Day 1 of 36

At long last, my blog site can actually live up to its name, davidscruise.blog  

I am on my way to join Cunard’s Queen Victoria for a thirty five night voyage to Madeira, several Caribbean islands and finally, on the way back, Ponta Del Garda in the Azores where it should still be warm..

Today, I am still in the U.K.  travelling to Southampton on Cross Country’s 13.46 hrs train from Macclesfield to Bournemouth.

Overnight, the temperature dropped to -4°C and snow (not a great deal) had fallen the night before.  Although fairly warm on the train, it remains bitterly cold and slippery outside.

Clive, a colleague from Church, very kindly made sure that I was on my intended train two hours earlier. I settled in my first class seat, a coffee and biscuits being immediately offered.   “I must message Clive,” I thought to myself, to thank him for the ride to Macclesfield in time for my intended train.  My phone was nowhere to be found.  In the sixteen minutes between Macclesfield and Stoke, I had time to check all pockets several times, and ascertain that I had left my phone behind.  I calculated that, returning home might just get me on the 14.46 train through to Southampton.  I gathered my heavy luggage and “bailed out” at Stoke, caught the on-time 12.21 back to Macclesfield, grabbed a taxi back to my house 11 miles away, and, by a miracle, made it on to the earlier 13.46, which I am still on, having just left Reading.  There is no catering on this train, and, ye gods, I’m getting hungry!  Nevertheless, the train is more or less on time, and soon, we shall arrive at Basingstoke, on former Southern Railway metals.  Not much about cruising yet! 

If I remember rightly, this will be my third cruise on Queen Victoria, the first being its maiden voyage in December 2007 to among other places, Oslo. I cannot recommend Northern Europe in any December. Thirteen years later, I was on board for its South America cruise of 78 nights returning to a Britain in lock-down due to the Pandemic.  I look forward to re-aquainting myself with breakfast on an open deck with a glowing morning sun giving warm therapeutic relief. 

I shan’t be walking for Christian Aid this year.  This is not due to any dispute; my left knee has started to become arthritic.  It happens, but hopefully, a few weeks away from the cold and damp of England should work wonders. For the first time, I have packed a walking stick!  Nevertheless, I have proved to myself that I can lug three heavy bags of luggage on and off trains.

This is perfect timing! I should be at Southampton in around 15 minutes, time for a hearty dinner. 

All that was obviously written during the roughly four hour train journey from Macclesfield to Southampton.  The almost cloudless sunset, and a spectacular rising of a super–moon is possibly the harbinger of a further cold night.  The fun begins to unravel tomorrow.

Many thanks for reading,

David, 18.24 hrs. 3/1/26. in my hotel room.