We are in London, about to head to Tilbury, London to board our favorite ship — the ‘elegant explorer’ ms Prinsendam. This afternoon, we set sail on the 14-Day Celtic Circle cruise.
Sailing from Tilbury, outside of London, we look forward to exploring 10 different ports in the United Kingdom.
- After a day at sea to relax and get reacquainted with the Prinsendam, we arrive at the port town of Rosyth, Scotland. From here, we’ll head into Edinburgh, or perhaps explore the town of Dunfermline.
- Then, it’s on to Invergordon, where we will head to Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle, looking for Nessie “the Wee Beastie“. We are also looking forward to exploring the city of Inverness and perhaps checking out the whisky trail.
- Next our ship sails to Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands, with 5,000 year old Neolithic ruins nearby at Skara Brae.
- In Portree, on the Isle of Skye in Scotland’s Inner Hebrides, we will tour the countryside on the ride to Talisker Distillery, learning about whisky production and perhaps sampling a wee dram.
- Then it’s on to Ireland, first stopping in Greencastle. From here we hope to head to Londonderry, and the walled city of Derry in Northern Ireland. There’s also the Giant’s Causeway, a landform with a legend and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- In Dublin, the ship stays overnight, giving us plenty of time to visit Trinity College and its Book of Kells, tour the Guinness factory, take a literary pub crawl, and stay overnight off the ship in the historic Shelbourne Hotel
- From the port of Bristol, we plan to take a train to through the Cotswold countryside to the city of Bath, where we hope to visit the Roman Baths, among other attractions.
- In Illfracombe, England, we are taking a shore excursion to Exmoor National Park, and taking a ride on the historic Lynton & Barnstaple narrow-gauge railway. Being in Devon, Mr. Jones will be searching for a place to try Devonshire Cream Tea, white creamy white tea and scones with clotted cream.
- While we’ve visited Guernsey before, we look forward to walking on the cliff paths again, and perhaps visiting some of museums from German occupation of the island during World War II.
We will relax during one last day at sea before disembarking in Tilbury and heading back to London.
When we can, we hope to blog about our discoveries, and life onboard the ms Prinsendam.
Have you traveled to any of these places around the United Kingdom? Please comment with any “local discoveries” that we must check out.