I had a good night’s sleep, but Jane was complaining that it was a bit bump in the night, I never noticed. I awoke just before my alarm at 06:40, got dressed in my cycling gear and off to the gym to sweat. I’d not expected to use the treadmill, it’s too dangerous when the sea is anything except a millpond. I was hoping there would be a Wattbike or similar to train on, but disappointingly there were only Technogym static bikes, which are pretty good, but have no connectivity to my Garmin, so I can’t properly record my workout for Strava. It’s a shame as it’s the first time I’ve been able to work out against power, 30 mins@200 watts, made me sweat.

After the gym it was back to the room for a shower, Jane had breakfast in bed, so I stole a piece of her toast before heading up to the Lido buffet to see the omelet fairy. Once eaten it was time for fencing class, it was nice to see Disco Dave taking the lessons again. He was my first instructor on the Victoria. Suitably knackered it was back to the room to collect Jane and head off to the Port Lecture on Madeira.

The first insights lecture followed, Ian Brown on the Kray twins. I enjoyed it, but Jane wasn’t fussed. I suppose she’s heard it all before, being a proper cockney. After a cup of tea, I was back in the theatre for the second insight lecture. This time it was on the war in the North Atlantic, very good. 

Time for lunch, crab salad and a very nice salmon linguini, we had the same as each other, before heading back to the cabin for a rest and for me to start to catch up on some of the TV I’d put on a USB stick in preparation for this cruise.

Following on from afternoon tea, it was Commodore O’clock where Jane had had a Dark ‘n Stormy and a Doombar for me.

After drinks, it was back to the room to get ready for dinner. Dinner was good again, We’d switched places tonight, so I was sitting next to Jason, an American from Connecticut and Jane was next to Judith, a glamorous lady from Northolt. I had smoked duck to start an chicken breast stuffed with goats cheese for my main, delicious! Jane had a chicken consommé and venison for hers, I got extra venison as she was feeling a little green with the motion of the ship, as were a couple of the other guests at our table. Jane’s favourite dessert is a chocolate volcano cake, and typically it was served tonight when she wasn’t feeling at her best. Jane was obviously near to deaths door as she asked the sommelier to take a half finished bottle of Malbec away. That has never happened before. We’ll have that tomorrow!

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