Off Vi-go!

Today we arrived in Lanzarote, docking at Arricife, not a particularly nice port but the immediate view of the island was spectacular. Thankfully, we were here for the volcanoes and not for the sites.

The day started off well when we found that we were being taken to the volcano in minibuses in true field trip style. We were driven 30 minutes away from the port and into the barren landscape of the Timanfaya national park. While we went to Tenerife 2 days ago, Lanzarote is completely different - much flatter with cones dotted here and there, whereas Tenerife was very much a single cone. Although Tenerife's landscape is amazing, Lanzarote's is much more impressive and accessible - the cones are surrounded by lava flows and it would be easy to imagine that this is what the Lake District and Cross Fell looked like 300 and something million years ago (now only the cones are left).

We parked in the crater of a small volcano and then walked across the badlands (aa lava field) to another volcano. On the way we saw: lava tubes (including one big one that we jumped inside of), pahoehoe lava, volcanic bombs and ended up with lapilli in our shoes. The guide focused almost entirely on the geology of the area, which was brilliant for us, and he told in in very simple terms so everyone could understand. We were very impressed.

We started to ascend up the volcano, up the side of a lava flow which had cascaded down the side of the cone. The lava erupted in 1730-36, which was not the last eruption, but it was well preserved because of the arid climate on Lanzarote compared with the other islands. We came first across a lava lake which was set within a crater. The crater was from a slightly old volcano and the lava from the 1730 volcano had cascaded into it, filled it up and then flowed down the sides.

They took us part of the way up the rest of the volcano, to about 400m above sea level (the highest point on Lanzarote is only 680m above sea level) where we got a really good view over the island. Then we descended down into another small volcano, back across the badlands and back to the minibus.

We walked for about 3 hours or so, covering only about 3 miles but we didn't mind stopping and waiting for the slower people because the guide took the opportunity to tell us more about the volcanoes!

Today has been our favourite day so far, although its still not been enough to persuade us to come back to the Canary Islands.

We have now left Lanzarote - we should have been here until 5.30 but because of the weather on the way home we left 2 hours early and are already doing max speed of 22 knots. They obviously want to get north as quick as possible. The captain announced that we should hit the bad weather at lunchtime tomorrow (Wednesday) and to be prepared for a bumpy ride home.

We had a sneaky sleep before dinner and are now finishing off with a cocktail in the Spinnaker bar - sadly we've been coming here so often that the waitress knows our room number..... Please note the size of the heels worn on a ship in the bumpy Atlantic (by Victoria). Outfit brought to you by Matalan (shoes, dress, hairband), Dorothy Perkins (bag) and boots (earrings). Total cost £66 but has already been worn for a wedding.

We now have a sea day and then should arrive in Vigo on Thursday - all being well.

Batten down the hatches

So we've just looked on the met office shipping forecast and those red alert splodges cover our entire journey home. Here it is in case you want to keep track.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/marine/shipping_forecast.html#All~All

We will pass through Trafalgar, Fitzroy, biscay, Plymouth and Solent. All predicting force 10 overnight tonight & we've been told to expect for worsening conditions later in the week.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes was excellent. Finishing off the night with a cocktail in the spinnaker bar while we check out Vigo on the web.

Not so gran canaria

Buenos noches! Last night we decided not to go to the posh dinner (although it was only a smart causal night anyway) and went to the Indian themed buffet in the Belvedere. Battle LA was the in-cabin movie so we watched that. Very poor.

Whilst in the Belvedere, we noticed that we could still see land - in fact we could see both Tenerife AND Gran Canaria. According to the chart posted in the Neptune bar (which we refer to regularly) we should have left Tenerife, turned left, sailed north and then turned right, right again and then a third right into Las Palmas, Gran Canaria (not to be confused with La Palma, the other island). The Passenger Information Channel on our TV showed that we were, as we suspected, actually travelling south between the two islands. Perplexed.

This means we travelled into Las Palmas by circumnavigating round the south of Gran Canaria not the north, doubling the distance we need to travel. Even so, we appeared to arrive pretty early! This is what happens when the deputy captain and second officer take charge. All night we could see the lights of Gran Canaria very clearly from our balcony (we are on port side). For part of the journey, if we could see > 100 miles from the starboard side of the ship, the next land would have been El Hierro!

Today we were on the 'Essence of Gran Canaria' tour so that we could go to the Bandama crater. That part of the tour lasted 15 mins and otherwise we spent the morning in a coach driving around the north of the island. They took us to a small village caller Teror, which was pretty but there was nothing there but a shop trying to flog perfume that the tour guide seemed to have a hand in. Then they took us to Aracas, where there was a pretty church similar in style to the cathedral in Vienna and, unusually, made of black stone. Very gothic. The tour ended with a drink and snack at a hotel - why - which cemented Victorias opinion that there's nowt else in Gran Canaria.

We were back to the ship by 1.15, and, since the only other recommendation we were given was a big shopping centre just off the dock, we headed back to the cabin for some sunbathing on the balcony. Victoria has slept all afternoon but Andrew, of course, made it for afternoon tea.

At 5.30 the captain made an announcement via the in-cabin system. This is not normal practice so we knew there it something important. He gave it as a good news bad news thing. Good news was the medical emergency delaying our departure was over. Bad news involved the UK weather.

We have been aware of the high winds and were mentally preparing for the journey home to be very choppy, however because we will be hitting it probably from tomorrow night onwards to Portugal, the ship has been told it would be impossible to dock in Oporto because it is a very open harbour and awkward approach, and if we did we would probably be delayed leaving and late back to Southampton.

However, they have arranged instead for us to stop in Vigo, Spain, but only for half a day - we need to try and get ahead of the weather coming UK-wards this weekend (just to warn you - the weather on Sky News has snow we see!!!). This is a huge bonus for us as it was Vigo or Lisbon that originally made us look at the Canary cruises. We haven't scoped out Vigo, but the Captain says we will receive a flyer about it later today and we can look it up on the web.

Whilst this means we still have not been to Portugal (unless you count Madeira), Thursday is a Portuguese public holiday and most places would be closed. Spain, however, is open for business! (we think).

Tonight we're going to see Rise of the Planet of the Apes in the cinema, so are just having the buffet dinner again.

Volcano number 1

Hola! We have arrived in Tenerife after another choppy night on board. We suspect they aren't using the ships stabilisers as it wasn't this choppy even in the Baltic - not the best sleep so far.

We had to be up at 7am because our tour was leaving the ship at 8.15, but the port authorities seemed to have cocked up and a German ship had to enter the harbour before us, so we were late docking and late leaving. Finally at 8.30 we ventured off with only 15 other people for a hike in the Teide volcano national park. The coach took us to the base of Teide via a lookout point where the view of the volcano was spectacular, and we then made our way to the start of the walk inside the caldera.

Again, we were told 3 hours walking but it turned out to be only 2, but it was very enjoyable. We walked around the Garcia rock formation which was a pretty spectacular volcanic plug (we think) from the volcano that preceded Teide. The weather was a little windy and chilly when on the caldera floor, but once we got going and a bit of climbing started it warmed up and there were clear blue skies.

We estimated it was probably only 2 miles, 3 at a push but it was over the lava flows. It wasn't quite long enough for us, and there was quite a bit stopping and waiting for slow coaches, but it gave us chance to take photographs (sorry not on this device) and overall was exactly what we wanted to do in Tenerife - the first time for a long time we will be going home with a camera full of photos of rocks. (Actually not since before digital cameras came on the market have we taken so many rock photos!)

We were back on the ship by 2.45 so headed to the Belvedere for a quick snack. We had planned on having a sneaky sleep, but when we saw about Gary Speed on the news we have come down to the Rising Sun (pub) to watch Sky Sports, but sadly they are showing Liverpool v Man City so we're retreating soon for that sleep. We were told there was very little to see in Santa Cruz (yes another Santa Cruz) so we haven't bothered to think. About walking into the town here. Jon might have liked the new theatre though - designed to look like an upside down boat - its v nice.

Tomorrow is Gran Canaria and we have booked onto a half day trip up the the caldera (volcano number 2) since we're again been told there's v little in the port town we'll be docking at. It's not a hike, but at least we'll get to see some of the island that isn't a tourist trap.

La Isla Bonita

Hola amigos! Here we are in Espana - the lovely island of La Palma to be precise. Its quite green from what we can see from the port, like Madeira, and probably the last time we'll see decent vegetation before Oporto next week.

It was a bit of a rough night last night and we didn't sleep well. Plus this morning we had to reverse into Santa Cruz harbour, meaning at 7am we were juddered awake as we turned around. We didn't actually get up until 9.45 when we heard the Captain announce the emergency drill for the crew. We headed to breakfast and then took the short walk into Santa Cruz town centre.

We weren't expecting a lot here, and if we're honest we wished we'd booked onto one of the tours as one of them went up to the volcano, more specifically to the observatory (telescope), but we didn't want to sit on a coach for the whole day and pay >£50 each for 30 mins looking at the outside of a dome. As it turned out, we probably made the right choice to stay in Santa Cruz because, provided you left the main street, there was plenty to see and we spent 3 hours wandering around somewhere probably the size of Bletchley.

The main street (Calle O'Daly) is probably more than a mile long, cobbled and narrow and our ship was parked at one end, and at the other was a replica of Columbus' ship Santa Maria (made out of concrete but painted to look like wood - very strange). Along the way from our ship to Mr C's was the Plaza de Espana home to a cathedral and the town hall. A local youth wind band were playing outside the town hall.

Once we'd walked all the way along the Calle O'Daly, we walked along the parallel coast road back towards our ship and watched the (rather choppy) sea come over the promenade. We took a dive back on the the Calle O'Daly and found a small, free museum tucked in between some shops. We think this was called the Casa Salazar, and it was a military museum. Aside from the guns, cannonballs etc, there was an entire room dedicated to the pirate Sir Francis Drake. Seemingly they are very proud that the sea defences of La Palma kept Drake out of the island, humiliating him. The display had pictures of him among other pirates such as Blackbeard. All the English people found this hilarious.

In the museum foyer we noticed an advert for an astronomy exhibition at another museum in Santa Cruz, so off we headed back to the other end of the Calle O'Daly. This museum, the Museo Insular, was based in a former convent of some Franciscan monks, and there's still a big church attached. Although €4 each there were paintings by Spanish artists, an exhibition of traditional Spanish guitars - including one made from a hard hat and another from an armadillos shell, traditional crafts and some more ship stuff.

The astronomy exhibition turned out to only be a couple of boards in Spanish, but the courtyard inside was the place where the observatory was founded in 1985 by the planting of orange trees by the King & Queen of Spain, the presidents of Ireland & Germany and the Duke of Gloucester (who is he?). Very pretty and very very quiet. We only saw 4 other visitors in the hour we were there, which is a shame.

We headed back and had a coffee in a bar in the town and then were back to the ship by 2.45. We've had some nibbles at afternoon tea, and are now sat in the Spinnaker bar having a Longboat Fizz each. We're going to go and book on a trip on Gran Canaria for Monday as it looks like the port area where we dock is a bit devoid of anything interesting. Tomorrow is Tenerife and our trek into Teide's volcanic caldera, so we'll have an early night tonight (sea conditions permitting).

Buenos noches!

Madeira

We have reached our first port - Madeira. Weather here is about 20 degrees C and sunny. Having been at sea for 3 days, land seems quite unusual, and the photo below shows the view of Funchal, Madeira's capital, that we woke to this morning (taken from our balcony).

Last night was the black and white ball, and so the tux was out again. Victoria was in a size 12 number from the Dorothy Perkins sale £25, bag from Primarni £3, same BHS shoes and hair slide from Alexis and Jon's wedding. (already counted the shoes and Alexis bought the slide so this was a posh outfit for <£30 - excellent.) We gave the captain's gala welcome a miss so we could have a formal photograph taken, and we were a little late than normal getting ready because Andrew had been to the gym, and Victoria to a yoga class!

Straight after dinner we retired to bed and were asleep by 11 in readiness for today. We were woken at 7 as we backed into the Funchal port, but dozed back off until 8 when we had to get up and collect our tour stickers for today's Levada walk.

We were a bit annoyed as it was advertised as a 3 hour walk but this turned out to be 2 hours with a 30 min coffee stop, but the walk was lovely. The Levadas are Madeira's irrigation system built so that even those with farms and homes on the hills can irrigate their vegetable plots - Madeira is largely self-sustaining, and anything not grown here is imported from Portugal and therefore expensive.

The walk was along the Camacha Levada and was very similar to some of the walks we've done in the UK - lovely wooded walk through laurels, oaks and willow. It was very like the walks around Cragside, just without conifers. Heavy leaf canopy so not much sunshine, and after coffee we set the trend by putting on our water proofs to keep warm. The walk was only 6km (3.7 miles - we've done 3 miles on deck every day anyway) and so we were dropped in Funchal by 1.15pm.

There wasn't that much to see in Funchal, although you will see from the pic it is quite big. We wandered around for a while, bought some Madeira wine for Christmas cakes and some other souvenirs, shared a local flatbread thing with chorizo and some roasted chestnuts for lunch, and wandered back to the ship by 3.30. We've since sat on our balcony overlooking Funchal while drinking a beer from room service.

We will not be going to the normal sail away party as we're going to have our own on our balcony! Tonight is just a smart evening (previously known as smart casual), so time for another Tesco's dress! Then another early night. Tomorrow we dock at Santa Cruz on La Palma. We have nothing planned there except to have a look around the town.

2 days at sea!

So here we are at the end of our first day at sea. All going well so far. Last night we had our first dinner in the Meridian Restaurant. Victoria was snapped by the paparazzi in a size 12 vintage Tesco's number, with £5 New Look shoes, a £1 purse from Primarni and a £2 butterfly Alice band from Dorothy Perkins. Total outfit cost £28. Then we had a cocktail in the Spinnaker bar, which was unusually quiet. Cocktail of the day was Melon Ball - vodka, melon liquor & pineapple juice. Yummy.

By 11pm we were shattered and headed to bed. By 11.30 we were asleep, with very good intentions to sleep for most of this morning. Inevitably, we were heading towards the Bay of Biscay, and nature decided that a lie in was not on the cards and at 3.50am - bing!

Andrew managed to stay asleep, as usual, but Victoria managed 2 Radio 4 In Our Time - history podcasts (the evolution of the alphabet, and George Washington and the America revolution), a score of >56000 on Bejeweled and the first chapter of Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony before dozing back off again. 8.20am we both woke, thought about going to a 9am Pilates class and then decided food was more important.

Managed a healthy breakfast, sticking to weightwatchers, but in these rolling seas it was quite difficult to eat too much. We are pretty certain that they have redefined the wind speed scale - they claim it is only force 5/6 but we are sure it feels like more. We knew to expect more movement since we are on A deck (with a balcony) rather than G deck (with only a porthole) so its OK. Just hoping it stays like this and doesn't reach force 12 at all. Already some evidence of people being sick - we are ok.

After breakfast, we headed onto the promenade deck for our 3 mile walk, which was definitely a cure for any nausea. There were not so many people doing serious walking this time - only us it seems. We had created playlists especially for our on board exercising, so 3 miles went quite quickly. We were also very impressed with the new space walk simulator they have which allows you to walk on air as the deck disappears beneath you in the swell!!! Very funny. Discovered even seasoned cruisers have found the swell to be quite nauseating. Don't feel so bad now.

By 11 we were back in the cabin, sat outside on our balcony in the SCORCHING heat - yes, at sea and it was ROASTING!!

After a little nap indoors, we headed for a salad in the Belvedere and then Andy anted to go and hear a talk about ships. This sounded very boring, but it was actually really good - we both sat through the whole thing. The name could not be said for the second talk Andy went to, which was about finance. That was very poor and Victoria adjourned to the Spinnaker to read some of her book leaving Andy to it.

Then it was off to the first black tie night (formally known as a formal night but they've been rebranded). Victoria wore an exclusive Debenham's number from the 2-4-1 sale in sunderland (£15), Debenham's collection bag (£18) and BHS shoes (£20). Hair slide from the market stall in the Bridges, Sunderland. Total outfit cost ~£68. Andy looks dashing, as always, in his tux.

After dinner we were invited back to our table companion's suite for drinks: Bill and Ann are very lovely people from Blackpool who definitely do not look (or act) the age they claim to be. Also there were John and Jo from Leighton Buzzard (yes, close to home!) and Ken - all also on our table and very lovely people. Ken plays jazz harmonica and he gave us a rendition. Not being jazz aficionados, we could appreciate the skill but not necessarily the musicality. That said, it was a v enjoyable evening.

Sadly, it meant we slept in until 11 this morning but went straight out and did our 3 miles round deck, ate lunch and now we're sat in the Crows Nest enjoying a ginger beer.

Bon voyage!

So here we are again - on our way to the Southampton Cruise Terminal - Mayflower terminal this time.

We are running a bit late but since we have early check in anyway we should be ok. Party in the car now trying out Victorias new "pop" playlist - what's wrong with the Conga exactly?!?

Plan for the day is to check in, embark, head for lunch in the Belvedere, dump hand luggage in cabin, head to Crowd Nest to read and watch the view as we sail out of the Solent. By then our cases should be in the cabin so we can unpack & get ready for dinner.

Our holiday would not be complete without a volcanic eruption, so here's a link to the volcano watch for El Hierro. This is currently erupting in the Canaries but there's a shipping exclusion zone & last report suggested it was waning.

http://earthquake-report.com/2011/09/25/el-hierro-canary-islands-spain-volcanic-risk-alert-increased-to-yellow/

And here's the Met Office shipping forecast for the Bay of Biscay. We are mentally prepared for Force 12 so anything else will be fine. You should note the red areas on the map today refer to where Victoria will be wearing her new red bikini rather than anything to do with the weather. Don't they?

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/marine/shipping_forecast.html

Sail at 4pm, next stop Madeira on Friday. We are investigating ship wifi for sea days, but don't bank on it.

Adios amigos - dos cervezas por favor!!!

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