we have seen it on TV. Many of the people with dogs had Scotties.

6/7/15 Day at Sea in which amongst other things we were taken for a tour of the ships galley which is enormous and must have quite a staff.

7/7/15 la Harve .  This is a large French port with lots of containers.  The city was destroyed in WW2 so a new city is a very modern style but not attractive to tourists. Claude Monet painted a picture Impressions in 1872 about la Harve and that gave the title to the new art called Impressionists that were rejected by the French Art Institute.
 You pass Rouen which is the city that the Story of Joan of Arc takes place and then Honfleur the city attacked by Henry V in Shakespeare, then go onto a toll road over the long Normandy bridge. We went to Omaha beach where the American troops landed in June 1944 and Sword beach where the British landed and where the Mulberry a floating harbour was put. Along this harbour wall as well as bridges tons of equipment was brought in until the Americans were able to occupy Antwerp and have a proper harbour. You see the bomb craters and bombed out German artillery placements as well as museums and collections of WW2 weapons in the whole area.  We were taken to the American cemetery as most of the group were Americans, where you see rows of crosses and a few magen davids in between. I could not figure out if their was any order in which soldiers were buried not by rank or by unit. We visited the museum at Gold Beach.
Normandy is known for dairy farming and apple growing.

8/7/15 Southampton. Walked off the cruise to the hotel.  I strolled around the old city built around 1300. All the main gates still exist but the wall form part of the newer buildings.  The gate closest to the port says Henry V came through this gate to go to fight the battle of Agincourt in France.  There is a house in the old city that says Jane Austen lived here for a 2 years.
Went to the Sea Museum which had an exhibit of the Titanic and the fact that most of the crew were recruited in Southampton, it also showed a history of the city as well as an up to date exhibit on dinosaurs and paleontology.

The Cruise The service was top class in everything from food to entertainment.  There were 1500 crew, and 3500 passengers Of the passengers there were plus 2000 Americans, 600 Australians and Canadians and only 400 Brits. Many South American and important announcements were in Spanish also.  Many passengers were from China or Korea/Japan. Every evening we went to a sit down supper and asked to share a table with English speakers usually it was American and you go a good perspective of different parts of the States some for and others against Obama.  The nicest couple was an English working class type who lived most of their lives in the States.
This was the biggest ship we have been on and it is bigger than those that can get through the Panama Canal. I felt it had a few design errors in that you felt cut off from the sea in too many places. Not enough lounge space with a sea view. The top deck and swimming pool as well as the buffet dining hall did have a good sea view but it was too cold for us to be outside.
The ships centre did not have a stairwell so we had to wait for the lift even to go up 2 floors of the 16 levels. The lifts were too crowded and that's where we think we picked up colds, which detracted from the quality of the holiday. On a big ship like this perhaps because it had good stabilizes you don't feel any sea sickness at all.
What was missing was an English type pub where you could sit and watch a big TV in company to see Wimbledon or other big sports games.
 Great holiday and memories ..hope you enjoyed reading.
Ronnie and Astrid.


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Hi Both  5/8/15
What a fantastic trip & so well documented that I felt as if I had a "bird's eye" view on everything you saw & experienced!
Sorry not to have replied sooner but I took my time reading & absorbing it all.
Now having done so, Frank will follow suit.
Love to all
Brenda