The final leg

We left Scrabster a little over thirty minutes early and pulling off we turned to pass between John O'Groats and The Orkney islands. 

With visibility good to clear we could train our binoculars onto the islands and see the occasional house or lighthouse.

We have just over 500 nautical miles to go before we reach Tilbury so tomorrow is another sea day, the last one before we all disembark and go our separate ways.

It'll be sad to say goodbye to Shirley but we are on another cruise together next year which should be good.

Before then I'm off to Guernsey for a week in September and then back to the Canaries and Cape Verde in November/December. 

This has been amazing. The only down side has been the changing of the times but to be honest I feel back to normal already so I've adjusted faster than I expected.

Oh well, one adventure comes to an end but others open.......so many to choose from, so many places yet to see.

paddling in the ice melt in Qaqortoq. 

Next stop Scrabster, for John O'Groats, Highlands and Thurso

Having seen John O'Groats last time I was up this way and also having done the Highlands tour I took the best option and went exploring by myself.

This shuttle bus took us into Thurso so we could explore as we wished.

Something I really liked were the flower tubs which once would have housed annuals. Now they were growing their own; I really hope people were taking advantage of these, such a good use of street planters.

InTonbridge I can imagine what would happen - children can be so destructive and we have many who see it as a game to throw the plants at each other.

I went into the museum where they had examples of pictish stone carving as well as another room about the nuclear reactor. Both were very interesting.

I did succumb to a superb coffee and fruit scone, it certainly hit the spot. 

Its nippy now and I've just made it back to the ship. We pull off early so as to get to Tilbury early (first people are disembarking at 08:00) and as we have the North sea to negotiate tonight (weather predicts a bumpy one) I think the captain wants to get as far as possible as soon as possible.

Thurso was worth a visit but its not somewhere you could while away an afternoon, there really isnt much there. For me the highlight was the park by the river and watching the swifts sweep the ground for insects.

the Meadow well,  Thurso's original water supply. The mechanism is inside a round building.

Last but not least, something which gave me a smile. I suspect it lights up at night.

Day 3: just off the Outer Hebrides

The closer we get to the UK the colder the weather becomes. 

Winds have got up and the sea is rocking us to sleep again tonight. 

One aspect is pleasing though, the nights are dark. Whilst up in Iceland we enjoyed the continual daylight time and Greenland had extremely short nights which remained like dusk, not dark but not really light.

Today then was mainly indoors, just sitting around chatting, a pastime we seem to do with great skill.

We ventured off to listen to the final speaker who gave us a talk on the origins of the Inuit people. It was very interesting especially when he talked of two groups, one called the Thules and another who were giants and wore wooden masks. I am sure I've heard both being mentioned in one if the Viking legends.

My phone is insistent I am in Greenland and insists on setting the time to Nanortalik. When we reach Scrabater tomorrow I'll see if I can convince it to move on, after all we've covered over a thousand nautical miles since then.

Day 2 of returning home

It's going to be a long a somewhat boring journey back. 

The weather wasn't bad today and Shirley and I sat up on the lido deck for about 5 hours. 

We had lunch, chatted some more then,when the sun finally retreated behind the funnel we went back to our cabins.

Now back I'm drinking tea and resting. This drip feed of time changing is hard work. We have another hour tonight so we should be back on British summertime by tomorrow morning. 

I've received my disembarkation information and I'll be back home early this time; my call time is 09:10 so I'll be home by 11am at the latest. Glad really, will be early enough to pop over the shops and get some fresh vegetables. 

Ok, tea. Looks like a nice cup, think I'll finish it before it gets cold.

3 days at sea

Now begins the long journey home,  three days at sea with little to do except cope with the changing of the clock from GMT -2:00 to our British summertime. 

Last night we shifted the clocks one hour and tonight we shift them a further hour which puts us onto GMT. One more shift and we'll be right, just in time to stop off in Scrabster on Friday.

The captain told us this evening that the Sound we came down a few days ago is now blocked with ice so we were very lucky to get through when we did. We were the first and possibly only ship to get through so far this year.

Reykjavik has another eruption at the moment. We went there when the earth tremors were increasing in number so it was expected. Again we were lucky to get in and out before that erupted. It is seems it's a fissure which has opened and its sending up a curtain of lava. Its quite close to the airport so would have been visible from the ship. Depending upon its actual distance from the main road out of Reykjavik could have stopped some of the trips getting to their original destinations. In some ways I'd like to gave been there to see it but no-one is allowed up close as its giving off large amounts of sulfur gas.

I'll be getting off the ship for a wander in Scrabster if for no other reason than to walk on dry land for a couple of hours. 

I'd like to stop off at a bank, pick up some plasters and a small bag of nuts if I can. 

No idea why but I have a real craving for salted peanuts!

Nanortalik

Nanortalik is a larger place than most, spread along a spit which sticks into the sea. Surrounded by dangerous semi-submerged rocks and floating lumps of ice, the approach was nothing if not precise.

I'm now seated in the laundry waiting for a machine. Think there must have been a queue before it opened this morning.
Once the washing was done and ironing completed I headed off to the lido deck. The sun had already burnt back; the day looked as though it was going to be another warm day.
Shirley and I were due to go out at 11am so we sat up top for a while then prepared to go ashore.
Tendering over we disembarked amongst the local children all keen to see these old people. They were friendly and polite.

My initial impression was one of a gentle community who pulled together because life was harsh. They cared for each other and knew everyone, making it a very close knit community. There were few facilities we westerners would expect but there was a diesel pump ..... just the one. No petrol again, just diesel.

We have landed during their summer and the area was carpeted with field buttercup, sedges and alpine achellia I think. There were some double headed yellow aconites too which I'd noted growing in the previous place. Again, I think they were aconites, will have to check that when I get home. Whatever they were, they were lovely. In some spots I saw Icelandic poppies too. As to bird life, this was similar to before; some sky larks, rooks and the normal seashore gull array.

The buildings were scattered over this spit and it was clear many of the old tin buildings were being replaced with more modern concrete(?) ones. With no need for gardens, homes were close together with virtually no delineation between one home and the next. 

It was a calm place, a place to come for hiking, canoeing or general exploring. If you had sail you could venture up to Disco Bay and witness the big calving events. I'm glad to say all motorised transport is now banned from the bay and it has been designated research only.

gin ckea waters even around the small motor boats.

 Its clear to us that soon ships will be banned from coming to communities like this unless they are clean burn. It'll wreck the local economies which rely on tourists but the environmental issues could well win out.

On the way to Nanortalik

We left Narsarsuaq earlier than the programme indicated and took a careful exit of the fjord through the ice fields. Some were large above the water and much wider below so the ship was continually shifting from port to starboard to avoid them.

My hat comes off to the bridge, as far as I'm aware we avoided everything.
The night along the coast was quiet with almost glass waters. We hit sea fog at about 4am and the sound of the horn woke many up (you could tell by the number of toilet mechanisms working).
Clocks start moving back towards UK time tonight which will set us all in a confused mess again. Three days at GMT+3:00 has just settled in.