TravelStream™ news feed for member pete-r on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/pete-r en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 25 Feb 2009 06:51:31 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pete-r/2/1217520000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pete-r/2/1217520000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pete-r/2/1217520000/tpod.html Wed, 25 Feb 2009 06:51:31 -0500 Go West, Old Man - Round the World by Sea

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Romsey, England, United Kingdom

50deg 59.6min N, 1deg 28.9min W.

Done all my shopping, most of my packing and had the new shed built today. Too late for a shed-warming, but the family will enjoy it while I'm away.
PHOTO_ID_L=the-shed.jpg

The Manet is due into Tilbury at 15:00 tomorrow.

Main challenge today is the naming competition for this blog. Leading candidates include: Go West, Old Man; Slow Boat from Tilbury (or To Tauranga); Around the World in a Weighty Daze; Carry On Circumnavigating; In the Wake of Drake; and Maybe It's Because I'm a Wanderer.

For those of you who are finding all this too exotic - pictures of sheds and the like - don't worry, it will calm down once I get on my way.
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Atlantic Ocean, Iceland

North Atlantic N 46°02.9' W 024°39.5'

It is grey and drizzly this morning, but the sea state is still only about 3; I decided to leave it a while before "going for a walk". The visibility is less than a mile, so not much chance of seeing anything. Back to "War and Peace"! Gordon and I also fixed various Ipod, Itunes, speakers and electrical problems; not an exciting day!

I did six laps, late in the morning. A few patches of wet deck and one section where the wind was a bit strong (chose to go against it rather than be blown along too fast!) but OK in general. Expecting poor weather and slightly rougher seas for a day or so, but it cleared up in the later afternoon, so I did another mile before dinner.

The clocks have gone back an hour each night; we are now on Iceland Time.
[Later note: the fact that this entry says we're "in" Iceland is only because Travelpod insists on a country and we aren't anywhere in particular - Iceland represents "halfway across the Atlantic"!]
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Tilbury, United Kingdom

Day One.
Made it to the ship by a combination of car, trains, taxis and gangway. Suitcase hoisted on the shoulder of a crewman in traditional manner, and up the gangway into the ship.

Yes, in only four and a half months, I'll have arrived . . . back in Tilbury.

The ship is the CGA CGM Manet. She is 195 metres long, over 20,000 tons, and will carry us to Panama, Fiji, Australia and New Zealand. (But not to Auckland, where I thought I was going; a sign of things to come?)

Met my three fellow passengers, all Aussies en route to Sydney, the Steward, "Purser" and most importantly the Captain.

Cabin is fine. Spacious, clean, with a view (for now, until all the containers arrive) and a fridge. Not the TV/DVD/Radio I expected, though - they're in a saloon across the corridor.

Looking out to port, there are large containers being picked up and brought along by very large moving cranes . . which deliver them to an absolutely enormous crane that picks them up and whizzes them onto the ship, bring other off too. Impressive.

We leave Tilbury for Rotterdam at 02:00.
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Suez, Red Sea and Sinai, Egypt

Friday 5 December

Gulf of Suez N 28° 39.6' E 33° 01.4'

We started engines at midnight and headed north, to be woken again shortly after by the general alarm (false alarm). In the morning, we were just entering the Gulf of Suez as I got up, with Hurghada hidden behind an island to port and Ra's Muhammad - the tip of the Sinai Peninsula - to starboard. The mountains of Sinai were visible throughout my walk and most of the day: a rugged landscape of rock and sand interspersed with small settlements and oil terminals.

By early evening, a southbound convoy was passing us and we anchored off the port of Suez at sunset among a motley collection of ships, as the local fishing fleet headed south.

As today is the anniversary of my retirement, I feel some reflection is appropriate even though this trip is still in progress; I'll put it in the "Incoherent Ramblings" blog later. I think I've had good value out of my first year: apart from travelling most of the way round the world, visiting New Zealand and learning about containership life, I have also visited Portugal and Turkey for the first time, walked in the Jura, climbed 26 more Munros and sundry other mountains in five countries, taken several thousand photographs and learned quite a bit more about operating my camera. I've seen six continents (but set foot on only four, so far), three oceans and more than seven seas.

Dave Burdett used to tell us that "some people have twenty years experience but many people have one year's experience twenty times"; I think I've improved my average!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pete-r/2/1229792401/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pete-r/2/1229792401/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pete-r/2/1229792401/tpod.html Sat, 20 Dec 2008 09:45:59 -0500 Go West, Old Man - Round the World by Sea

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Romsey, England, United Kingdom

Home at Last

It feels a bit strange to be home, but also a relief to be back.
I haven't got long to acquire some feeling that it's Christmas!
This should be the last entry in this blog, but I will improve one or two of the older entries and perhaps add a few map pins.

I hope you enjoyed reading it. Thanks to all the people who told me they enjoyed it and encouraged me to continue. And who knows what the next one will be?

Watch this space . . .

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Red Sea, Sudan

Tuesday 2 December

Red Sea N 17° 30.4' E 40° 34.0'

A fine calm day. We're cruising along at about 17kt between the islands and reefs of Saudi Arabia to starboard and Eritrea to port. The temperature wasn't too bad early on, but is rising steadily. Although the sea is very calm, I didn't see any life during my walk nor when sitting out later; may spend an hour at the bows this afternoon despite that.

[Later:] An extraordinary afternoon. I did spend forty minutes on the "forecastle" after lunch, and saw a few dolphins but they didn't make it to the bows. Then someone arrived to start removing rust with a compressed-air driven wire brush and the peace was shattered, so I headed back. On reporting my safe return to the OOW, he said: "so you got the message?"
"No, what message?"
"The captain of a warship called on the VHF and asked for you. I don't know the name."
"Just might be HMS Cumberland . . . the captain's a friend of mine."
"They will call again in half an hour."

So, half an hour later, I was talking to Cdr Sparkes. Although in theory I am proficient with marine VHF, I didn't get quite right the mixture of informal chat, radio protocol and not saying the wrong thing on air, but Peter managed all that with his usual competence.

The conclusion was a promised photo opportunity, as "helicopter operations" were in progress. Sure enough, twenty minutes later we were visited by a Lynx helicopter, which approached from ahead, flew down the starboard side, round our stern and then kept pace with us for several minutes, about 50m off the port bridge wing. I was on the monkey island, taking photos and occasionally waving for the photos that they were taking of us.

Amazing. My own personal fly-past. What a splendid gesture. (And it's a year tomorrow that I had breakfast aboard Cumberland as Peter's guest, just before I retired.)

All this took place in the middle of the Red Sea at about the latitude of Port Sudan. Cumberland remained in sight a few miles off to port for several hours altogether, so I have at least a dozen photographs of her in distant silhouette, with and without helicopter.

The one disappointing thing was that the crew of Aenne Rickmers didn't make more of it. The Second Officer didn't tell them what was happening and I don't think the couple of officers I told got the point until too late. I called Nadja but she wasn't around, which is a double pity as both ships would have had better photographs if she'd been there.

I attempted to send Peter a thank you text but I doubt it worked, so I also asked Elizabeth to email on my behalf. Just calling on the ship's VHF to say thank you didn't seem right, although I don't know why I think so. I'm looking forward to seeing the photos, and I'm sure one or two of my ex-colleagues will appreciate them.

Later, we spent another half an hour at the bows but only saw dolphins behind us. There was a pretty good sunset, though, and the moon later provided a silver path on the waters.
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Alderney, Channel Islands, United Kingdom

Thursday 18 December

English Channel (noon) N 50° 15.1' W 00° 21.4'

We turned ENE during the night and everything became calm, save for the ubiquitous vibrations. For some reason the air conditioning is off, so opening my window is necessary and for a change it works in improving the air.

I checked our position before breakfast. "An excellent place: Great Britain to port and Great Britain to starboard" the Chief Officer declared. (Not strictly accurate, with Alderney to starboard, but the sentiment is right.)

A little later, I worked out when we'd cross the line of my outbound course, and watched for it on the GPS: I completed "Round the World by Sea" at 08:41, at 49° 58.48' North and 01° 59.17' West.

Looking at the plan display on my hand-held GPS, I noticed it showed exotic waypoints such as "Halterworth Lane": I was only 63nm from home. I marked Mile End on the chart - something for future crews to wonder about. Later I will be even closer, but it will take about three days to get there! The Port Agent replied to the email I asked the Captain to send - he thinks I should get ashore early enough to catch a train home, assuming we berth on schedule.

It stayed fine but grey, with visibility about three or four miles most of the day but improving later. As it went dark we entered the Dover Strait and could see Dover off to the left and various lights on the French coast to the right. At about 19:45 we anchored off the northeast corner of Kent.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pete-r/2/1229706000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pete-r/2/1229706000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pete-r/2/1229706000/tpod.html Sat, 20 Dec 2008 07:55:17 -0500 Go West, Old Man - Round the World by Sea

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Off Margate, United Kingdom

Friday 19 December

Thames Estuary N 51° 30.6' E 01° 30.5'

A fine day, with dawn illuminating the eastern tip of Kent. I had hoped to see more of Kent, the Thames and the Essex coast this morning but apparently we're going to remain at anchor. The pilot was scheduled for 16:00, so the plan was wait until dark before moving, typical of this trip to the end . . . but at lunch, the captain told us that the pilot is now coming at 14:30. I don't yet know what, if anything, that implies about berthing time.

By the time the pilot was on board and we'd stopped "manoeuvring" at the pilot station, it was close to 15:00. The sun was disappearing into the clouds above the coast of Kent, and there was no sign yet of Essex. I did most of my packing, checking from time to time whether any view was developing. (I guess if we're early, then I'll have plenty of time, and if we're not then it doesn't matter if I'm ready yet.)

We ended up in the Thames itself after dark, but reached Tilbury at 18:30, the gangway being dragged ashore by a team of six at about 18:45. I had clearance to leave by 19:30 and made my farewells but had a longish wait for a taxi (the Friday evening before Christmas). Luckily, given the weight of luggage, they can come right to the ship at Tilbury. Got to the station about 20:20 and had an uneventful journey to Winchester, where Elizabeth collected me.

Arrived home at about 23:00; it seems very strange!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pete-r/2/1229533200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pete-r/2/1229533200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pete-r/2/1229533200/tpod.html Sat, 20 Dec 2008 07:33:09 -0500 Go West, Old Man - Round the World by Sea

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Bay of Biscay, France

Wednesday 17 December

Bay of Biscay N 46° 02.2' W 07° 43.8'

Fine weather again, with a swell from the northwest and moderate sea - causing the occasional awkward roll and some pitching. It looks like we'll take twenty-four hours to cross the Bay of Biscay, passing Isle d' Oessant around midnight.

That means we could be at Tilbury earlier than Saturday. I'd expected some loitering somewhere to lose a few hours, but was disappointed to see a new schedule had been posted. Arrival at Tilbury is shown as Friday: pilot at 08:00, berth at 20:00, ship then leaving at 03:00 Saturday. I can't think of a less convenient arrangement: berthing at nominally 20:00 means being ashore sometime after 22:00 and probably missing the last train out of Tilbury or out of Waterloo, and the ship leaving at 03:00 means that disembarking on Saturday morning is no longer an option. (Although not far in miles, getting from the station to the ship took well over an hour on the way out.)

However, the plan changed at least six times at La Spezia, so I'll wait a bit before deciding what to do. The captain wasn't very interested in my problem, but if I give him an email for the port agent, I expect he'll send it.

As we progressed across the Bay, the sea appeared to get calmer, except for the swell which has become quite entertaining. In the middle of the Bay, the depth is several thousand metres but as we approach Brittany it comes up to a hundred or so. (The reading on the bridge currently says 24.8m, but I checked the chart, and that's rubbish.) As a consequence of the decreasing depth, the waves get shorter and higher; as a consequence of being lightly-loaded our "rolling period" is about 12 seconds (info from 1st Mate).

This made for an interesting dinner. I was coping OK with the roll at 10° either way but a 15° roll to starboard caught me out and I "did a Gordon" - caught the bottle of red wine but not the glass, until too late to stop half of it hitting the tablecloth. The steward came and fixed my chair to the deck, at 45° to the roll, and I managed to finish dinner. The Chief Engineer and Electrician were sliding back and forth and we exchanged a few anecdotes along the lines of "waves we have known". I was glad it wasn't just me! There is a clinometer on the bulkhead opposite my usual place: the worst I saw was 20° both ways (and again later, on the bridge) but I found it impossible to monitor the instrument, hold glass and bottle, and stay stationary at the same time, so there may have been worse.

I retreated to my cabin during a lull, observing that the bosun is lashing everything down (e.g. all the lounge chairs and table are now roped together rather in the manner of Indiana Jones and his father in "Indiana Jones and the Holy Grail"). We'll turn away from it in four or five hours time.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pete-r/2/1229446800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pete-r/2/1229446800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pete-r/2/1229446800/tpod.html Sat, 20 Dec 2008 07:21:59 -0500 Go West, Old Man - Round the World by Sea

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Off Portugal, Portugal

Tuesday 16 December

Off Portugal N 40° 04.0' W 09° 42.0'

Still dark as I went to breakfast, for the first time. When I came back, dawn was just about breaking through the clouds above the Serra de Sintra (west of Lisbon). There were a few sailing yachts between there and Berlenga and the Farilhões; rather them than me. The swell is coming from the north, more or less ahead, so we're pitching a fair bit but not rolling much. The sea is about state 6. No walk today, but I hope to sit out later on as the sky is still clearing.

After lunch, they tested the emergency steering. This involved stopping, so I thought that would be a good opportunity to sit out, expecting less wind, but the rolling made it pretty much impossible - difficult to stay in the deck chair, let alone read. However, when we got going again I was able to sit out for a couple of hours again. Later we had an interesting sunset. (Being more than 9° west but on GMT, it was relatively late, as in Dingle.) We will pass Cabo Finisterre, which Ed and I visited a few years ago, at around midnight.
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