Another cruise booked!

It’s been a busy week or two, ship wise.  Attracted by the offers on at present, I booked a short cruise on Ocean Countess for next year.  The big plus, as far as I was concerned, was the attraction of sailing to and from Bristol, or to be more precise, Avonmouth, I visited Holland America Line’s Prinsendam when she called there last year and although cruise facilities are basic – to say the least – the opportunity to sail down the Bristol Channel was too good to pass up. This Channel has the second highest tidal rise and fall in the world, second only to the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia. It is dotted with dangerous sand banks, as well as the islands of Steep Holm, Flat Holm and Lundy.  It used to be at the centre of a thriving paddle steamer trade in summers past, as they would carry holidaymakers between the Victorian and Edward piers of Clevedon, Weston-super-Mare, Penarth Minehead and Ilfracombe. I remember sailing these waters on the Bristol Queen and Glen Usk  - getting splashed by the spray from the paddle wheels.  It was a huge treat to go down to watch the engines – pounding away like beam engines and exuding that distinctive smell of hot oil. Sadly all these boats are now gone. The last surviving sea-going paddle steamer, the Waverley makes a few visits each summer though . My last steamer trip was on the Balmoral, up the River Avon to Bristol proper in the 1970s.

Anyway – back to Ocean Countess.  Built in 1976 as Cunard Countess, at 17,000 tons, she will be smallest ship I have sailed on.  To berth at Royal Portbury dock, Avonmouth, ships need to be able to fit through the locks so it is only the smaller cruise ships that can call there.  The ship had many mixed and often poor reviews, but I am going with an open mind and will report in due course on this blog.