Two years ago we sailed on the Regal Princess, one of the largest ships in their cruise fleet. This time we are on Pacific Princess, the smallest.  She is an older ship, recently refurbished.  There are definite differences between the two, and pros and cons to each. Pacific definitely does not have the Wow factor […]

Our first port of call was Lerwick, the capital of the Shetland Islands, and Britain’s most northerly town (if we’d brought DROC jackets we could have claimed the record for the DROC jackets which have been the furthest north within the British Isles).  The Shetlands lie 130 miles northeast of the northern tip of Scotland. […]

Cruise embarkation day!  While we slept, our ship, the Pacific Princess, pulled into Dover, and was awaiting our arrival.  Turns out overnight she was also involved in the rescue of three fishermen, and news crews have been on board. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/aug/25/cruise-passengers-clap-as-pacific-princess-rescues-fishermen Meanwhile we were busy eating the last of our food, packing our suitcases, and mustering up […]

The sound of Dover is the sound of seagulls (not bluebirds), and they woke us up this morning with their clamour, along with a very pleasant burst of sunshine.  Our mission today was to explore the Castle; but first we had to get there.  Down our steep hill, along a couple of streets, then up […]

We bid a fond farewell to Toft Hall, to stone walls, to the Tyne bridges, to the Angel, and to Northumberland in general; and boarded our train to London, which was embossed with “Battle of Britain” livery. We whizzed past Durham with its cathedral, then through York, Doncaster and Peterborough, with smooth efficiency.  It’s remarkable […]

A lazy day. Rain. Eggs on toast for lunch.  Eventually we drove to Gateshead to see the Angel of the North, which spreads its wings in welcome.  Not everyone loves it but I reckon as far as public art goes, I’ve seen much worse.  The dull grey sky made photographing it difficult; however If you […]

Hadrian’s Wall. It was hard to believe we’d been in Northumberland for five days, and still hadn’t seen it.  We’d seen signs a-plenty, but were yet to lay eyes on the actual Wall.  That all changed today, as we drove west.  There are stone walls absolutely everywhere here, but The Wall is easy to spot.  […]

After three days of our own version of Escape to the Country, we decided it was time to have a look at the City.  Our accommodation host had advised us, wisely, to drive to a Park & Ride and take the metro train, rather than do battle with the traffic and the one way streets. […]