A Wind around the British Isles

[drron29]

Then it was back to the ship for a rest stop before getting the shuttle into Kirkwall.What an interesting place with a cathedral dating back to the mid 1100s.Shops all open and a greater range of products at more reasonable prices mainly than the last 3 days.I got myself an Orkney cap

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Notice how rojaan is dressed for a day only just before the start of summer in June.It was freezing.

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[drron29]

Here we got to listen to one of the Folk Festival acts.

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Staggering to think you were looking at a church that was started in the mid 1100s by the Vikings.Not my pre conceived idea of Viking history.I have learnt a lot these last 2 days.

 

 

[drron29]

Across the road from the former cathedral.

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But even more history.first the Bishop's Palace.

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Then the Earl's palace.

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Now you can tour the Earl's palace but today it was closed.

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And a couple more of the Bishop's palace.

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The current bishop has to live here.

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[drron29]

The museum which I did not have enough time to visit.

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I finally saw a puffin!

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But wouldn't be around for this.

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And this was in the Aurora store.

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[drron29]

Nice scallops.

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And last a couple of shots from the shuttle.Their petrol station.

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[drron29]

Unfortunately the restaurants were mainly traditional Scots restaurants with haggis,tatties,neeps and black pudding.So when we got back to the ship we shared a pizza and a hot dog from the all day menu.

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We are steadily getting less answers in the trivia but still managed third and I got just a single point in the putting.
 

We were sent off with a dancing performance on the wharf.sadly we missed it.

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Sailing away from the Orkneys.

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And an attempt at a sunset.

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[drron29]

But now it's time for dinner.This was a highlight.Dinner with the CD,Fabien and 2 delightful American ladies one of whom is well known on the Cruise Critic boards.Lively discussion and good food.I even tried the black pudding and it probably was the best I have tasted.

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So here are the Scottish smoked salmon,king scallops and Stornoway black pudding and the lime ginger tart.

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[drron29]

Day 11.Invergordon.

We had no plans today as we have spent a week in the area a few years ago.The only ship's excursion that we hadn't done was a 3 mile hike to a waterfall.Felt that was risky due to the usual weather in these parts.The forecast was for a max temp of 10/50 and a shower or two in the late afternoon.On arriving it was constant rain and there was a couple of clear periods in the afternoon.Coming into Invergordon.

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[drron29]

As there is nothing much in Invergordon itself we were happy to stay on board and keep dry.Despite many being on tour the internet was no better.Quite a few had the same idea and the MDR was the busiest for lunch that we have seen.

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Mrsdrron had the Spanokopita,I the penne and we both had the ribs.

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[drron29]

Took a couple of pics of the ducks and oil rigs.

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Now today was the day that awards on Singapore airlines became available for our trip to the UK next May.I had been watching availability for a few days.The awards became available at 5pm here and those on the A380 went quickly.Mostly only the overnight flight SIN-LHR remained after 24 hours.So naturally at 5pm the people had arrived back from their tours and the internet was hopeless and it took me an hour to finally be able to pick flights.Fortunately got the last 2 first class awards but on the 777.It was however a day time flight.

Whilst doing that it was trivia time.We bounced back big time and were easy winners.I did however miss the putting comp.
After trivia once again a performance by local artists.

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[drron29]

Sail away.A slalom course through the oil rigs!

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[drron29]

That night the trivia team had dinner together.It was a great night and we have really come together as a teamBetter though because we had something to celebrate.

It though brought up a negative.The service in the MDR is not up to previous standards possibly because a lot of new wait staff.The table asked for a sorbet before main course and the waiter said that was fine.It never arrived.As well the orders were mixed up so some swapping of dishes.Quite often on this cruise you hear complaints from near by tables of the order being wrong.The food though is much improved and there is 1 page of the menu which changes every night.Another 2 pages of appetisers and mains that change slowly.

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So I had the sea bass salad,scallops and artichoke,veal tenderloin and a citrus pannacotta.

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[drron29]

Day 12.Edinburgh

We have stayed in Edinburgh for a few days in the past so we basically had done all the tours.All we did was walk over to the shopping mall where the Royal Yacht Brittania is moored.Quite a few empty stores and nothing of real interest.We took our time and were off the ship for 2 hours.
You enter the port via a lock.

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A good view of the castle.

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Swans and a problem with the lock.

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Not forgetting things in the air.

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A bonnie lassie was there to greet us dock side.

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And brekkie with my American bacon.

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Views from the ship.

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And at the mall.

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Just checking that no one is on our verandah.

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[drron29]

On returning we shared a pizza in our suite and then we went to sleep.Awoke just in time to go to trivia where once again we came in first.Has been a great team.

I then surprised myself by once again winning at putting-though the entertainer taking the golf to day pointed out the 3 times I have been there with her are the 3 times I have won.A lucky charm but I don't think I can take her home.
It has been a cold bleak day.Time to say goodbye to Edinburgh.Hopefully back one day for the Tattoo.

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[drron29]

We scattered the birds.

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Pre dinner drinks in the Panorama lounge then another very enjoyable dinner with another Aussie couple and 2 English couples.Food was again good and the Thai vegetable green curry was excellent. They offer little snacks with your pre dinner drinks.

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We started with the mussels.Rojaan then had the Prime rib whilst I had the Thai vegetable green curry.I finished with cheese and she with a pavlova.

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[drron29]

We passed an interesting rock and a large industrial plant.

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But the sunset was a real fizzer.

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[drron29]

Day 13.At sea.
Breakfast as usual in the MDR.Now I order granola and mixed berries with milk not yoghurt.Mrsdrron orders berry yoghurt plus mixed berries.I get my order but no milk.Takes a few minutes to come back with it.Mrsdrron is presented with a bowl of berries and a tub of pineapple yoghurt-she never eats pineapple.Waiter goes back into the kitchen and then the Asst.Maitre'D comes over and says sorry no berry yoghurt but we might have it tomorrow.Hello,we are having a day at sea how is the berry yoghurt going to be loaded?So she asks ifthere are any other flavours.Just after my milk arrives we are both brought a bowl of.........berry yoghurt!

Mrsdrron went to a cooking demonstration with the Scottish Head chef and the Italian chef.They could hardly understand one another she reported.But they did make a very good tomato sauce for the pasta.She has the recipe.,I went back to sleep.

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The best weather we have had all cruise.Bright sunshine with a few clouds.Pass a lot of oil rigs and a massive on shore wind farm which takes a little more than 1 hour to pass and the ship is travelling at 12 knots.Plus the farm is angled away from us. Just north of Newcastle.

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A lunch of halibut and a rhubarb and blackberry crumble.

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[drron29]

A sale in the boutique but appears the discount is miniscule.

Last day of trivia.We start well but go down in a heap.One team scores 26 points.The second last to reveal their score is the very competitive team and they say 27 points.The last team scores 28.Then the competitive team,as they have done a few times,says-we added up wrong.We got 29 points.It'sy a game people.

Then in the putting competition.Only 2 holes as the entertainer has an early show.I lose by 1 shot to the fellow whose total score was 2.No problems he probably was the nicest guy playing.
The Farewell and crew parade so naturally a formal night.

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And a big applause from me for the chef responsible for the curries.They were really good and he nailed the flavours.

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[drron29]

We had dinner with another Aussie couple,a couple from England and another from the USA.vigorous discussion and suddenly we realised it was nearly 11 pm and only a couple of others still in the dining room. The menu.

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