Planet Ruby Starrs

We didnt get off the boat at Lexious ... Dr Fred was suffering with a gammy hip - and for the first part of the day there was a very dense sea fret.... our original plan had been to find a local bus into Porto but with Dr Hopalong it just wasn't an option... next time. I was going to have a walk later in the afternoon but somehow the day slipped away. I sat drawing on deck and read my book- it was incredibly warm and I looked across at the beach promenade and there was no shade at all so I just enjoyed some quiet time on the ship.  We spent the evening chatting with various guests and listening to the house band play covers from our teenage years - bit of a nostalgia trip... The next day was the first of 2 sea days which would see us dock in Liverpool. It was also a full day for Dr Fred - whose injury was improving. He gave his final lecture in the morning and then hosted a private lunch. These posh lunches are good fun and the chance to meet interesting ...

Our second visit to Lisbon this year.  Having wandered around the city last time we were here in January we had plans to take this opportunity to escape on a local train and visit the small town of Sintra.  Best laid plans hey.... Dr Fred woke up with an 'injury' ... his hip and knee were not cooperating and while had been stiff yesterday they were now quite painful. We decided to walk into town and see how the leg felt.  Fortunately some friends in Amble (hello and thank you friends in Amble)  had given us some very clear and detailed instruction on how to make this journey ss they had done it quite recently.  Because of this very little effort was spent getting 'lost' finding the right station... train... etc so we decided to go - we limped across town to the railway station and boarded an incredibly crowded train... Fun trip to absolutley packed out place...  Sintra is a 40 minute train ride from Lisbon and is UNESCO world heritage site with ...

A day at sea with totally calm seas and glorious blue skies. I think there will have been some sore heads this morning as the 'authentic' portuguese bbq was fairly riotous.. party central.... the food was good but it was packed... the best thing was they fully opened the retractable roof which totally changed the nature of the deck... letting the light and sunshine flood in and the swimming pool smells fly out.   Crew had made massive effort with decor and had set up cocktail bar stations and every possible table had been relocated to fill up the space... but with all the usual restaurants closed and people out to party for the night, table settings were limited so latecomers - like us - couldnt find a seat and ended up in the usual place , not really a problem for us but a lot of guests were disappointed npt yo be part of the main event. We took our food out and sat on the back of the boat and watched Madeira slip into the distance... meanwhile back at the party we could hea...