44° 59.333 N 12° 15.673 W 4pm Wed 26th

Wed 26-3 .Nearly home .It has been raining ,the skies are grey ,the sea is slightly angry and I can not get all my things in my cases . A good thing ,I can walk around or stagger without my walking stick so I guess that I have got my sea legs .It will have been very good for me as I was a bit unsteady even on dry land before I came onboard . My two scrapbooks weigh a ton but I am very pleased with them . I shall enjoy looking through them from time to time and it will be much easier than finding p.cs and leaflets as I have to do re. other hols. Tonight is a Formal Dinner preceded by a Captains Farewell Cocktail Party so it will be 'Bottoms up ' . Well dear readers , this is the final blog of my wonderful holiday ,I hope that it has interested you , told you a few facts about far away places that you have not yourselves visited and at times made you smile .I will leave you with a little passage from D.H. Lawrence . To tell the truth there is something in the long , slow , lift of the ship and her long slow slide forward which makes my heart beat with joy . It is the motion of freedom . To feel her come up-- then slide forward , with the sound of the smashing of waters , is like the magic gallop of the sky , the magic gallop of elemental space . That long slow waveringly rythmic rise and fall of the ship , oh God , what a joy it is to the wild innermost soul . One is free at last -- and lilting in a slow flight of the elements , winging outwards . XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.

37° 44.175 N 25° 39.547 W BHM 1pm.

Monday , my last port of call before Southampton .Azores , Ponta Delgada is the port .It is quite a nice island a bit chilly at the moment but apparently the humidity in July and Aug can reach 100% .That is frightening ,for me anyway . We went to see two lakes in a volcanic crater one supposed to be blue and one green .They were both blue so I do not know if the other one ever looks green , The guide said that they are trying to encourage tourism as they do not have anything to export . Apparently they are in the European Union and have received a huge ammount from Brussels to develop townships etc. We went to see a pineapple plantation which went out of business because it was not profitable .The guide said that it is kept going purely for tourist purposes which makes me wonder about the ' green ' lake .He said that the up and coming ' business ' for the island is tourism . Any way it was quite pleasant to drive around the island . 3 days at sea now so no ports to tell you about , the Bay of Biscay coming up . Bye for now , love Mum ,XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX