From the shoreline and the sea

Last night's excellent dinner was served in a room and in a style which made TSH and Diva wonder if Miss Marple was at one of the other tables. Formal, restrained and with top class service. Doesn't happen any more. But it does here and, apparently, in the other hotels of the Brend Group.

The weather was dry and with a reasonable temperature and both had a great day. The route was through Exmoor and then along the coast road from Minehead to Ilfracombe. TSH went to photograph steam trains whilst Diva sat in a tea shop with her Kindle. TSH bought a book to help with his project.

DIVA IS ABOUT TO HAVE A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN. Following reader requests, she is trying to write about the good bits of the holiday so that everybody knows that a good time is being had by all. But it is starting to read like a Christmas Round Robin letter and if anyone posts it to one of those ironic sites which mock, she will sue.

Diva wants to write about the white knuckle ride through the narrow twisty 25% gradient A roads, full of loose dogs, nervy horses and local drivers who own both sides of the road. About the Dutchman almost reversing his massive LH drive camper van into another vehicle. About the sheer drop over the cliffs and into the raging sea beneath. About the church wardens who lure the unwary from the route to the town car park and into their most expensive church car park. And its not high season so there are not that many caravans to make the roads even more interesting.

Ilfracombe has a massive Damien Hurst statue - Verity. A pregnant woman with a sword and the scales of justice. TSH and Diva were impressed but did not understand the connection with Ilfracombe.

Monday's 20% off order from M&S was collected from Barnstaple - isn't click and collect wonderful?


TSH and Diva are both really enjoying their holiday.

Devon Day 1

TSH and Diva are beside the silver sea rather than actually on it this time. Well, they are overlooking the river Taw and it's low tide so it's a bit mudflat-ish but the view is very open and not overlooked. The day started in traditional fashion with an English breakfast at the local cafe. The breakfasts are always excellent but they seem to have increased the quantity whilst keeping the quality at least as good.

An uneventful journey was followed by a short walk round the shops, where Diva bought a new hairbrush. Barnstaple is a mixture of seaside, historic market town and standard shops geared to older people. The Imperial is as it sounds. Old-fashioned but in a good way with what looks like a very recent sympathetic renovation. When reception rang to check that everything was OK, Diva was able to tell them that her cleaning inspection had not managed to find any dust. A rare event. The compliment will be passed to the cleaning team.

Fruit, chocolates, biscuits and water in the room was a welcome sight.

TSH and Diva are both enjoying the holiday very much.

London

Dramatic sail to Tower Bridge – one of the most impressive places in the world to moor a cruise ship. Embarkation sad as always.

Honfleur

Silver Wind docked in Honfleur, which is much more convenient than using the tenders. This is a very attractive town with a photogenic port and an extensive old town. TSH and Diva had a pot of tea by the harbour – almost 10 euros, so similar to drinking in St Marks Square, Venice.

The sea remained flat calm in the channel, through the Dover Straits, across a few miles of North sea and into the Thames estuary. Phones are back on their home networks. Lunch on the sea-day was English-themed, so as well as fish and chips there was chicken tikka masala, the making of which was demonstrated in the morning by the executive chef and an assistant from India.

Packing was easier than usual. No flying, so no weighing of cases and no worry about liquids and sharps in the hand luggage. 

St Malo

The tender service started late because of fog around the harbour and consequent safety concerns. However, it lifted slightly and Diva and TSH were able to accompany the executive chef to a local farmers’ market. The chef amazed one stall holder by buying 2Kg of pate – more than she had ever sold in one go before. The group tasted cheeses, of which there were more varieties than most UK people could imagine. Hams and other cooked meats were stored right next to raw chicken but it was not possible to work out if hands were washed between handling the different items. TSH and Diva bought, ate and enjoyed a local speciality – Gallette saucisse – a pancake wrapped round a sausage.

The Wrong Money

As the ship did not anchor until midday, there was a cooking demo in the morning – chicken in cider and a cod dish made with dried Portuguese cod. As usual, the audience were shocked by the lack of hygiene, which they are always assured does not extend to the kitchens. A chicken was jointed, hands not washed properly and the board re-used for other tasks. But nobody died. Diva only tasted one boiled potato, which the chef said he had paid 15 euros per kilo for. It was very nice but not quite nice enough to justify the price.

The excursion in Guernsey did not start well. The bus arrived at the underground German military hospital and the doors were firmly closed. A nearby resident appeared to say that he would get the owner to open up as he only lived up the road. The decision was taken to visit the military occupation museum first. This turned out to be full of interesting items but it lacked the overall theme which a modern museum would be expected to have.  TSH and Diva learned something about the difficulties of the local population under German rule.  Back to the underground hospital, which was notable mainly for its sheer extent. It was built by slave labour, mostly brought in from Eastern Europe. Some guests think that the hospital was an attempt to invade the UK by underground tunnel.

The bus driver, who was also the guide, was a charming young man who tried hard but was totally out of his depth. He explained that since Guernsey has only two dairies to produce its milk and cream, each cow on the island was taken to one of the dairies twice a week to be milked. Now, Diva is a proud townie, but this did not sound right. Some people from farming communities queried this arrangement, but were assured that this was the Guernsey way. They would love to get higher yields by milking more often but this was not possible. A check with Google afterwards confirmed that there are two dairies but that the cows are milked twice a day (like everywhere else in the world) and the milk refrigerated for collection by the dairies. This collection is probably what happens twice a week.

One interesting piece of information is that there is no road tax but that drivers have to buy a number plate. These numbers start from 1 and go up to 5 or 6 digits. People pay more for the lower numbers, just to show that they are rich, and the numbers less than 100 are much prized. TSH and Diva saw number 21.

The ship’s doctor invited TSH and Diva to dine with him and he diagnosed Diva as OCD after about 5 minutes. How could she have given him an idea like that?

TSH is very experienced with money and it is one of his duties to issue the party with money before every visit ashore. It was only after returning to the Silver Wind that he realised he had issued euros instead of pounds. Fortunately, no money had been needed and he did have a credit card with him, although that would have been of little use to buy an ice cream.  He used some travel budget to take out an open booking for 2018.

Referendum: The ship’s doctor, who was from the US, thought that Obama had been wrong to say that the UK alone would be at the back of the queue for trade agreements. He thought that agreements between the UK and the US would be put in place in no time.

St Emilion and Belle-ile

The tour to St Emilion was the best Silversea tour this cruise. It took TSH and Diva to a medieval stone village which is a world heritage site. On the way, they passed many famous vineyards, such as Pomeron and Cheval blanc, whose produce is way beyond TSH’s wine budget. One of the highlights of the village was the stone church which had been carved out of the rock. During WW2, it was used to store the stained glass windows of the northern France cathedrals to save them from the bombing. Back in Bordeaux, they had a good external view of the new wine museum, open for just a few days, which is designed to look like wine swirling into a decanter. The inside seems to be a bit like the Guinness museum in Dublin, with tasting in the panoramic view bar at the end.

The Silversea boutique had a sale of venetian glass jewellery, so after a couple of glasses of port, Diva added to her collection.

The excursion to Belle-ile has two narratives. TSH thought it was interesting and scenic and he had a good time. Except when Diva was complaining. Because the walking in the heat up hills and over cobbles was far more than she had expected. And everybody walks faster than she does. It felt like games class at school. Parts of the coast were very wild and rocky, like Cornwall but the interior was mainly rolling small hills. The views on the coast were very dramatic – in one place, it was totally clear and in just a few moments the mist rolled in. TSH took so many pics that his SD card ran out of space.

An unscheduled stop next so that the Silver Wind can officially exit the Schengen area.

TSH photographed gannets following the Silver Wind and on Belle-ile he spotted a few lizards of varying sizes. Also special breeds of cows and sheep.

The executive chef is providing special food most evenings. Mostly cheese but sometimes antipasti, such as olives or oysters. Diva ate the oyster but TSH passed. He had eaten shellfish earlier in the day when he did not wear his specs to visit the buffet and he ended up with seafood pizza.