Turning around (heading for home)

Thursday 16th
We sailed up the Clyde early in the morning, so didn't see anything from the port side. We were all tied up at Greenock by 7.00 and were greeted by a lone piper and a Scottish figure dressed up in a Michelin Man type Scottish outfit!!  A very quick breakfast and off to assembly for our tour to Culzean Castle. 

Culzean (apparently the z is silent?)Castle is a relatively modern one, built by one of the remaining family of Kennedy's.  Effectively this was the home of  Vivian's great great great (not sure how many) uncle.  The original Kennedy Castle burned down in the 15th century and 2 of the 4 siblings went to Ireland, 2 remained in Scotland.  Vivian's grandfather eventually came to NZ, but he was not from the Culzean Castle family.  Just to confuse history, the Pollock's originated in the same general area, so we do have some connections - not to mention the Vikings!!!??

Enough of setting the scene.  We were a select group of just 21 in a 48 seater bus as we set off for the 50 odd mile drive south through Ayrshire, along the coast most of the way.  Our guide gave us a comprehensive overview of the area and the history. She was however obsessed with Robbie ("I prefer to call him Robert") Burns rather than the Kennedy's and other families of the area. 

On arrival we went through the castle first, which was a good idea, as other visitors soon started pouring in. The family who lived there were forced to hand over the extensive property to cover death duties, so is now part of the National Trust.  While the castle itself is large, the fittings etc are a bit more "Presbyterian".   The 3rd floor is run as a 4* hotel.

Moved on to the visitors building and had coffee & scone - not a highlight however. Finally we toured through the grounds, which are extensive, before rejoining the bus and back to Ayr for another hour or so.  Had a much better coffee & sandwich (Costa - located on the back of a bookshop!) and back to the ship in time for sailing. 

The day was a bit cloudy and although rain was threatened, it never eventuated, however it was certainly COLD.  Thank goodness for our Kathmandu coats.  The locals turned it on for sailaway, with pipe band, Michelin Man & flags including Australian and New Zealand. Sailing back down the Clyde was lovely, as we could see many of the places we had driven through during the day.  Captain has told us that there's a low over northern Ireland and that we can expect bumpy conditions tomorrow - thanks!!!!

Friday 17th
Vivian has got "the" cough 😣, so she had room service breakfast and a bit of a lie in. Moderate seas and that darned foghorn is back in service.  Joined Maureen & Wyn for coffee and a catch up and then lunch.  Vivian is back to bridge this afternoon, but  then she'll be straight back for a rest before dinner.  As promised, the ship is rocking and rolling along at about 19kts.

We hit Iceland (not literally) just after lunch tomorrow and we have an almost 9 hour tour - so we don't get back until 10.00pm!  Forgot to mention that the clocks went back another hour this morning, so a couple of big sleep ins.

Saturday 18th
Thankfully the sea was calm and a threat of sun when we woke this morning. We both had room service breakfast at 8.00 and wandered down for coffee about 10.30 with Maureen & Wyn.   The sky cleared as we approached Reykjavik and our first view of Iceland was promising, with a scattering of snow on the hills!  We decided to have a quick lunch at 11.30, as we had to be at our tour assembly point at 1.00.  Maureen & Wyn joined us on this trip and we had a great time.

So far so good.  We hung around until nearly 2.00 before we disembarked - apparently they had a problem with one of the gangways. I have to say that shambles prevailed, made worse by the port authorities not allowing coaches onto the wharf, so we had well over 1000 passengers either walking the 500 metres, or cramming into one of the two shuttles.  On a positive note, our bus was first off the rank and we headed off on our tour without further incident.

Iceland surprised me as it is predominantly low lying, apart from the " mountains", which we'd probably call hills. Without wishing to sound like an expert (which I am not) the type of volcanic eruptions must be different, as their hills are smoother & flatter and there are no dramatic peaks.  Even the famous one which erupted in 2010, doesn't really look like our idea of a volcano.  Also, all the land has been formed from lava flows over the years and is quite flat.  This is not to say that the landscape is not impressive, but just was not what we had visualised. The weather was surprisingly temperate and the sun shone most of the time.

It is a small country & sparcely populated outside of the main centre. They are very proud of their geothermal resources and we visited one of their power plants.  An interesting sideline however is that they reticulate hot water to all the houses etc in the main centre.  They must have great insulation, as they have the hot water reservoirs up on the hills, alongside the cold water ones! 

The geothermal region we also visited was minimal by NZ standards. A couple of bubbling puddles, no mud pools, a geyser which spouts up about 6 metres every 7 minutes. The other surprising thing was the complete lack of sulphur.  Must say however that our lunch at this resort was excellent - even if lunch was at 5.30.  Soup & salmon.  A couple of women at our table bought a small bottle of wine - $20.  The other issue generally was that they'd accept Euro's but gave change in local currency.  We didn't try.

The Golden Waterfall just down the road however was very impressive, with water cascading down 22, then 11 metres into a canyon.  Awesome!  But boy, was it cold! I reckon that it was probably 8 degrees before the wind factor reduced it by about the same amount☺ The clouds over the mountains had a distinct snowy look.  Took the pictures and retreated to the bus.

Our last port of call, about 9.00 by now, was the original seat of parliament, established in 913. There is nothing there, as parliament only met for 2 weeks every year and they only used temporary shelter.  Oh yes, they met in July, when it was warm - not tonight/this afternoon it wasn't.

The other interesting point is that the area where they met is on the junction of the American and Euro Asian tectonic plates. In this area the plates are moving apart at 2 cm per year!  So there is a large canyon, and one of the few places in the world where you can see the moving plates. A bit chilly to hang around, so back to the bus and back to the ship.  We are running late!

Unfortunately the shambles of earlier this afternoon was only a foretaste of what was to come. The buses all arrived back at the same time, so we would have had about 500 passengers, one shuttle bus, one gangway.   It took us half an hour to get on board. By now it was 11.00pm and a lot of unhappy people. I did suggest to the Cruise Director that perhaps rather than standing in the warmth of the ship welcoming everyone back, he should be out in the cold like the rest of us.  Ha ha

Ordered sandwich & tea from room service and they were remarkably quick, given the demand on their services.  The ship set sail just before 11.30 into a watery setting sun!  I see that sunrise Sunday is 3.27!  4 sea days ahead until we reach the Americas.  A great visit to our furthest away port and we are now heading back south (which will hopefully bring sunshine onto our balcony in the morning). And fortunately we get another hour, so we will be 13 hours behind NZ.