Flew out to Bucharest and eventually got on board the Noble Caledonia MS Royal Crown late in the evening. As is the problem with this river cruising lark, Internet access and Wi-Fi are woefully inadequate, especially when travelling through the vast areas of uninhabited space that is Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia which are all huge and flank both sides of the Danube for around 800 km upstream from the Black Sea. All three countries have been trampled on over the past millennia as Romans, Ottomans, Crusaders and Russians – to name but a few, have raped, pillaged, plundered and more recently bombed the crap out of them !!!

Made it as far as Budapest and then the dreaded Covid somehow crept onboard. Several passengers tested positive and were confined to their cabins. By the time we reached Vienna I had already decided to head back to Spain as there was a lot of stuff that needed my attention back home in terms of property transactions etc. The morning that I was scheduled to disembark I started to feel awful and duly tested positive. Managed to make it home with multiple masks and “social distancing” and had to take to my bed for a few days until the symptoms subsided. Took a few weeks to fully recover and was then able to concentrate on my impending move back to the UK.

Then tragically DP passed away from complications following his fall and I find myself heading to Devon to start the next chapter of my life without his company and connections. Way too late to back out now as I have to be out of VLS by the 1st September when hopefuuly my apartment at Flete House will be transformed and ready for my arrival !!!

This post should have gone out months ago but for some reason never did. So will send it now (1st Jan 2023) along with stuff relating to my move……………….