Forth, Forties

Woke up at 7.30am to the sight of blue skies and sunshine through our open curtains. Today, we looked forward to having a look around Edinburgh. Despite having been to Edinburgh lots of times before (Edinburgh is only two hours from Durham on the train), it is such an interesting and historic city that it’s always worth another visit. 🙂

The problem with large ships (and Queen Anne is 113,000 tons) is that most of them cannot fit into the usual berths in passenger cruise terminals, and either have to go to a container port miles out of town, or anchor somewhere off shore and tender their passengers ashore.

So, this morning, we found ourselves at anchor off the pretty little port of Newhaven, which was maiden call for the Queen Anne. If we wanted to go ashore we had to go to the Royal Court Theatre and collect a numbered ticket to secure a place in one of the liberty boats. We baulked at the thought of 3000 passengers waiting; this is just one of the many reasons why Trevor and I prefer small ships – you never have to queue for anything!

First of all – breakfast. We went up to the self-service buffet and enjoyed some orange juice and coffee, which washed down my breakfast of bacon, corned beef hash, mushrooms, tomatoes and black pudding. Then we returned to 4066 and collected our cruise cards, credit cards and money, and Trevor packed our cagoules in his rucksack; we are in Britain after all! 🙂

When we arrived at the theatre, we had to take part in a “step test”. When embarking on a ship’s tender there is often a gap between the pontoon and the vessel, so we had to prove we were able to step across an 18″ gap which had been set up by placing two planks on the floor that distance apart; you had to step from one to the other without accidentally touching the carpet in between. 🙂

We were allocated ticket number 33, and we spotted Billy and Carole in the front row who had tickets 39. They had previously booked online to visit the Royal Yacht Britannia, and their appointment was for 11.15am, so they were a little worried that they wouldn’t get off the ship on time. As Trevor and I were just doing our own thing, we swapped our tickets with theirs so they could disembark sooner.

We just sat in the theatre whiling away the time while they periodically called out the ticket numbers. As well as four lifeboats that had been pressed into tender service, a couple of ferries from the port authority were also in action, so there were six boats on the go. Each liberty boat took around 30 minutes for a round trip, including the time needed to embark and debark all the passengers.

It was about 10.15am before Billy and Carole were called, and another half-hour after that before it was our turn. We then made our way down to Deck 1 where the boats waiting by a small pontoon, and one by one we all stepped into the boat. They made sure to pack everyone in; we were all told to budge up as, apparently, benches that were meant to hold three people were actually having to hold four.

We were sitting in the bow of the vessel, surrounded on all sides by the Perspex windows and, as the sun blazed in, it was like sitting in a greenhouse and soon I was roasting in my black denim jacket. 🙁

Eventually we were underway, and the boat sped off to take us ashore in Newhaven, where we were shown where to queue for the tram into Edinburgh, which would take a further half hour. What a carry on; we really didn’t want to spend our cruise queueing. How on earth people can stand being on ships with over 6,000 passengers beats me. Even half of that is too many as far as we’re concerned.

We were only at the tram stop for a few minutes before one rolled up, and we boarded and took our seats. We hadn’t already purchased a ticket, but a conductor came around and we asked for a day ticket each. Trevor was unable to use his pensioner’s bus pass in Scotland, so he had to pay full fare!

We decided to alight at the top of Princes Street, and walk up to the famous Edinburgh Castle, where I hoped to be able to photograph some great views. However, it seemed the world and his wife had decided to visit Scotland’s capital city, and there were crowds everywhere, many of them overseas visitors.

In addition, I needed the loo, so we spotted a Wetherspoon’s pub called The Standing Order (as the building used to be a bank), and decided to go inside. While there, we each indulged in a drink; Trevor had a pint while I enjoyed a refreshing Aperol Spritz. 🙂

On the way up to the castle, we passed the impressive National Gallery Scotland, which houses world-class international and Scottish art from 1300 to 1945. You can see works by internationally renowned artists such as Vermeer, Titian, Rembrandt, Velázquez and the Impressionists, but we didn’t have time to visit today.

We took a slow stroll up to the castle, and we could see that they were in the middle of erecting all the seating that would surround the castle grounds for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, which takes place every year in August.

When we arrived at the castle entrance, it appeared that all tickets had been sold for today so, unless we already had a ticket, we wouldn’t be able to get in. I had to content myself with just taking some photos from the vantage point that I had.

As we walked back down the hill again, we saw an ice-cream van that was doing a roaring trade, so we stopped and purchased a 99 each. 🙂 Then we decided to go and visit the Greyfriars Bobby statue.

The story of the little Skye Terrier “Bobby” is a heartwarming one of a dog’s lifelong devotion to his master. John Gray joined the Edinburgh Police Force as a night watchman in 1850. To keep him company through the winter nights, he took a canine partner whom he named Bobby, and the two of them became a familiar sight as they patrolled the cobbled streets of Edinburgh. Rain or shine, wind or snow, the two were inseparable.

In 1858, John Gray succumbed to tuberculosis, and was buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard. Bobby soon touched the hearts of the local residents when he refused to leave his master’s grave, even in the worst weather conditions.

The gardener and keeper of Greyfriars tried on many occasions to evict Bobby from the Kirkyard. In the end he gave up and provided a shelter for Bobby at the side of John Gray’s grave.

Bobby’s fame spread throughout Edinburgh. It is reported that almost on a daily basis the crowds would gather at the entrance of the Kirkyard waiting for the one o’clock gun that would signal the appearance of Bobby leaving the grave for his lunch.

The kind folk of Edinburgh took good care of Bobby, but still he remained loyal to his master. For fourteen years the dead man’s faithful dog kept constant watch and guard over the grave until his own death in 1872.

A statue of Bobby was erected in 1873, opposite the graveyard, and to this day the people of Edinburgh will always remember Scotland’s most famous and faithful dog.

We continued on our way, walking through Edinburgh’s crowded streets and looking in shop windows. We then decided to go to the “Conan Doyle”, a pub named after one of Edinburgh’s most famous sons, doctor and author Arthur Conan Doyle, born on 22nd May 1851. Conan Doyle was, of course, the creator of the famous detective Sherlock Holmes.

We had visited this pub several times before, whenever we had been in Edinburgh. It is a charming, old-fashioned type of pub rather than these soulless chain establishments. Its walls are decorated with drawings and quotes from Sherlock Holmes books.

The pub was not too crowded and we were able to get a seat at a table near the window. We each enjoyed a Tennant’s lager and shared a bag of crisps – it certainly wouldn’t do us any harm to miss our lunch!

Afterwards, we just continued looking around and, when we spotted an off-licence, we decided it would be a good idea to go in and buy some bottles of prosecco and Bacardi and Coke to drink in our cabin, hopefully on the balcony if the sun was on our side. Unlike some other cruise lines, Cunard doesn’t mind you bringing on your own booze, as long as you consume it in your own cabin. You can, of course, bring your own wine into the restaurant, but it will attract a corkage fee.

We then decided to take the tram and return to Newhaven. We didn’t have long to wait until the tram rolled up, then we were on our way, showing the conductor our return ticket.

It was about three o’clock before we arrived back at Newhaven and while we were waiting for the liberty boat to arrive, I took some photos of the lighthouse, which was built in 1869 and is classed as a historical landmark. You can read about it here.

We were back on board Queen Anne by around 3.30pm, which gave us a couple of hours to relax before our ridiculously-early dinner. After propping our balcony door open, we enjoyed a half-hour power nap, then cracked open one of the bottles of prosecco and took it out on the balcony, where I read my Kindle for half an hour or so.

Down in the Britannia Restaurant, we met up with Billy and Carole on table #393, and savoured another delicious five-course meal washed down (in my case) with crisp house rosé wine and finished off with cheese and a glass of ruby port. The others had Benédictine as their after-dinner liqueurs, served in large balloon glasses.

Afterwards, we went straight along to the Royal Court Theatre to bag our front-row seats for tonight’s entertainment, which featured two Scottish singers and musicians billed as The MacDonald Bros. They had come fourth on the X-Factor about 20 years ago. We had seen them before on a previous cruise; they play rollicking fiddle and accordion Celtic music, as well as the penny whistle, the piano and the guitar. Two very talented lads indeed, and we really enjoyed their show a lot. So did everyone else, if the foot tapping and hand clapping around the theatre was anything to go by.

Trevor and I then went along to the Golden Lion for the quiz, while Billy and Carole said they’d see us later on up in the Commodore Club. The quiz theme tonight was “Weird Laws” and consisted of 20 questions based around odd or obscure laws in different countries around the world. You had to answer many of the questions with “True” or “False”, unless their was a definite answer. Most of the time Trevor and I were guessing, and we achieved our worst quiz score ever, 2/20. One team got 14, but we were sure they were looking their answers up online.

We then went up to the Commodore and joined Billy and Carole for a couple of drinks, which we imbibed whilst listening to the resident pianist. While he was good at playing the piano, his singing left a lot to be desired, but I suppose he provided a bit of background music.

When Billy and Carole said their goodnights around eleven o’clock, Trevor and I returned to the Golden Lion for a nightcap, and to enjoy the music of Aileen and Sticks, the Irish folk duo.

Then it was back along to 4066 to settle down for the evening. After opening our balcony door a slit to counteract the drying effects of the aircon, we got into bed and soon fell fast asleep after another very enjoyable day.