Our schedule included a tour of Celtic Cornwall today, since were were going to be at anchor off Falmouth. The Captain had made a couple of “well, let’s see” kind of announcements last evening as a result of the weather. Storm Antoni was due to blow through pretty quickly but having missed calling at Cork because of the wind, clearly he wasn’t going to raise hopes for Falmouth without the odd “maybe” in his words.

When we returned to our suite last evening, there was a letter advising us of changes to the tour we’d planned to take. Part of the tour was going to be changed as we couldn’t go to one of the planned sites, but somehow that resulted in an earlier start. 7.45am! My Hero pulled a face and expressed a clear preference for a rather later start than that, so I handed in our tour tickets and we decided we’d spend the morning in Falmouth by ourselves. When we awoke to calm seas and a sunny outlook, we felt we’d made the right decision.

My first goal was to get out my camera and zoom in to identify a rather special spot over there in St Mawes. Just over two years ago on a day very much like this one, we celebrated Edward and Amy’s wedding. A happy day indeed.

Today we were going to take the ship’s tender over into Falmouth on the other side of the estuary. It was a surprisingly lengthy thirty minute ride over and then another ten or fifteen minutes on a shuttle bus into town. Never mind, I had a little list, given to me by Amy, of places worth a visit and beyond that, we had no further plans.

We were there early enough to avoid the crowds and as we wandered up the main street, the shops were just opening - it’s Sunday, so it’s a little later start than usual. With no agenda and no timetable to stick to, we just took our time, peering into any interesting-looking places and passing many of them by.

By the time we were on our return journey to reach the shuttle bus back, the town was beginning to fill up. Families and groups of people were doing exactly as we’d just done of course.

We’d thought of stopping for coffee, but Caffe Nero and Costa somehow didn’t tempt us enough to go in. Other, smaller local cafes were either full or not yet open. So, we carried on walking and I took a few pictures along the way.

By the time we reached the shuttle bus stop, it was getting on for 11.30. As we stood waiting for the tender to arrive, we chatted to the delightful ladies who greeted our arrival with maps and friendly smiles.

They were - quite rightly - proud of their town and pleased to share it with the many visitors who arrive each Summer and clog up their streets and car parks!

A very full tender arrived from the ship and we felt thankful that we’d made the effort to get out during the morning, before the town became unpleasantly busy.

Just six of us enjoyed a peaceful ride back then, with the young crew member who had been serving drinks on the pier returning to the ship at the end of his shift as well.

Bless him!

I was enjoying the fresh sea air and the occasional splash of water.

Half an hour later, we were back and the seamen were lining up the tender with the access point - not easy with a lively swell. Magically, we were back just in time for lunch which today we decided to enjoy in Prime 7, the steakhouse. A quick freshen up and there we were, seated at a lovely table chatting to some of our favourite crew members too.

The best bit? When most people get off in Southampton tomorrow, we’ll stay on board for the next cruise too. How lucky are we!?