2014 - Days 47, 48, 49 (Frankfurt to Home)

.........................and then you have to get home!!!

If spending 20 hours plus in an aeroplane can be enjoyable, I suppose we went fairly close.

Booked out of the hotel at 10, caught the train out to Frankfurt airport (again 4.50 Euro of course  -  hear that London??????) and usual security etc but Frankfurt airport is quite nice as airports go and has comfortable seating available. Elizabeth bought some Chanel at the duty-free and by the time we had a bit to eat it was time to get to the departure lounge. Plane loaded/took off on time, served a very nice lunch and then later shut us down until breakfast was served about an hour before we landed in Hong Kong. Saw a couple of good movies - The Chef and A million ways to die in the Wild West which was pretty crude but in parts VERY funny.

I had pre-booked the lounge in HK airport so "free" food available, drinks, comfortable chairs and finally a welcome shower before boarding the Brisbane flight which also loaded/took off almost on time after having to off-load a lady who became sick before take-off (along with her luggage of course)

Another good flight with great food (when you ask for a whisky with ice   -   "any water??" - "no thanks" - you get a GLASS of straight Chivas Regal with a block of ice!  "would you like another whisky sir??"  "No thanks"

Arrived in Brisbane at 11.40, collected our pre-purchases from duty-free, had an easy passage through passport control and customs and caught a cab to Katherine's. Got to bed at 1.00am and then at 5.00am............................................... "Hello Grandma and Grandpa!!!"

Spent a lovely morning with the kids, spoke with Heather and Tim on Skype (they're going fine) 3.30 flight home to Hervey Bay where Steve and Toni were very kindly waiting and brought us back home.

Went to bed by 8 and woke up at 10.00am Sunday morning!!

Some quick travel comments:

• For future travellers - I really think that the "no day stop-over" trial worked well - really no jet lag at either end and I think the reason  was that we kept a far more normal routine by just having a (6 hour) break at HK and getting back on the plane
• Cathay Pacific is a good airline - we've now flown with them 4 times and have left/arrived on time every time, service is great, premium economy is very comfortable (you can actually sleep), food is excellent. Can't ask for much more than that.
• As you've seen, we have just had the most relaxing, enjoyable holiday with so many "jaw-dropping" moments - just fabulous.
• problem now is -- where next??

2014 - Day 46 (Frankfurt)

Last "sightseeing" day of the trip!!!

Frankfurt turned out to be a real surprise packet and we had a great day with some wonderful surprises.

As per usual practice, hunted out the "hop-on-hop-off" bus which conveniently left from outside the railway station just across the road just five minutes after we turned up. Got out at the old town centre where we soon realized we had under-dressed for what was a freezing cold and windy day (but fortunately no rain) so we headed back towards the bus stop to return to the hotel to add lots more layers.

Saw the next bus disappear as we crossed the square so went and had a coffee in a great little cafe where they roasted their own coffee and it was beautiful - best we had all trip. We told the owner we loved his coffee and interestingly he replied that he finds Australians his most demanding customers who really know their coffee - he commented how many good coffee cafes there are in regional Australia - he seemed to really know all about us!

Caught the next bus back, changed, and started out again!!

This time we got off at an area known as Sachenhausen, another part to survive WWll and where the cider houses were/are located. There is a tradition of serving pork knuckles to accompany your cider in these "cider houses" - had a look around and decided it may be a good place to have dinner.

Back to the town square where we arrived just in time for one of those lucky co-incidences - as we arrived we heard instruments being played in a very noisy but haphazard way and saw young people spread all over the square, individually playing violins, trumpets, trombones etc while some others were just dancing in small spaces marked with chalk. That went on for a while and then a siren sounded and they all gathered at the fountain in the centre of town square and started playing as an orchestra - then a choir joined them along with a group of dancers on the other side of the square. They played/sang/danced "the chorus of the Hebrew Slaves" from "Nabucco" (coincidentally the opera we saw when we were in Prague) - if you don't know it, u-tube it and listen and you'll understand how spine-tingling it was to hear a beautiful and powerful performance live in Frankfurt square!! It was absolutely unforgettable and one of "those moments" you never forget.

We found a beautiful shop just near the square which sold cuckoo clocks (not interested, but these were quite beautiful) and wooden goods of all kinds - beautifully hand crafted. Loved lots of their items but the restrictions of space had to be considered but we finally purchased a beautifully carved Madonna/Joseph/baby and some little curled timber Christmas trees which will become part of our Christmas decorations and a permanent memento of the trip.

Back on the bus for the remainder of the tour/commentary and went back to Sachenhausen for dinner. Found a reasonable looking old "haus" and ordered our ciders and "Grillhaxe mit Sauerkraut und brot" and discovered the following:

• Their cider has a much higher alchohol content than ours - but is less sweet and a very refreshing drink (I had two!)
• the "Grillhaxe" (pork knuckle) is massive - it is like having a Sunday roast leg of lamb put in front of you except you each get one (Elizabeth's facebook page will have a photo)
• Our stomachs have not been pre-prepared for the shock of genuine sauerkraut - our stomachs each spent the rest of the night objecting strongly to the treatment we had just subjected them to!!! 
• but it was the most beautiful, tender, flavoursome pork we've ever had - another great experience not to be forgotten.
• p.s. our stomachs did recover quite quickly!!

Back to the hotel  -  thankfully a reasonable walk but a beautiful clear night.  Loved Frankfurt.

Trivia: there are over 400 banks with offices in Frankfurt - it has the largest stock exchange in mainland Europe.

Cap report: chances are I've managed not to lose any- shame about the tablet though.
 

2014 - Day 45 (London to Frankfurt)

Travel day so not too much to report. Went like this:

• alarm went at 5.00 so got up, dressed, walked the two blocks to Paddington to catch the "Heathrow Express" (which, by the way, must go down as one of the more expensive rail trips in Europe - 60 POUNDS return for a 15 minute journey!!!)
• breakfast at the "giraffe" cafe at terminal 5 (we should almost be "frequent customer" status there)
• waited for the Frankfurt flight to be listed. waited.waited.waited (huge storm had hit southern UK that morning) so hoped we wouldn't be one of the many cancelled flights.
• eventually called so boarded quite late
• had a 130km/h tailwind to Frankfurt so arrived on time!!
• got train from airport to central station - 15 minute trip this time 4.50 Euro!!!!!!!!!!
• found hotel across the road from the station - best location ever - and quite a large room.

Had the afternoon to wander around a bit of Frankfurt - surprisingly a very beautiful city, especially the surviving older parts - (85% was destroyed by the end of WW11)

Poured with rain tonight so set out in wet weather gear to find the "typical german" restaurant recommended by hotel reception but came across an Italian one first so went straight in!!

Hilarious Italian waiter - the Basil Fawlty of Frankfurt. We eventually got a menu, had a bit of an argument with him over our choices (!!!!) but as I was able to speak a little italian with him he softened a bit. Next customers were Korean and he immediately had a disagreement with them about where they could sit. As he came back past us he whispered "stupid people - think they can do as they want!!" The food, however, was magnificent!!! Veal in a wine sauce for both of us. Just beautiful.

Fortunately it had almost stopped raining when we set out back to the hotel so we arrived home dry.

Another learning experience! - travel sure broardens the mind

trivia: Frankfurt's "Rathaus" (basically city hall) has been the headquarters of the city council since 1405

cap report: I'd still prefer to have my tablet back!

2014 - Day 44 (Vadso to Kirkness)

Another day of new adventures!!!

Sadly, today was our last "Hurtigruten" day - as you've already gathered, we LOVED the Hurtigruten trip. We were on the Vesteralen, one of their smallest and oldest ferries (built 1983 but upgraded/refurbished twice since then) and only had 50 cruising passengers this trip plus the "day trippers" just hopping on and off as we went from port to port. It made for a terrific trip - seemed we had areas of the ship to ourselves quite often and eating times (cooked breakfasts, 3-course lunces and dinners) were very relaxed and friendly and we got to know lovely people from all over the world.

Interestingly our early morning port of call was Vadso which was the departure point for Amundsen's 1926 exploration of the North pole - the tower to which they tied the airship which took them up to the Arctic is still there - on the wharf just behind our mooring point (one for the history buffs!!)

A special treat at breakfast - we were entertained by a Sami woman "joiking" - a strange type of singing that imitates sounds of nature or emotions - quite strange but beautiful at the same time. She accompanied herself on a deer-skin drum (Elizabeth will have a picture on facebook)

We arrived at our terminus - Kirkeness - at 9.00 and it was freezing cold (literally -4) and snowing slightly with snow and ice all over the decks and the wharf which made for a fairly dangerous disembarkation! Took a bus to the airport for our flight to Oslo. Visibility at the airport was about 10 metres at best but that didn't seem to deter the incoming flights (thank goodness) - and we boarded our plane on time but had to skate across the tarmac to do so! Had our first experience of de-icing. As the aircraft lined up at the end of the runway, out came the de-icing unit which was a large tanker with an articulated platform with a fire-hose like nozzle which sprayed a yellow sticky fluid over the wings and tail. Pleased to see it happen as I'd been watching the ice build up on the wing as we sat at the terminal and by the time we started taxiing it was really quite thick!

Arrived to a much warmer Oslo (10) and that's where my tablet went missing (I presume) as I didn't actually miss it until I went to do the blog in London that night and found it was not in my backpack where I always kept it. Not certain what happened, but either someone pinched it from the security tray or they shifted it to another tray - not sure, but I remember the security people taking my tray from the scanner presumably for re-scanning it and then I had to wait quite a while for it to come to the end by which time I was trying to retrieve my stuff amongst lots of people who had been behind me in the line. However.......

Got to Heathrow, took the Heathrow express into Paddington and found our Hotel one block away which was very convenient. We tried a local pub which was unfortunately overflowing so then went to a greek restaurant where we enjoyed another beautiful meal (lamb cutlets for me and calamari for Elizabeth) before returning to the hotel to do the blog......................................!!!!!! Not such a good sleep that night, but had to have a 5.00 alarm the next morning as we had to be back at Heathrow terminal 5 for the 8.30 flight to Frankfurt.

Trivia: Kirkeness (pronounced soft "C" Cirkness by the locals) is about 5km from the Russian border. The locals used to trade quite happily with their neighbours  (and vice versa) throughout the cold war, generally unknown by their respective authorities.

cap report: should have done a tablet report!

2014 Day 43 (Hammerfest to Kjollefjord)

Just in case you're getting the impression that this cruising thing is all too easy, let me assure you there is a downside! Last night, for example,the ship's PA announced at about 11.00pm that the northern lights were visible in front of the ship.

While someone nameless slept on in bed, I had to put on the required layers - undies, thermal longs and thermal under-shirt, second shirt, jeans, woolly socks, shoes, jumper, coat, scarf, beanie, gloves, get camera and go up to the open deck to find that it really wasn't much and he clouds had come over anyway. So back to the cabin to remove.............

Anyhow, today more than compensated. Quiet morning's cuise to Honningsvag where we arrived at 11.15 (they are incredibly on-time with these ferries) and were then to board a coach for the trip to North Cape. Only difficulty was that we had to have lunch at about 10.45 after only finishing breakfast at 9.00. Again the full layering of all available clothing was required for this trip - the temperarure range today was -4 to -1.

It had fortunately snowed last night but the day was just beautiful. About a 40 min trip up to North cape and along the way stopped off to visit a Sami family, the indigenous tribes of these parts who fish and raise reindeer for their living. Lovely people who actually spoke some English quite well - saw a real reindeer which was eating lichen like it was going out of fashion. Looked very healthy on its diet though

Bit of a scary trip - the road was the same colour as everything else around us - white! The driver obviously knew what he was doing and no doubt it gets much worse than it was today. Lots of the smaller lakes were frozen and the landscape was simply stunning with snow and mountains as far as you could see.

North Cape has a beautiful visitors' centre where we were able to watch a surround film of the area through all the seasons. There was also a history display in 3-d, light show and display of birds. Elizabeth found her puffins! The bird life here is amazing - thousands upon thousands on the rocky cliffs and flying over the water. Can't get any photographs though.

There is a big globe on the point which is Europe's most northerly point - we've gone as far as we can go!!!! Just another 1500km to the North Pole!

Late this afternoon we passed an old Sami church constructed under a huge cliff face - for some reason they announced a special meal on the back deck to celebrate as we passed so on with the thermals.............  - the meal turned out to be a type of reindeer stew traditionally eaten by the sami people and it was delicious. Sorry reindeer. And beautiful beef again for dinner tonight. At sunset/dusk we berthed in Kjollerfjord as the lights were all coming on - a beautiful sight with the mountain of snow behind. When I went onto the back deck to photograph it, the deck was covered in ice. Don't want to know the temperature!!

Hard to believe this voyage (in fact the whole trip) is almost over. Only a day in Frankfurt preceded by a night in London tomorrow night to go. Can we recommend the Hurtigruten trip ?? - absolutely. It certainly lives up to its billing as "The world's most beautiful voyage" - and we have the pictures to prove it. It has been a wonderfully relaxing way to end this tour but at the same time serving up continuous doses of magnificent scenery.

Trivia: Norway's GST is 25%    (explains the crazy prices here - a self serve coffee from a machine costs about A$6)

Cap report: only a few more opportunities to lose at least one of them!

2014 -Day 42 (Harstad to Skjervoy)

Most of today was spent cruising between the mainland and the larger islands - again the scenery changing with a surprising amount of green farmland and quite big forests - not what we expected this far north (let's hope the Gulf Stream never stops flowing!!)

Background to all this coastal greenery were snow capped peaks which made for a beautiful morning's cruise which we spent in the "panorama lounge" catching up on some reading and occasoinally racing outside to take picures and then quickly return to the warmth of the lounge. very stressful.

Had one anxious "event" this morning. Mostly I leave the mobile off completely but I turned it on by chance this morning and had a message from ANZ to the effect that there had been activity on my "pay anyone" via internet banking for $xxxx - if it was not mine I should contact them immediately. Well I certainly haven't done a "pay anyone" for that amount so decided I'd better contact them - question was how?? Luckily I had printed off the reverse charges number to contact ANZ Visa from overseas if a card is lost so I tried that and incredibly (sailing along in the Arctic) I got straight through, the girl happily put me through to security and after a bit of searching, they found that it was just my regular monthly payment coming INTO my ANZ account - couldn't fathom how that triggered a warning but all was OK. Isn't commuication these days incredible?? There was not even a second's delay in the conversation (and ANZ paid!)

Our stop today was at 2.00 until 6.00 at Tromso which is quite a big city of about 70 000 inhabitants. Had a lovely walk around what is a very pretty and attractive town centre but as I forecast yesterday, a few more layers were put on prior to departure as the temp  had apparently stopped at 0. It is very reassuring to note that the locals are all just as "rugged up" as we are - gloves, beanies, the lot. Not sure what they look like when the Winter arrives!

Again, a beautiful dinner - again fish but another variety and beautiful every time. Three course lunches AND dinners are going to have to stop!!!!

Trivia:Tromso is where the British finally sank the Tirpitz in 1944. The wreckage has been removed.

Cap report: progressing to the ear-covering beanies tomorrow!

2014 - day 41 (The Arctic Circle to Stamsund)

Woke this morning to the ship's PA announcing that we would be crossing the Arctic Circle in 10 minutes!!

Managed to get on deck in time to photograph Hestmann Island which lies exactly on the Arctic circle. Time: about 7.25am and still very dull and freezing cold.

After that excitement, enjoyed breakfast and then had to be ready for the "ceremony" to celebrate the crossing. For this we were summonsed to the back deck (freezing) and King neptune turned up accompanied by the Captain, Chief Engineer and tour director. Bit of a funny speech about sea-sickness and rough seas and then the "ceremony" involved those brave enough fronting up to have ice cubes poured down you back and then given a glass of schnapps and a certificate as 'reward" - What the hell, you're not here all that often so we did it - lots (probably  more sensible) did not. Needless to say we ended up very cold and quite wet. Got a certificate to prove it all though.

Main Port of call today was Bodo which is the hedquarters of Norway's defense department and has an airforce field so jets were zooming overhead quite frequently. Not much of a town really but we enjoyed walking around and found a really good coffee shop!! The layers are inceasing for these town walks. I am now up to t-shirt, warm long-sleeve coat, big coat, scarf, gloves, warm cap and Ellizabeth is the same - believe me, you need every bit. Temperature range predicted for tomorrow is -3 to +1 !! Time to add warm undershirt and long cycle pants to the layering process I think.

Beautiful beer marinated beef for dinner tonight. The meals  really are fabulous.

Trivia: The voyage from Bergen to Kirkenes is 2500km and is billed as "The world's most beautiful voyage"  - can't argue with that!!

Cap report: just about stuck on

2014 - day 40 (Trondheim to Rovik)

As I said, wi-fi becomes a bit of a problem up here - not so much the signal on the ship, but blogger has problems working out where it thinks I am!!! Taking the chance while it has found me.

First stop today was Trondheim, the "Arctic Capital" of Norway, city of about 100 000. Huge cathedral which they wanted to charge you to go into which I think is a bit rich so we didn't! We only had about 2 hours to look around so we took a wander around - the city was founded in 799 by Leiv Eriksson, the Viking king who is credited with setting up trade with the Americas way back then - sorry Christopher Columbus!

Quite a nice city centre with more old timber wharf buildings. Got our best coffee of the trip at a lovely little cafe in the new shopping centre. Freezing cold of course (the weather, not the coffee) - we went past workmen installing heating pipes under a new footpath!!

Back on the boat for a midday departure which took us out of the harbour past some beautiful old lighthouses, still in use with automatic lights but which can also be rented for holidays if you really want to get away frrom it all!

Navigating these waters is quite extraordinary - changing course constantly as little islands and shoals appear - before GPS it must have been a nightmare. We had an interesting manouvre today as the ship had to turn 90 dgrees into a passage (Stokksund) which has an opening only 45 meters wide - the photos are interesting!

All along the way of course he scenery is just spectacularly beautiful - interestingly we seem to have left the "fijord" type landscpes and that has been replaced by generally lower rocky landscapes with fishing and farming villages scattered along the coast - just have to see the photos I'm afraid! I did manage to get facebook off last night so some there.

Big day tomorrow - we cross the Arctic Circle in the morning!

Trivia: Kaiser Willhelm was travelling on his yacht through these waters and apparently as they approached Stokksund he became so nervous that he tried to take control of the yacht - his captain pushed him aside saying "I'm in charge here" - a fairly brave move at the time! The repentant Kaier later gave him a gold watch.

Cap report: They are multiplying!! There was a "Hurtigruten" woolly cap on our beds when we returned to our cabins last night!

2014 -Day 39 (up the Norwegian coast!!)

This is the life!! Just cruising along watching incredible scenery passing before your eyes, relaxing and taking beautiful walks on shore ........... (but it can't last!!!)

Cabin/beds are thankfully very comfortable so we had a good night's sleep - needed the alarm to wake us at 8.00!! Still quite dull outside in spite of now clouds to speak of - another beautiful, fine day.

Overnight we had actually called in to four ports - Floro, Maloy, Stadhavet and Torvik - but didn't notice!! Ship is actually fairly quiet even when loading and unloading which they do a lot of. As we are "between seasons" for their tourism, there are only about 50 passengers on board this trip so it is almost like having the ship to ourselves sometimes - at breakfast there were only a few other couples at the time we were eating.

Arrived Alesund just to unload and picked up a couple of "day" passengers - I was at reception as they booked in and found they were a couple who live just near the Matilda  Gympie!!

Magnificent scenery as we headed north and into the (apparently famous) Hjorundfjorden (fijord) and sailed slowly through the fijord to the little village of Urke. Some headed off on an excursion but as it was similar to the "Nutshell" tour we had done on Monday we had lunch on board (roast pork!!) and then caught the tender boat (the Vesteralen just anchored offshore) to Urke, took a walk around the village and then re-joined the excursion folk for the ride back to the ship.

Lovely people - only too happy to chat (VERY good English everywhere). Mostly fishing and farming (note for John - if you own 100 sheep here you are very rich!!!). Town has its own hydro plant for electricty as do most apparently - how's that for renewable energy??

Docking tonight in Molde - apparently famous for its annual jazz festival but unfortunately nothing on tonight. Food aboard the MS Vesteralen is terrific - dinner tonight (first formal dinner) was three courses with entre of trout, main course roast lamb and an apple based sweet - all beautiful. We are seated with the only other English speaking couple - a young English couple Chris & Caroline who are great company.

I was a bit afraid this trip might get a bit "samey" but if today is anything to go by, there is tremendous variety - judging by the tour information, we later get into permanent snow country as they are offering dog-sled tours, skiing tours etc. Sounds like fun!!!

Trivia: Outside temperature this morning was -1 (progress reports to come!)

cap report: thinking of sleeping with it on - and Elizabeth has a new Norway" one!

p.s. hello Tommy!!!

2014-Day 38 (Bergen)

We LOVE Bergen!! Reasons:

• the weather was perfect - cool and not a cloud in the sky
• it is not too big, but has everything including spectacular views from the mountain, beautiful forest walks on the mountain, charming architecture including world heritage listed wharf buildings, set on a magnificent harbour so has a natural beauty to add to it all
• The kids are just beautiful - the best behaved and most delightful children - more on them later

No rush this morning - we don't board the ferry until 6.00 so had all day for a casual look around Bergen. Found the Tourist Information centre at the end of the wharfside fishmarket  - the most beautiul displays of fresh fish, massive crabs, lobster etc. Lady recommended the funicular railway up the huge mountain which dominates the town, plus the entre of town, square parks etc.

Set off to find the  start of the funicular - kept going up and up and chatted to a man who said "just keep on going!!" so we did - eventually found we were almost at the top anyway and came across the last station before the top - it looked very steep from there so we paid A$10 each for a ticket to go about 100metres but it was worth it!!  Spectacular views from up there and had a nice coffee and waffle to regain our strength. Info lady had recommended we walk down back to town so in spite of our legs still burning from the walk up, we decided to walk it. Good decision as the path down took us through the most stunning forest walk - incredible plants, beautiful waterfalls and views of the city below through the trees.

Needed more sustinance when we got to the bottom and there was an "organic" coffee and sandwich cafe so we went in and had the most beautiful turkey/salad/cheese "sandwich" ever - great coffee as well. Bit like an up-market subway really - girl who served us leaves for 2 months in Australia in November! ...........and just next door was the terminus for the funicular!!!!

The kids: there were groups of chilren out and about everywhere. They were just amazing- most appeared to be about 3 years old so presumably they were childcare groups. Each group was accompanied by at least one male (no problems holding hands with the kids either) - they were all rugged up with beanies, coats etc and all wore yellow safety jackets. Almost all fair haired/blue eyes and they were just the happiest and best behaved groups of kids we've seeen - all walking calmly, often singing with their teachers, holding hands and staying in their group. Not a sign of a "Cory" anywhere!! We saw at least  dozen groups like this. The area on the mountain has beautiful playgrounds, adventure parks etc scattered all around the place so many were spending time there. VERY impressive.

Doing this part of the blog in the hotel lobby before catching the taxi to the ferrry - not sure if there will be any additions from the ferry tonight before we sail at 8.00pm

PART 2: On the ferry, just leaving port at 8.00 having booked in, had beautiful buffet dinner, listened to  guest clarinet quartet - and that's just the first 2 hours!! Having a "briefing" at 8.30 so will be heading for bed as soon as that's over - it has been a big day. Terrific ship - all looks good forr the next 6 days' cruising. Lovely facilities, friendly crew. Just need to deal with wine prices of about A$15 a GLASS!!!  Water is $6 a bottle - but Merv warned us and we brought our own. Good night all.

PART 3: STOP PRESS!!! During the briefing, an anouncement came over the speakers that the Northern Lights were visible - all abandoned the briefing and headed out on deck and there they were!! We hadn't really counted on seeing this incredible sight but HOPED we may and here they were on our first night. Captain said he had never seen them showing this far "south" so looks good for some more sightings as we go further north. Might evn be able to get a photo with some luck. very lucky!

Trivia: Bergen is where they discovered the cure for Leprosy - they even have a museum dedicated to the story!  (we didn't go)

Cap report: it will be hard to lose it on the ship!

2014 - Day 37 (Oslo to Bergen)

Huge day today but incredible scenery - one of the "great railway journeys of the world" (The Flam railway) and a boat trip on one of Norway's most spectacular Fijords - got the picture???

Had to start early though - the first train left Oslo Central at 8 and we had to pick up our tickets at least half an hour prior so - 6.30 breakfast and set off through the COLD dark streets of Oslo.

First stage was on the normal regional train from Oslo to Bergen but we went as far as Myrdal where we changed to the famous Flam Railway. The first  leg was through some spectaclar mountains, lakes, rivers, hydro power stations, ski resorts up to 1220 metres above sea level - snow on many of the peaks. Absolutely spectaclar. The Flam really justifies its claim to be one of the world's great railway journeys - watch out when we get home, there are going to be a lot of photographs!!

Story: About three or four minutes from the start of the Flam trip, the train stops to let everyone out on a platform to view/photograph a huge and spectacular waterfall. Our carriage was half full of Japanese and when we got back in to resume the journey, there they all were - fast asleep!!   One of the engineering and scenic wonders of the world and you pay to sleep through it!!!

Flam itself is in the head of the fijord and we had lunch at a restaurant there with probably the best view you can ever have with your fish and chips and coffee! We then boarded the fijord ferry which took us on a two our tip up to the top of the fijord at Gudvangen.

We were then taken by bus to the station at Voss and then the train  into Bergen where          we arrive at 8, got a cab to the hotel and went to the 7/11 to get some yoghurt for "dinner"

Tomorrow we explore Bergen which appears to be just beautiful at night. We board  the "Hutigruten" ferry from about  tomorrow - just a word of

Warning - WiFi apparently becomes very unreliable from here on so Facebook and blog will become a bit spasmodic as well - don't worry if one or both are "off air" over the next week.

Today was undoubtedly one of our most memorable travel days!!!

Trivia: TheFlam rilway was built in the 1860's and many of the roads built for the project are still in use themselves.


Cap report: firmly planted on he head!

2014 - Day 36 (St Petersburg to Oslo via Helsinki)

Starting this blog sitting at Helsinki airport as schedules dictate that we have to sit for 6 hours for our connecting flight to Oslo. Better inside than out though as it is 8 degrees outside and very grey and drizzly.

Left our St P's hotel at 10.00 with car transfer to the airport - only about 3/4 hour on a Sunday morning.

When we had booked into the hotel 3 days ago, the receptionist had said "We will do our best to change your pre-conceptions of Russia!!"  Well, the hotel only partly succeeded, the St Petersburg bus service failed and the Russian passport system completely failed to change any pre-conceptions we may have had! As mentioned when we arrived, the booths at the passport check are frosted glass - de-personalising and quite eerie - lots of people standing in lines in front of opaque glass. This morning's effort was actually quite funny. Went like this:

• lined up in  one of about 12 lines  facing the frosted glass and lights.
• got to within two of the front and it became apparent that the person being checked had a problem
• uniformed officer opened the door and escorted said person away
• we waited while other lines moved
• we kept waiting.
• officer wandered along so asked if we should change lines -   "Nyet, wait!"
• eventually decided to  change lines anyway.
• Officer returned to booth but no action - other people started lining up in anticipation.
• Nothing happened there but our new line moved slowly.
• Roller door on our original booth suddenly rolled shut! People in that line swore!
• Our line got to Elizabeth's turn and stopped.
• We waited - and waited
• Little man in uniform came along and said "computer problem"
• After about another 10 minutes green light showed for Elizabeth to move in.
• At the same time roller door on original booth opened again!
• Just checking our departure took about 3/4 hour!!

Eventually boarded our "fly be" (Finnair) flight over the Bay of Finland to Helsinki where part1 is being written - we get to Oslo at about 8.30 tonight so will update then.

OK - made it to Oslo (now 9.30 local time, 11.30 St Petersburg time) so been a big day. Wait  made longer at Helsinki as local time went back  hour. Had lunch and did some reading so time went OK. Flight to Oslo loaded and took off right on time and we had a lovely flight - due west so the sunset just stayed in front of us all the way. Beautiful clear air as we came into Oslo - 8 degrees.

Express train into Oslo central took half an hour and cost A$65 so per kilometre the most expensive train tip we've ever taken! Very nice train though. Welcome to Norway folks. Got directions to the hotel from a pleasant rail worker at the station so found ourselves here no problem.

Trivia: Although he had the magnificent "Peterhof" constructed at huge expense, Peter the Great preferred to live in a four room bungalow in the palace grounds - which is still there - from where he could better keep an eye on the Gulf of Finland from where he was certain the Swedes would attack!

Cap report: caps are in the suitcase, woollen cap out for the next week at least I think!

2014 - day 35 (St Petersburg)

Everyone says you MUST see the Peterof  and Pushkin when in St Petersburg and the hotel concierge suggested the best way to do it (they are about an hour's drive out of town) was to hire a driver and guide for ourselves (not as expensive as it sounds and price includes entry etc) so we had arranged that for today, our final day in St Petersburg.

So at 9.30 this morning we joined Dimitri the driver (and nice BMW) and Katherine (Ekaterina) our guide and set off!

First stop (50 mins) was Pushkin which was Catherine the Great's palace. There is a danger of course that you can get "palaced out" but these palaces are just beautiful and have extraordinary gardens, lakes, fountains etc  -   both were extensively damaged in WWll but huge amounts of the interiors were removed and hidden in a vault in St Petersburg and both palaces have been fully restored. The statues in the gardens were simply buried in the grounds (it all had to be done in about 48 hours) but unfortunately the fellow in charge was killed and his plan of buriel locations lost so they are still digging up statues!! Apparently there are now only two still undiscovered.

Katherine our guide was fantastic  and had an extraordinary knowledge of every aspect of the palaces and their grounds so it was great having her. The palaces were both beautifully set out with table settings, furniture etc all the genine article. Photos are the only way to demonstrate the incredible art-work and design. Gold everywhere of course but in a strange way, quite tasteful.

Also had our own private performance by a male quartet in one of the garden buildings (only because we had beaten the crowds) - beautiful sound and acoustics. Bought their CD!

Another 45 min trip to Peterhof which, as the name implies, was the (Summer) palace of Peter the Great who actually established St Petersburg from what was previously just swampland. Well, you've never seen fountains until you've been here - they are everywhere and mostly with figures covered in gold. The huge grounds have fountains scattered throughout. Incredibly, they are all gravity driven from nearby hills -even more extraordinary as some reach the same height although they descend down a slope - no pumps are used and the pipes are all made of pine with most of them still the originals from the 1700's. Remarkable feat of engineering. And an amazing bit of luck - today was the last day the fountains were to operate - tomorrow they start covering them all up for the winter!!!

Again, the interiors of this palace are just extraordinary with massive ballrooms, dining halls, theatres etc. Incredible.

Long day but one of the most enjoyable and eye-opening.  Think now we've seen the best of European Palaces - don't know of any that are reputed to surpass these two. Great way to finish our time in St Petersburg. Finished off tonight with another beautiful Beef Stroganoff!!  Good way to farewell Russia!

Trivia: Catherine the Great married Alexander, they had a son (later known as Crazy Paul) and then she poisoned  Alex. She was actually Prussian but became probably the greatest of the Tsars after Peter ----- and actually had trouble speaking Russian.

Cap report: All good.

2014-Day 34 (St Petersburg) *

Oh well, every day cannot go exactly as planned and today was one of those - contained some  special moments and sights though.

Plan as to catch the "Big Bus" hop-on-hop-off tour and just have a look at a number of the special places scattered around the city. Simple. These bus tours are our standard and generally very successful way of getting around and finding out the basics of a city. But....

OK for a start - walked from the hotel again across the bridge into town, found the Nevsky Prospect which is their wide main street and after a little searching, tracked down the bus stop - no sign of driver, ticket seller, anything. Normally these buses are very easy to find and have ticket sellers everywhere in your face trying to sell tickets - but not in St Petersburg! And a little sign to say schedule change - only going every hour on the hour. Three quarters of an hour to wait so what else? - went and had a coffee. Returned and caught the bus and decided to get offf at the main railway station where there was also a large shopping centre - had a look around, found the station was not as spectacular as we'd heard and checked out the shopping centre- just like most shopping centres. Elizabeth also checked out the WC at the station, found she required all her spare coins to be allowed in and then found they were the hole-in-the-ground type!! Went at the shopping centre for free!

Back on the bus and saw some spectacular buildings (made a mental check to get back to those later) and went across to the islands and got off to see the St Peter and St Paul Fort complex which also includes the Cathedral which looked pretty spectacular. By this time the rain had started (see "trivia" below) but was very light so we checked out the complex which was the main fortification for the city from the time of Peter the Great. Hadn't realised before that this is the buriel place for all the Tsars since his time and is also where they buried the remains of the last Tsar (Nichols ll) and is wife and family after their discovery in 2008. Little crypt in the corner of the cathedral for them.

Just missed the next bus at that stop, so decided to (guess what??) - go and have a coffee and meet the bus at the next stop. Did that, got to the stop with 10 minutes to spare, waited in the bus shelter as the rain got heavier and more and more people gathered. No bus. Got chatting with a nice American couple and their daughters - they've been living here since February with the kids at the international school (parents also studying Russian) - after about half an hour, the group decided that the bus was just not going to come - they said this happens quite frequently here. At the same time, the police arrived and started putting baracades across to block off the whole (VERY busy) street so that was presumably that!!! Luckily we were not that far from our hotel so decided to just walk home - luckily the rain had stopped. Never did get back to those buildings and places............ Still don't know why the street was just blocked off!!

Some more impressions of St Petersburg: *people walk around announcing things on megaphones - no idea what as it is all in Russian * The police wander around with batons in their hand * there are a LOT of people in unform *  there is almost NO rubbish and NO grafitti - cleanest city we've been in (might have something to do with those batons???) * They have huge parks and huge squares throughout the city - it used to be the capital in the time of the Tsars - Tsar Nicholas was based at the winter palace here for most of his reign and left from there in 1918.

Trivia: Officially, St Petersburg has 35 fine days per year - the rest are either drizzle, pouring rain or snow. That explains a lot!

Cap report: Not going anywhere without it! I'm feeling pretty smug 'cause someone else has lost theirs!

2014 - Day 33 (St.Petersburg)

Travel is full of "jaw-dropping" experiences but today would be one of the best - we spent the whole day wandering from room to room in the Winter place and Hermitge gallery saying "That's incredible" and "That's amazing" to ourselves.

Pretty standard hotel breakfst to start with, then had  chat with the concierge who gave us some ideas and tips, as a result of which we decided to "attack" the Winter Palace/hermitage gallery today - quite easy 20 min walk from the hotel across the main bridge where the complex sits beside the Neva river. Plans also for the next two days but tell you about them later.

How can you decribe the winter place/hermitge??? Probably can't, but it is recognised as probably the largest and best art collection in the world and after today we don't dispute that claim. The builings themelves (joined) are just magnificent. Built in the mid 1700's, severely damaged by fire in the 1850's, badly damaged in the seige of Leningrad (St Petersburg of course) in the 1940's the complex has obviously had a chequered life but has been restored after each of those setbacks and is just breath-taking in its internal architecture and artwork - definitely more pleasing to the eye than the "over-the-top" Versailles.

You just walk from one incredble room to the next - even the doors and their surrounds are beautiful works of art in their own right. Then you add galleries of Reubens, Rembrant, Leonardo Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Rembrant and today we didn't have a large crown so you could walk right up to them and look/photograph ( I  paid the extra 200 Rbls - about $8 - to be allowed to photograph) - this sort of experience cannot be equalled! There were also Eqyptian, Roman, Greek galleries plus more tht we had no chance of getting to.

All in ll, one of the most memorable of days!!

Back to the hotel for a hot bath and again dinner at the hotel tonight - Chicken Kiev is another traditional Russian meal isn't it?? - again much better than any kiev previously tasted. Elizabeth, would you believe, had beetroot soup which she reports was beautiful and very filling!

A few observations on Russia and St Petersburg: *A lot of girls here must have extremely cold legs  *St Petersburg is not a city you love - you are, however, impressed with it - everything is huge  * there are very few cafes here - you can walk a very long way and not see a cafe or restaurant  *their uni students are well dressed and incredibly subdued! * it is seemingly constantly cloud-covered and freezing! * NEVER order meat pie in Russia - I ordered one for lunch and what came?? - a cold small dinner roll with equally cold mince in the middle!!! Quite forgettable. * the hotel has a heated floor in the bathroom - fantastic for drying the washing!!

Trivia: The Russian Ruble is declining sharply in value - inflation is running at a very high level, but Putin's approval rating is circa 80%. Work that out.

Cap report - starting to get confident (but not overly so yet)

2014 Day32 (London to St Petersburg)

First impressions of St Petersburg??? - HUGE, very cold, grey, speed limits do NOT apply.

First though, we had to get here, which involved the alarm going off at 5.00am which we are definitely NOTused to! A 15MIN walk in the dark/drizzle up to Victoria station where finding the underground section proved the first hurdle, but once we'd successfully negotiated the numerous stairs to the "District line"  a train came along in the expected 5 minutes and we were on our way - changed to the "Heathrow" train at Hammersmith (aren't we getting just so clever??) and arrived at Heathrow T5 right on 7 as hoped. Checked in, had a lovely muesli, juice and coffee at the "Giraffe" cafe by which time it was departure lounge time and we loaded right on time for  9.20 departure.

Weather cleared up as we headed East over North Sea, Demark Sweden, and into St Petersburg half an hour ahead of time (tail wind). Totally different landscape coming in -  dull green and lots of forest. As the aircraft approached the taxi-ways, out came a car with flashing lights and escorted it to a stand-by where the Captain advised us that as we were early, we had to wait for a plane to vacate the bridge before we could proceed. After 15 mins, little car arrived again to "guide" the aircraft in to the bridge, helped by a "paddleman" - haven't seeen one of those in years!

Airport terminal is large and grey (literally) and interesting lining up for passport checks - unlike all others we've encountered, each officer sits in a little cubicle which has smoked glass so you can't see her fom the line - you stand at the red line and wait fo a green light to show and then walk into the cubicle space with a mirror behind you and then you hand over the passport to a very severe looking lady who types an amazing amount of stuff into her computer, looks you up and down and uses a lot of stamps.

We were met by the transfer driver and it took almost an hour to get into the hotel along very wide streets with tram space in the middle and VERY quick - didn't see any speed limit signs and if there were, no-one was taking any notice!

So we've been here a couple of hours, taken a walk allong the river walk, entered a Russian Orthodox church nearby where there was a service of some sort going on - very intereting, with magnificent singing by the numerous  (unseen) priests involved while the people stood in a large open space. At one stage the lights were brightened, a door opened so you could see the priests and the music became quite beautiful harmonies. Then the door closed, the lights dimmed and it was back to chanting!

Had dinner tonight at the hotel restaurant - actually very good - I was very happy to be reminded that beef stroganoff is of course a traditional russian meal so I enjoyed the best stroganoff I've ever tasted and Elizabeth enjoyed a grilled trout - both followed with profitteroles (traditional Russian???)

So the next three days will be spent in this aleady obviously incredible city - should be fun!

Trivia: back to London for a moment - when the opened their "millenium" pedestrian bridge in 2000, it wobbled so much on the first day of use that they had to close it immediately - they then had to spend another 7 million pounds to "de-wobblify" it!

Cap report: The woollen Welsh cap is back in use!!!  This place is VERY cold.

2014 Day 31 (London)

Just back at the hotel from seeing "Billy Elliott"" at the Victoria Palace theatre so might be a short blog but we've done so much today that might be a bit diffficult!!

One day in London, so decided to take the river cruise up to Greenwich as we had not seen it before. Had a very entertaining commentary on the trip up to greenwich ("There's the Traitor's Gate, London's first one-way street") and arrived there about MT time!

We had a great day there - it is  beautiful spot with the Royal Observatory, The meridian, Queen's House, the fantastic Maritime Museum with Nelson's uniform complete with fatal bullet hole on the shoulder, the beautiful Naval Chapel (another of Wren's works) and the painted hall - we easily spent the whole day there before catching the 4.00 boat back.

Walked up to the West end and found that "Billy Elliott" was on at a theatre not far from our hotel so that decided us in favour of seeing it. Fantastic choice - it is a wonderfully entertaining show with all the required comedy, pathos, incredible dancing and brilllliantly performed by the kids in particular.

Off early in the morning to catch the underground to Heathrow for our flight to St Petersburg.

Trivia: Capt Sparrow from Pirates of the carribean is loosley based on the infamous Captain Kidd - he was tied to the wall on the Thames at low tide and left for three days - if he had survived he would have been pardoned (but he didn't)

cap report: too cold to take it off at all today1

2014 - Day 30 (St Giles to London)

A "travel" day today so guess what?? - yep, wet. In fact last night there were gale warnings for the West and other parts of the UK and sure enough, the wind howled all night and the rain lashed the windows and we woke to a very dismal scene.

Another great breakfast from David and we packed the little car for the last time and set off to Bristol and across the huge Severn bridge to Chepstow where we had arranged to meet Jenny and return her car and catch the coach to London. Thankfully the wind had died down by the time we left at about 9 but intermittent  heavy rain continued and there were three or four accidents on the M30 and M4 which of course slowed the trip somewhat.

Stopped for a coffee at a huge roadside "services"  centre along the way and arrived in Chepstow at about 12.30 and enjoyed a lovely lunch at a little restaurant there with Jenny and Paul. Said our sad farewells to them and then  waited for the "coach" which arrived pretty well on time at 2.45. Just as well we were on the coach today as most of the rail services from the West into London were cancelled, but the coach is not the most comfortable we've experienced and the trip into central London at about 5 in the afternoon is obviously VERY slow!

With the help of a community policemen we navigated our way from Victoria Station to the Belgrave Hotel where we stay for the next two nights. Great little pub called the Gallery just down on the next corner where we enjoyed a terrific dinner (both had grilled salmon with peas, potatoes and a cream sauce - yummy) - and a Guiness

The forecast is for clearer weather tomorrow so we'll see how it goes - we'd like to cruise down the river to Greenwich but we'll see how it looks in the morning.

Trivia: England has just experienced its driest September on record - good for us though!!

Cap report: wore the new Welsh cap tonight - its ccold out there!!!!

2014 - Day 28 (Cornwall/Devon)

Last day to explore Devon and Cornwall so again followed David's advice and headed for  firstly the local town Launceston (Lonston, remember!) and then to Tavistok, an old market town on the edge of the Dartmoor National park and forest (famous for the maximum security prison of course)

Being Sunday morning, Launceston was very quiet. Has an old castle ruin in the centre of town which was the seat of the Dukes of Cornwall. Otherwise there is not a huge amount to Launceston - typical narrow streets at the centre with a town square.

Headed for Tavistok where we did the park and pay thing on the edge of town and walked in for a look around. Really pretty village (almost completely rebuilt by the VII Duke of Bedford in the 1800's) and lots going on, including a combined fun run and food festival. Unfortunately the apparently excellent markets were not operating but enjoyed looking around the rest of it. Very nice coffee shop (it was that time) and then a kind gentleman invited us to visit their museum which was open and had a special exhibition on the American forces stationed in the area prior to D-Day which was very well done and interesting.

Checked out the church on the edge of town - used to be an Abbey and a small section of the original cloisters have remained. Really one of the nicest Parish churches we've seen in UK.

Then came the "down" side of the day - got back to the carpark about half an hour after time and a parking attendent had just beaten us there - 50 pound fine!!!! Bit rich for a Sunday when not much was open and the car park was half empty - and there were dozens of spare roadside  parking spaces as we had walked into town - = one unimpressed tourist! No other village we visited today even charged on Sundays.

Anyway, proceeded across the Dartmoor moor and forest - took time for a lovely walk through the forest. Lots of people/dogs taking advantage of yet another day's beautiful sunshine (but quite cool and windy) Stopped off at another lovely village (also with FREE parking on Sunday) called Moretonhampsted.

Back down the familiar A30 back home. Sadly our Pint and Post was not open tonight so had to go into Launceston to the "White Horse" where it was much noisier and the food was not quite as good - but th people were very friendly and we had a good time.

Unfortunately the weather forecast for tomorrow morning is pretty awful - strong gale-force wind and lots of rain for our trip to Chepstow to return Jenny's car and catch the bus to London. Been amazingly lucky with the weather so can't complain.

Really interesting conversations in the pubs - whenever Australia is mentioned here at the moment you get the same response - complete awe with the way "we" have put a stop to "illegal immigration" - they are unanimously in awe of what Australia has achieved!! - and EVERYONE knows about it.

Trivia: Apart from the terrible beheading of the taxi-driver from Birmingham the other big news item here at the moment is that the EU has brought in a law to limit the power of vacuum-cleaners to 1000watts and hair-dryers are next!! Lovely comment from the BBC host on radio2 today -"Now when you go to the hairdressers, you mart as well use a towel and go 'ome on the boos"  - probably right.

cap report: used all day and still OK!

2014 - day 27 (cornwall)

"When I was going to St Ives, I met a man with seven wives"............. (Claire and Jessie and Tommy might like to look the rest up in the Nursery Rhyme Book!) - that's one place we went today!!

Incredible luck with the weather - we had a huge storm overnight with very strong winds and lots of rain and this morning dawned still wet and windy. However, the forecast said that the day would end up sunny so over our now normal beautiful breakfast we planned to go to Truro first to seee the cathedral and the apparently lovely town and then head for the coast by which time the day would hopefully be fine again. Turned out that the sun was shining by the time we left Poole farm!!

Easy trip to Truro where we arrived just after 11. Parked and went around to the cathedral which looks very similar to St Johns in Brisbane (see trivia) only to find a "service in progress" sign outside. VERY friendly attendants and we were allowed in to join in the service which was a "licensing of readers" ceremony followed by Eucharist - choir and organ involved so the music was just beautiful and so we enjoyed the whole service. Really friendly and welcoming lot, including the Archbishop.

Needed a coffee before continuing - Truro is a beautiul city with the cathedral literally at the centre and found plenty of places to choose from  ended up at a chocolate shop!  On then to Mont St Michael which is  monastry on an island just off Marazion which is yet another lovely little seaside village with lots of at galleries, gift shops etc.

Next stop was the "famous" St Ives - very steep walk from the car park down to the town which is a bit of another "Dick and Dora" holiday venue - lots of people just strolling along the waterfront enjoying ice-creams and the sunshine - lots of boats in the harbour and cafes, restaurants etc. Quite nice though. Checked out the massive rescue boat.

Almost 5 by this point so headed back direct to the Pint and Post for  drink and dinner - lamb cutlets, shepherds pie, a lager and a full bottle of Shiraz (we had used their whole stock of small bottles so Tim went out and bought us a bottle specially - how could we refuse???) for 26 pounds! Hilarious night - half the regulars whom we have got to know quite well were off to a wedding and the conversation was just hilarious - a fun farewell to a terrific group of people.

Just loving Devon and Cornwall - terrrific people (but really hard to understand sometimes), beautiful scenery and incredible little seaside villages, each one very different. Weather has obviously helped to put it all in  good light.

Trivia: Truro cathedral was designed by Pearson, the same architect who designed St John's in Brisbane - thus  explaining the striking similarity.

cap report: still OK!!!!

2014-Day 26 (South Cornwall)

If any of our "Blog" readers can relate to this, we decided that today turned out to be our own version of "Dick and Dora go to the seaside" - the places we visited all looked like illustrations straight out of "Dick and Dora"

Started out quite cloudy and windy but David assured us that it was just "misty" and that the sun would come through - and it did! Headed south after another magnificent breakfast (I'll post a photo of the menu tomorrow - please feel for us as we have to make such decisions first thing in the morning!!)

First part of the trip down the A30 took us through the "Bodmin Moor" and then onto seaside village of St Mawes - that is where we first decided we were on the "Dick and Dora"seaside tour - it all looked just like the illustrations - seagulls, litttle boats moored by the harour wall, lighthouse, little shelly beaches, fishermen, etc etc - but a lovely place. It stands at one side of Falmouth harbour and Henry VIII built a fort on the peninsular to protect the approaches to Falmouth which was one of his main Naval bases.

Some observations about the English from our time so far: - Dogs go everywhere; all female drivers of Land rovers, BMW and Audi SUV's have blonde bobs; they're VERY courteous drivers, they all walk small dogs; in Cornwall the word "the" doesn't get used as in "I went to pub" or "I'll get car out"; men don't go out without a blue cardigan; European cars - especially German - outnumber British 20:1.

We then got slightly lost on the way to the next intended destination but it turned out fine as we ended up at St Just's where we had a beautiful walk around the peninsular to a lighthouse and an old WWII gun emplacement and a beautiful view across the whole bay to Falmouth. We then headed (David's suggestion)  to Mevagissey which is a beautiful old fishing village along the coast, relatively unspoilt where we had cake and coffee (???) in a great little cafe where we were invited to be their first Aussie customers to place a pin in their world map showing where their customers have come from. Great priviledge!!  Maryborough was actually marked on the map!

Back home via St Austell, Liskeard. Dinner tonight at the "Pint and Post" has been promised to be a special fish dish so we'll see what Jim comes up with and report later!

Roads today were the narrowest but probably the most picturesque we've been on so far (don't worry Jenny, we didn't brush against anything!!) - one lane only for much of the way with the occasional wider bit for passing - we only had to back up once but were saved when a tractor came up behind us and the other guy had to reverse to let us both through. Many parts of the roads were just a tunnel - high hedgerows with trees joining above - beautiful, but you miss some of the beautiful views of the open Cornish countryside.

Trivia: rest day - more tomorrow!
cap report: looking as though I MIGHT make it!!

2014 - Day 25 (Cornish Coast)

Best weather so far in UK today - none have been bad, but today was particularly warm and sunny - just perfect for a day of exploring the North Cornwall coast which we were told is really beautiful. Turns out "they" were right!

With advice from David at the B&B and following a magnificent breakfast he cooked for us we set off down the A30 and on to Padstow one of the largest port towns. Weren't really ALL that impressed - quite a nice waterfront without being especially beautiful - back steets were quite interesting and the coastal walk gave spectacular views up and down the Cornish coastline. Had an ice-cream, paid for our parking and set off for Port Isaac to the North. For those who don't know, Port Isaac is more famous as "Port Wenn" in the Doc Martin series.

Parked the car in a free spot over the road from the "Park and Display" and walked into the village down an incredibly steep laneway and emerged into "doc martin" territory - all there just as you imagine it.  Found a little cafe right next to the slipway and had a " crab sandwich" for lunch. Thought 10 pound was a bit of a rip-off for a crab sandwich but out came a huge plate of crab, seafood sauce, salad and bread and it was just beautiful - all while looking out over the little harbour so familiar from the show. Up the hill past "Doc  Martin's house" you get a view down into the old part of the village which is the bit they use of course - the town is actually quite large and in places quite new. The "school" in the show is now a hotel and restaurant and someone is making a fortune taking "Doc Martin" town walks for 10 pounds each!! Might suggest that for Maryborough!!

Next stop along the coast was Boscastle which is  National trust town. It had a huge flood in 2004 and a number of buildings were destroyed but have been rebuilt since. Beautiful little place with an incrdible harbour in which the tide rises and falls a huge amount in a very short time.

Back home via Bude after stopping off at Widemouth Bay which is one of their top surfing beaches - won't say too much except you can see why the folks here think places like the Sunshine Coast are pretty terrific!!

Back to the "Pint and Post" for Shepherds Pie tonight!!! - it got its name becuse part of it was once the Post Office.

Trivia: The "Restaurant" featured in Doc Martin is not a restaurant at all - it is set up especilly at the front of a private home on the cliff.

Cap report: why ask??

2014 - Day25 (Great Rissington to Launceston)

Better start with the important stuff - Launceston here is NOT pronounced as for Tasmania -- it is Lonson or if you are really local it is Lanson. So there.

Also before I get to today, I forgot to mention in the last 2 blogs about the wildlife in the Cotswolds - it was just amazing. The birds really made their presence felt - you could hear them all the time when not on a busy road (not much) - the pheasants were all through the hedgerows and would wait until you were right next to them and then decide to try and take off across your path - they don't fly very well and so they'd give you quite a fright. Also squirrels and foxes would frequently race across in front and the major roadkill around there seemed to be huge rats.

So to today - a travel day so of course we got some rain, but only a little although the clouds looked very threatening at times. Navigated well from Bourton etc, through Cirencester, onto the M4 across towards Bristol then onto the M5 to Exeter and then the A30 to Launceston. Easy trip with light traffic generally on the M's until near the major centres and then OK again. Stopped at a servo for refrshments and got the Launceston at about 2. Launceston must be one of the most confusing places around for navigation - we needed the A388 north to St Giles-on-the-heath to find Poole farm but we   found about  5 signs directing to A388 all in different directions!!! Eventually sorted it out and then had to ask at the St Giles PO for directions to Poole farm as there were no signs to it (must make that suggestion!!!)

But we've been well rewarded - it is a  beautiful B&B - sitting on the banks of the Tamar River in the middle of farmland. The Tamar is the border with Cornwall so we took a walk over the old bridge into Cornwall this afternoon and it  is SO quiet and peaceful - and we've got 5 days here! Local little pub for dinner tonight and then we'll chat with David the owner re what to do over the next few days. We have the whole place to ourselves - we booked in February and after that they decided that Diana was having an end-of-season break from this Friday so held our booking but took no more for this  period - David will look after us until Monday then join her for their break.

Headed for the local 'Pint and Post" pub for dinner - made to feel SO welcome and had a terrrific night - it was their "lasagne and pizza" night so we had lasagne (and chips!!) along with a couple of small bottles of wine, lovely garlic bread, a guiness - grand total 22 pounds! Gorgeous little 16th century pub, thatched roof, bar ceiling just above head height - I'll get a photo of it in dayllight tomorrow for facebook

Trivia: The Conservative Party Conference is on here at the moment. It is quite uncanny - the issues are exactly the same as home, only the names of the personalities are different!!! They even seem to have their own Clive Palmer!!

Cap report: more than half way and still OK!