DFR Travels: April 2023

Oban, Scotland...

Saturday, April 29. Anchored a mile off of Oban. Cloudy skies, no wind or rain. 11 C.

Home in 13 days.

The bad news is that Fellette finally came down with the cold. The good news is that mine appears to be basically gone, except for the odd coughing spell.

Fellette drugged and rugged herself up and went ashore in the tenders for a Walkabout in neat little Oban. A timeshare near here was our base camp for exploring the land and smaller islands here 24 years ago. Things don’t change much in places like this, our memory however has lost some of its crispness but it was lovely to see it again, likely for the last time as well.

Back on the ship, we grabbed a bit of a late lunch, Fellette slept for the bulk of the afternoon and I also chilled out and we skipped the dinning room where they served Haggis.

A Tolerable Day In Lovely Oban…

This Ferry Line has been running ships in the area for 160 years, 10 years longer than Holland America has been in business. Interesting.

Oban's Landmark, McCaigs Folly. An uncompleted Vanity Project by a wealthy local man about 125 years ago.

Love the colours.

Only in Britain would you get this neat zoning and contrast. Love it.

I suppose the town has slowed down in its Evolution since 1790.

How British…

Highland Coos by the hundreds here!

And, Getting ready for the Coronation next week.

And of course, All Things to do with Scottish Whisky!

The Isle of Iona can be visited from here in 50 minutes by Ferry, It is considered the birthplace of Christianity in Britain when St. Columba came here in 569 AD with 12 companions from Ireland.

How do you like Dougie's new Cap?

The Countries we were scheduled to visit on this trip. Some we did not because of weather, refused entry, civil unrest, etc. Tomorrow is Ireland, Bahamas was scrubbed so you can see we are near the end of ports but 13 days to go.

Isle of Skye, Scotland...

Friday, April 28. Low visibility and a chilly 6 C in am. 10 later.

Two weeks til home.

We were anchored off the 'Misty Isle’, and it lived up to its name this morning. We took the tender in for the less than a mile run in. I asked a lady in a Charity shop if she lived here, she said, yes, born here, I then asked if she remembered the Ferry. She took the time to get out a map of Skye and went outside to explain the lay of the land and showed where the ferry came in: we were standing on the Ferry Access road, and the ferry landing spot now has a small building on the spot. She kindly remarked “Good to see you back" when I thanked her for the courtesy she had taken with me. Touching!

I did not linger when I was here in 1960 but had a vague recollection of the place. Fellette and I sauntered up the road to the very quaint and active Village/Town that was alive with locals and fellow passengers who were browsing the shops, a few of which of which were full of Everything Scottish Merchandise.

Not much has changed in the British/Scottish small town appearance and mannerisms in the past 60 odd years. Portree could be used as a Movie Prop for a Pre WWII move with hardly changing a single thing!

We stopped into a little, and I mean little, Tea shop on the way back. We had Tea, Scones and strawberry jam. In talking to the very young married couple owners he said that this year we are the Second Cruise Ship of the 41 scheduled to stop here this season. That compares with 331 for Vancouver and 289 for Seattle. I would say that bodes pretty darn good for the few gift shops and Everything Scottish Shops in Portree!

The weather cleaned up nicely in the afternoon and I don’t think anybody that went ashore today would have a weather issue at all.

A Good Day…

Welcome to Skye. The Misty Isle.

Ready for our adventure.

Pink House. It takes away the drab feel of stone buildings in the long damp winters.

Blue Hotel.

Old as Dirt.

Everything Scottish. Note the carpet.

More.

No traffic jams here. Nice.

Tea House.

Inside.

At Sea, South Of The Shetland Islands...

Thursday, April 27. Clear sky, smooth sea. 7 C.

Home in 15 Days.

Our clocks went BACK one hour tonight. We are now on Greenwich Mean Time, [GMT, or Zulu Time as the Military uses. We will have five more changes, back, until we reach Fort Lauderdale two weeks tomorrow

Not much to report, except it is nice to be heading towards slightly warmer weather and to see some blue sky again. I don’t know how long that will last.

The big thing in our life is my darn cold. Today is the third full day of it. Usually, when I get a cold it lasts four or five days, during which time I should not be around people, then, it sort of lingers around for another five days or so with mild symptoms: rarely, it turns to Bronchitis. Ugh!

Today we are cruising along at a leisurely clip between the Shetland and Orkney Islands in Fair Isle Straight, we can see the Shetlands from our stateroom. It is nice to be in what I call Home Waters even though Canada is my homeland. My Father was born in the UK and Fellette’s ‘Grandma Sutherland’ was born on the very Northern tip of Scotland, not far from John 'O Groats up by Castle Mey, often frequented by the Queen Mother. Both Fellette and Craig have visited her birthplace with me, on separate occasions: Grandma Sutherland was at our wedding.

Grandma Sutherland outlived three husbands! She was in the Salvation Army and the regulations were, that if her husband died, and she wanted to remarry, she could only marry a man of equal or higher rank. [The Salvation Army has ‘Ranks’, very similar to regular Army Military ranks.]

A Very Relaxing Day, Way Up North…

Cabin View of what I think are The Shetland Islands.

Bergen, Norway...

Wednesday, April 26. In Bergen, Norway. 6 C. Rain, snow, sleet, then sun!

Home in 17 days.

Bergen is a big sprawling city spread along the low rising mountains along a Fjord. It is Norway's second largest city with 271,00. Founded in 1070 by King Olaf. Its economy is diversified, based on fishing, ship building and associated economies.

We stayed aboard yesterday as a result of my could/cough! We decided to walk to the Bryggen Hanseatic Wharf Area today in spite of the temperature being 2 C when we started out! We have been here twice and explored that interesting old area in depth before. Today’s aim was to get some fresh air, some exercise and have a sentimental stroll through this very interesting part of Bergen.

It had drizzled and snowed a bit on the walk out, but tried to do a proper Snow Job on us on the way back. It was all rather quite enjoyable, really.

We have a Sea Day tomorrow then Skye, Oban and Dublin, three days in a row. When we leave Bergen tonight, we turn South, and slightly warmer weather on the 17 day journey to Fort Lauderdale.

An Excellent Day, In Spite Of The Cold…

Sailing in. Oil rig and an interesting weather day ahead of us, which it was.

So different from North American Homes.

SO different!

On the far shore are the remaining Hanseatic period buildings. [1350 to 1650 approx.] Three are wrapped in Fabric for the Reno. It is a World Heritage site with some 80 such buildings still standing and protected in Bergen.

A Norwegian Naval Training ship I believe.

My Cool Cat Mama!

Things are very, very expensive here.

Trolls abound.

A clever method of keeping the area dignified during the long restoration period.

These three buildings have a building on either side of them under restoration.

Another.

These three look like they just had a Reno.

Eidfjord, Norway...

Tuesday, April 25. Docked at the tiny town of Eidfjord. White sky. 4 C. Cold, yes.

18 days to home.

As we are quite far North, it gets dark late and light early. We inched our way slowly up the relatively narrow Fjord with dark snow covered peaks making it look ominous and dangerous, which it is.The pilot has boarded much earlier than he usually does to ’shepherd’ us in safely.

Around 7:45 we inched into this quaintsy little town of about 1000 residents. Apparently it is one of the richest towns in all Norway. The reason? Not oil but Hydro Power Generation from exactly what we are looking at: high peaks and snow, that eventually melts and goes through dams and generators. Exactly like BC!

Fellette, spent the day with a good, new book and her i-pad. I am Confined To Barracks, as I got the Amsterdam Cold last night after dinner!

Unfortunately, this is not just the sniffles. I hope to feel like getting off the ship tomorrow in Bergen for a bit of a walkabout around that cute little Town, for Old Times Sake. Then a single Sea Day as we head South for The Isle of Skye, and, next day, still in Scotland, at Oban. My cold might have passed its worse by then as I am looking forward to revisiting them both. Cheers, Kevin!

I apologize for a lack-lustre blog today folks. That is exactly how I feel. I am sure many people had a wonderful day here!

Not A Good Day For Me/us…

Very smart and modern town, super modern and smart. Darn cold.

Not much traffic though.

Notice the Electric Chargers right in ‘City Centre'

Haguesund, Norway...

Monday, April 24. Docked behind an Oil Rig in Haugesund. Gray sky, windy. 8 C.

Home in 19 days.

This Town was not on the original Itinerary we received, 17 months ago. One of the original Vikings of Viking raiding and emigrating days lived a short distance away from here but this Town is a working town not that old, with around 34,000 hard working Nordic people. Fishing & boat building in bygone days, now it’s all about Oil. There is an oil rig about 100 meters away from us, in for a refit obviously.

Fellette and I walked off the ship around 8:45 and hoofed it into the business part of the town, detouring somewhat to wander through the residential areas, peeking in and around the back yard areas and getting some idea of life in such a place. It is just like at home, continual maintenance on the wooden houses, some older homes have a concrete or plaster lower section, maybe for snow protection, roof repairs are tricky and must be terribly expensive, we saw one taking place, it involved scaffoldings and intense safety precautions.

The wind while on our walk was brisk, but we were dressed for it and turned out to be quite invigorating. There were shuttles to the town and they were loaded as most people opted for the shuttle because of the cold and distance to anything of interest. I am almost certain that a few couples would return as the trip involved going over a modern bridge that was made to take medium sized ships under it so the slope could be a challenge for a wheelchair pusher, as we saw starting out.

It was great trek for us and the photography was just what I enjoy on such a leisurely stroll with the love of my life. We just chilled out the rest of the day. The sky turned blue and the sun came out in the afternoon but it still remained chilly out.

A Great Day…

Just outside the town on the way in this morning.

From our cabin, docked. The rig, in for maintenance or maybe building it?

Lovely infrastructure in Norway: Oil Money.

My bundled wife made a good photo addition today. She was not happy with her being in so many photos today, but always smiles.

So, here is one to prove I am on this trip too!

We could see this church from the ship so that was our objective. The inlet was not visible and it was a longer trip, and much detouring to get there.