Sailing up the Tagus in to Lisbon is always a beautiful sight, and so it was this morning, sailing up into a sunrise.  I had given up on our ebike tour of Lisbon, we were on the waitlist, and hadn’t received tickets before we went to bed. I was just getting ready to go to the gym when the phone rang, it was the tour desk asking if we still wanted to go and if we did, then we needed to be by the coaches at 08:20. Not a problem for me, but Jane was rushing around like a mad

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We had another day at sea today, heading for our final port of call Lisbon. The day didn’t start particularly well, I somehow missed my alarm at 06:45 and missed getting up for the gym. I was so late I nearly missed getting to breakfast before fencing classes at 08:45. The fencing is getting more intense now and we had some actual bouts, fighting with each other, putting into practice the moves we bad learned so far. Once that was over I headed back to the cabin for a shower and onto the first lecture of the day. Jeff Tall’s

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The trip from Tenerife to Gran Canaria iIs a short one, we ended up bobbing off the port of Las Palma’s quite early and proceeded to Bob around for several hours just outside until our scheduled arrival at 8am. My legs were aching badly from yesterday’s run, and I could hardly drag myself out of bed for breakfast. There was a bit of a drama in the Britannia where the staff were mopping up a flood, it seems someone had left a tap running in one of the rooms above. I managed to do so though, and it wasn’t long

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I was feeling a little better this morning, so when my alarm went off at 06:45, I was up and dressed in my gym kit and headed off up to deck 9 for a run on the treadmill. I’ve been cycling a lot in the last 6 months, commuting 10 miles daily into London, but it doesn’t help with the running. My fitness is good, my running muscles aren’t. A slow 5km later and after a shower and EastEnders it was time for a fry up for breakfast. I do like the new Cunard Signature breakfast, I know I can

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We didn’t have a good night, although Jane is over the worst of the flu she contracted pre-cruise, she now has a persistent cough and was up all night with it, as was I. We’ll have a look in town for a pharmacy and see if they have some cough medicine. We’ve arrived at La Palma this morning and it’s looking very nice out there, this was the view from our balcony at 08:00 Breakfast in the Britannia was another fry up, which I’m probably not allowed having skipped the gym again this morning. After breakfast it was time to

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My alarm went off at 06:45 as usual, but I woke up with a very scratchy throat, I reckon I’m coming down with Jane’s cold, so I rolled over and went back to sleep. The Cunard beds are probably the comfiest I’ve slept in, so it wasn’t hard to go back to sleep. I’ll go to the gym tomorrow 😀. I opened the curtains to see sun on the balcony, which was nice after the 3 gloomy days getting down here. After a lazy breakfast in the Britannia we headed out to the Pursers desk where we’d arranged to meet

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After our drinks in the Commodore Club we headed back to the room to get changed for dinner. Tonight is our first formal night of the cruise, so I was decked out in my DJ and Jane was looking lovely in a long black and white gown. I ended up dithering between wearing my white or black jacket, ending up on wearing the black. It was captains drinks in the Queen’s room before dinner, and while we usually don’t bother, we popped in for a glass of fizz chatting with Ken, June and Katy from our table. Dinner was very

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It was the same routine today, up at 06:45, into the gym to cycle. I did a HIIT workout today to change it up again. A bit more intense today, 30 mins @ 198 watts average After my shower we went to the Britannia for breakfast for the first time. I had a fry-up with Bury black pudding yum! Jane had a cheese omelette. Satisfied, I headed off to my fencing class, it’s hard work, especially when you are my size. It’s made even harder when you are partnered up with an enthusiastic Asian chap who hadn’t done it before,

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It was still a bit bouncy aboard today, so I stuck to the static bike in the gym, rather than risk death on the treadmill. I’d decided to do a more structured workout, so did 30 minutes at an average of 177 watts, covering 14.75 km. I really need to get better, Sa Collebra, on our trip to Majorca in April is going to kill me at this rate. A shower later and a quick look at my watch, I realised it was 08:20 and I’d not had breakfast yet. With fencing classes at 08:45 I really needed to get

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We managed one more drink in the Commodore Club before heading off to get ready for dinner. Jane had a Marguarita and I reverted to the Doombar, a much nicer pint. We were upstairs in the Britannia, and having already recc’ed our table I was able to put our hostess right when she tried to put us on a table for eight. Surprisingly all ten of our dinner companions were there for the first night, we are usually missing a couple through tiredness. Dinner was a very chatty affair, with all the introductions, it looks like it’s going to be

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