Countdown to the games

With only 12 days to go until the London 2012 Olympic Games open, we're reviving our travel blog for the event even though we're not leaving the UK! With 3 events in 3 venues and a full week of activities planned we need to keep track.

We begin with Men's Football First Round Group D at St. James' Park, Newcastle on 29th July (14 days time - pic of tickets below!) but our Olympic GB experience starts on Saturday 4th August with the following itinerary, carefully planned by McPearsonmillan Travel (all rights reserved):

 Day 1: 4th Aug – Arrival and Olympic Induction
 Day 2: 5th Aug – Plotting Plantagenets (Richard III at The Globe)
 Day 3: 6th Aug – Tarty Tudors (Hever Castle)
 Day 4: 7th Aug – 20th Century Britain (Duxford)
 Day 5: 8th Aug – Rest day
 Day 6: 9th Aug – Women’s Football Final, Wembley Stadium
 Day 7: 10th Aug – Rest Day
 Day 8: 11th Aug – Women’s Basketball Final, North Greenwich Arena (the O2)
 Day 9: 10th Aug – Departure

May the force 10 be with you

Here we are on our last day of the holiday. Last night was eventful to say the least. Not long after we left Vigo we hit the rough seas. It was very difficult to stay in one place for very long and we were rolling all over. captain had said Force 8 though so that was OK. We managed to shower and dress for dinner - the shower has handholds so that helped - and had a glass of wine before we headed downstairs. We our formal photograph taken in the atrium, which has turned out lovely especially since it was Victorias second £15 ball gown, and took our table in the Arcadian Rhodes.

The table was excellent - right next to the window - and the restaurant is on Deck 3 (promenade deck) so doesn't feel the movement unlike our deck 8 (australia deck) cabin. We felt reassured provided we didn't start to feel as much movement in the restaurant. Which of course we did after about 15 mins of sitting there. The lovely window table also meant we could see the waves getting bigger and bigger (and closer & closer).

The restaurant was nice - not many people in there since there's an extra cover charge - but it's art deco in style and warmer than the rest of the ship. Food was very nicely cooked but we are not surprised that on refit it is being taken over by Marco Pierre White. For starters, Andrew ordered smoked haddock with a welsh rarebit topping on a bed of tomatoes. Basically very small cheesy smoked haddock. Victoria ordered seabass with blackberry shallots and a hollandaise sauce. I.e. seabass fillet with fried onions and 3 blackberries. Surprisingly the blackberries went very well with the seabass, but the inclusion of hollandaise sauce was a mystery. Sadly, before the staters arrived we were given a little cup of green liquid, which was pea and mint soup and after 1 sip to be polite, Victoria gave hers to Andrew.

Main course, Andrew had ordered leg of lamb with orange glazed carrots, spinach and piped potato. I.e. mash potato, 1 carrot chopped up and coated in syrup and positioned in a bizarre upright fashion (volcano style) on the plate and a lamb shank. Victoria ordered fillet of beef with an oxtail cottage pie which was a fillet steak on top of a perfectly round roast potato with a very odd pastry cup contains 2 small pieces of meat and topped with mashed potato. To accompany it we got yet more potatoes - new potatoes - a single portion of green beans to share and a tiddly jug of gravy each. The potato-fest was too much.

Becoming somewhat anxious at the rising waves, Victoria opted to skip dessert, but Andrew had a tiramisu. Before it arrived, another unscheduled dessert appeared - a square of treacle tart. Again, Andrew enjoyed both since Victoria doesn't like treacle tart. Why provide these pointless interludes between courses? Yuck. Anyway the bread rolls were nice.

We left there without coffee and headed to the Spinnaker bar again for a cocktail. We had planned to go to Electra, the DISCO, but the ship was moving all over the place so we headed up to the cabin to see what it said on the passenger information channel. Quel surprise! Force 10, very rough seas, high swell. El capitano had underestimated the weather. However, for the first night all holiday, Victoria fell into a deep sleep within 10 minutes!!!!

Sadly, that only lasted for an hour and after that we both tossed and turned all night. The best sleep was had from 7am this morning and we didn't get up until 11!! We're now at Force 7 still but we managed lunch in the Neptune grill, which we've not been to before and had hot dog each. Now we're in the Intermezzo bar but we'll be heading out for our walkathon by 3 so that we can be done and changed in time for afternoon tea in the Meridian at 4, which we've also never done before.

Although shes a lovely ship, We don't think we will come back on Arcadia again for a while but we definitely want to do another cruise - next time to the Norweigan fjords and/or Iceland (originally Victorias preference last year but Andrew won the toss). It'll have to wait until 2013 though since 2012 is the Olympics!!

We have 1 more dinner to go tonight, and then we disembark at 9.30 tomorrow morning - it's usually earlier than the official time though. Should be home by lunchtime. And then some sleep in a bed that stays still!!!

Vigo

Today we arrived in Vigo, in lieu of a visit to Oporto. After quite a difficult start to last night's sleep we discovered that to counter the effect of the swell, it was better to sleep across rather than down the bed (port to starboard rather than forward to aft). This did mean Andrews legs hung out of the bed. By 4am it was force 6/7 but we managed to sleep through the force 8 of the early morning before we entered Vigo bay.

Vigo was cold and grey compared with the warmth of the Canary Islands, and really is only a busy port town with nothing much else to see. However, the Galician countryside beyond looks quite lovely. We took a wander around town for a couple of hours, locating C&A and H&M, and then headed back to the ship for lunch.

Since then we've sat in the a)piano and b)spinnaker bars reading our iPad books whilst trying to keep warm. This is the first day where it's been cold on board, although this could be due to the gangways being very close to both of these bars. The hot chocolate - although welcome - hasn't really helped to warm us up!

Are due to leave Vigo any minute - an early departure to get ahead of the weather. The weather. Yes. The captain has just made a safety announcement about the weather. We should be OK for the 40 mins it takes to get out of Vigo's bay, but after that....sustained Force 6/7, pushing 8 but with a 4-5 m swell and rough seas. Last night was similar but with moderate seas. Captain says to take care, not to go outside on balconies and not to worry about the ship flexing (!!??). Other than that he says to have a lovely time.

Of course, we should hit these sea conditions just as Victoria goes for a relaxing head massage, and Andrew goes for a wet shave! Hahaha. Tonight we are booked into the Arcadian Rhodes restaurant (Gary Rhodes) at 8.30. We hope to go to the D.I.S.C.O. after that and drink enough cocktails that we don't notice the rough seas!

Tomorrow is our final day, and it's another full sea day where we're planning on doing the things on Arcadia we still haven't done, such as breakfast and afternoon tea in the posh restaurant.

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.