On the water

12 December

Bitterly cold start to Sunday, so we’d to run the Altea to help defrost the windows before putting it away in the garage - one broker scraper later.  A rather unpleasant drive to Southampton with temperatures rarely rising above 0°.  Fog, spray and as we approached Southampton the low sun was so dazzling that I couldn’t read the instruments.  But on the way we scrounged a splendid lunch from John at Fleet, where his grandchildren had been staying overnight.  This was to let Rick and Anna out for an evening with friends, and they had just arrived to collect Tom and Toby just before we got there.  What a lovely family they are!

Boarding was a little less slick than in the past.  We had to trolley our bags to a loading dock: on previous cruises they have been collected straight from the car.  But as usual the check-in staff were lovely.  On boarding, we’d to leg it along the quay rather than take a covered bridge from the terminal.  Once aboard, there were no lifts to be had, since the crew had nabbed them for schlepping bags up to the cabins.  We’d to climb five flights, back packs and all.  At dinner time, our request for a pre-assigned table had not been registered, and we weren’t alone: one dame d’un certain age was getting quite aggressive, with the manager.  Anyway, our random assignment was a good one with window seats, and we had nice companions at the next table.  But all told, it is not quite the well-oiled machine we remember.

Dinner, however, was no disappointment - and they still do Picpoul de Pinet at a merely eye-watering price.  We rounded off the evening with a visit to the Commodore Club, then a cup of tea back in the cabin.

As I scribble in the insomniac small hours, the sea seems to be flat calm, in welcome contrast to our last cruise, when storms kept us in Southampton overnight. We’ll see how things are once we’ve rounded Cap Finistère.