Rosyth

Sat 20 Aug 16

At sea.

A word of advice to photographers travelling into cold areas. The cold shortens camera battery life, so take a spare battery or at least keep your camera in a carrying case to insulate it when not in use.

Sun 21 Aug 16

Due to a strong outgoing tide our arrival at Rosyth was delayed by about 3 hours. Rosyth is the location of the cruise terminal for Edinburgh but is on the opposite side of the firth and a fair way from the city. There was a shuttle bus from the ship to Inverkeithing railway station where we caught a train into Edinburgh, about a 30 minute trip.

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival was on at this time and the city was packed with people and not just along The Royal Mile where most of the outdoor Fringe activity was taking place. It was an almost continous line on both sides of the street of street performers and also people handing out leaflets advertising other shows.

Even over in the New Town area it was crowded.

It was good to revisit the city after having been here in 2010. We visited the National Gallery which has a small but excellent collection of art works and then spent the rest of the day just wandering around the town soaking up the atmosphere.

Mon 22 Aug 16

At sea.

A day for packing and saying goodbye.

We have met some very nice people on this cruise, people with whom we would like to keep in touch. They made what would have been an enjoyable cruise into one which also filled with fun and laughter. In fact, most of the people we met were very pleasant and easy to engage in conversation even if most of those conversations were about travel. We met one couple who had been on 70 (yes 70) cruises but we heard of others who had been on more than 100! We also met a few who if I saw coming, I would cross the street to avoid (including some Australians) but then again, these people would not recognise me anyway, they are that sort.

 Tomorrow we disembark at IJmuiden for a coach transfer into Amsterdam. From Amsterdam we embark on the next stage of our trip with a train journey to Koblenz, Germany.

We will be undertaking the train journeys on this holiday despite not having a copy of the 1913 Edition of Bradshaw's Guide to Continental Railways. Nor do I have a collection of sports coats to match Michael Portillo.*

*A reference to a BBC TV series Great Continental Railways.

Tue 23 Aug 16

We arrived at IJmuiden at about 7am and Holland America had a well organized disembarkation procedure. We had a coach transfer to Amsterdam railway station but had a couple of hours to fill in wandering around that part of the city.

"Left Luggage" is expensive for short term usage at Amsterdam station. €10 per locker for up to 24 hours. We needed three because they are not very big. I suggest if you are considering travelling by train in Europe don't take big suitcases. There is usually a height difference between the train and the platform so you need to be able to lift your cases up and down easily. Also there is often nowhere to place large cases in the carriage. Small bags can be put on the overhead racks.

We took a train to Koblenz, Germany which is located on the junction of the Rhine and Moselle rivers. Stayed at the Brenner Hotel which is clean and comfortable, located between the railway stain and the town centre.