Well after not going on holiday abroad for over 2 years due to Covid we decided so to say dip our toes in the water and took a short break to see how it feels.

We booked a short stay in Amsterdam from the 27 March to the 30^th 2022 and crossed overnight on the Newcastle to Ijmuiden ferry. Arriving at the ship at 4pm and sailing at 5:30pm on a nice sunny evening I pointed out to Jun the old derelict dry dock at South Shields where I joined my first ship on November 9^th 1965 fresh out of Sea Training School. We arrived at Ijmuiden at 7:30 am after we had had a really good breakfast and then boarded the bus to take us to Amsterdam City Centre which dropped us off by the riverside behind the railway station from which we were able to walk to the marina for our stay on a houseboat. After having something to eat we walked back to the train station and took a train up to the airport and then picked up the direct link bus to the Keukenhof Gardens which we both found absolutely beautiful and spent the rest of the day there and also buying lots of tulip bulbs and I bought a small orchid. We caught a bus and metro back to the houseboat and after cooking ourselves a light meal we spent the evening walking around the city centre.

The next morning after breakfast and spending a bit of time talking to the young guy who lives on the houseboat looking after it for the owners, we took the tram up to the Rijks Museum and spent the rest of the morning there before going back to the boat to pack and finding a lovely quirky cafe and second hand shop where we had something to eat and bought an old Indonesian wooden cat that was larger than the one we bought when we were in Indonesia and which we had been looking for ever since, of course it wouldn't go in our luggage so we had to carry it around with us the rest of the day and back to the ferry on the evening. we were picked up by the bus late afternoon and back to the ferry for our overnight crossing still very warm and calm seas although later in the evening it got a bit choppy. we had booked for a evening meal on board which was really nice and such a large selection of vegetarian for me, after which we booked for the 9pm cinema showing of Belfast and as we were the only two there it was like being in your own room with a giant TV.

We arrived back to North Shields at 8am and were on our way back home by 10am, having had a really good break.     

Due to the Covid pandemic we have not been on any holidays this year so do not have any holiday stories to write about, we have been more or less in some kind or level of isolation since March. Jun has been working from home but I have not been able to get down to the port to do ship welfare visiting, we pretty much stay in most of the time. We do manage to go out riding our bikes on a morning and we have been researching and riding old railway lines on weekends collecting old photographs and taking new ones of the lines, stations, signal boxes and general history of them etc.We even bought a book on the subject which shows over a 100 of them around Britain which we are going to try and complete. 

 We did have 3 days in Edinburgh in January and decided to go by train which we really enjoyed, did a bit of sightseeing and visited museums and galleries. Also went to see the musical The Lion King which was incredible the costumes and set designs were amazing. We also took the bus out to Roslyn to see the famous chapel there that was a beautiful place full of historical significance ( quite apart from the less significant aspect of being the final scene in the film of Dan Browns book The Davinci Code).

I was supposed to be going to London at start of April for some lectures but everything was cancelled and I was refunded the tickets for the lectures and the rail fare. We also managed in early September to get away in our campervan and tent to a site on the outskirts of North Berwick Scotland to spend a few days cycling old railway paths in the area. Although we did manage to complete three the weather was not very kind and we struggled in gale force winds and at times heavy rain and on one night we were awake most of the night having to keep going outside to secure the tent as it was on the verge of being torn away due to the winds and the rain got in to the tent making many things very wet, It turned out to be a tiring trip as well as a bit of an adventure and I think we were glad to be home at the end of it.   

So I have had plenty of time for contemplation, meditation and study at home and keeping in touch with the meditation groups and Throssel Buddhist Abbey via Zoom,e mails, calls etc. I also do Zoom meeting with Stella Marris every week we have managed to help one Spanish ship stranded off the Philipine coast after I read an article about it and passed it to our Chaplain, it then went to Head Office and from there to Stella Marris in Manilla who pressured the Govt to send out supplies to it. The other one was working with ITF (International Transport Federation) after Jun and I came across a Chinese Seafarer on a ship in the UK who after talking with him about wages, conditions etc realized he was very homesick and had mental health issues possibly verging on suicidal  thoughts, so we passed all this on to ITF and they spoke with the owners to get him off the ship and repatriated home. There is an article that I wrote about myself and Jun's visits to ships which Stella Maris had asked for which I have included at the end of this blog as a way of showing some of the things we do and the impact it can have on seafarers.

We went to Redcar sea front 6th of February for a service representing The Apostleship of the Sea to mark the 50th year since the sinking of The Lairdsfield and the death of all 10 crew at the mouth of the Tees a lot of people turned out for it including relatives from Northern Ireland who along with original members of the Lifeboat crew talked about how it affected them. I actually remember it and how the newspapers called it "The ship that did not want to sail", it had loaded steel for Cork and this had not been done correctly, she sailed and a crew member broke his leg so they came back alongside, sailed again and had engine trouble came back fixed that and sailed again in to a heavy swell the pilot got off and headed back to the station the ship turned to starboard was hit by a large swell and turned completely over before the pilot had even got back to the station a real tragedy. It was a lovely service and at the end there was a poem read called The Ship which was very moving.

Well things are starting to move a bit now as I have managed to go down to Teesport in December to make a start on putting toiletries,gloves,hats,socks,chocolate etc in to bags ready to give to seafarers for Christmas and we will start to go to the ships this week.

And finally, below is an article I wrote for Stella Maris AoS as part of their centenary celebrations.

An article that was published in the Apostleship of the Sea web site in 2020 I have always had a love of the sea and went to sea at age 16 for a few years followed by working on American oil rigs. But eventually went ashore and after retraining worked in Social Services and became a Supported Housing Manager as well as being a Buddhist Chaplain in local Hospitals.

But when I retired and after 4 years living in China with my Chinese wife Jun we returned to the UK. I wanted to do some volunteer work and the opportunity came up to be a ship visitor for Stella Maris when I met with Peter Barrigan the Chaplain for Tees and Hartlepool, and my wife joined me a year later also as a ship visitor and being Chinese there have been many opportunities to meet Chinese crews and help them in so many ways.

A few examples that spring to mind are…

One Chinese ship that had spent weeks at sea sailing to the USA where the crew were not allowed ashore. Then sailing to Teesport and due to a misunderstanding, they again believed they could not go ashore. The smiles on their faces when we explained that they could go ashore and what’s more we would take them was wonderful. We took them to the local towns, shopping, visiting places even spending quite a bit of time helping them to find fishing equipment, and when a few days later it was Chinese New Year Jun and I were invited to the ship to celebrate with them. The crew still over two years later keep in contact with us.

Another Chinese ship arrived at Teesport and whilst we were visiting, we found out that a large number of the crew had been away from home for many, many months and were feeling homesick and in particular missing traditional Chinese food especially a Chinese vegetable called in English, Chinese Leek, very different from our Leeks. Now Jun had a Chinese friend who lived about 15 miles from us and we knew she loved to grow traditional Chinese plants so we phoned her, and yes she had lots of Chinese Leeks,and yes we could have some. That same day we were back on board the ship delivering a bag full of Leeks plus other foods and herbs to a very surprised and grateful crew. Many of the Officers and crew keep in regular contact with us through WeChat as they sail all around the world and they often say the welcome they get from people in the UK is the best.

We were having a busy day visiting lots of ships when we received a call from the Mission on the North side of the river to inform us that they had a Filipino family there who had drove over from the other side of the Country looking for a ship in which their brother was the Chief Engineer, and that the ship was on our side of the river. We arranged to meet the family and get permission for them to go on to the port and visit him on the ship with us. We took them to the ship and after a very tearful greeting ( they had not seen each other for over 3 years ), we arranged for him to go ashore with them, do some sightseeing then go back to the Lake District where they lived and stay overnight. The Chief Engineer had to be back at work the next morning so we had them bring him back to the Mission very early the next morning and Roger one of our ship visitors agreed to come down to the port and take him back to the ship.

These are just three of the many stories of our times visiting ships at Teesport.

We booked ourselves a week driving around Tuscany which started by getting a early morning train from Darlington to Leeds as we were flying from Leeds/Bradford to Pisa, when we got on there was a young woman at the next table applying make up and she was still applying it over an hour later till just before Leeds I was amazed at the total transformation she became  a different person.

We had some spare time before catching the bus to the airport so we visited the art gallery on our way out we went in to the shop and I picked up some booklets/pamphlets then I spotted a map of the Leeds/Liverpool canal and said to Jun I will get that for Dave and proceeded to stuff it in my bag when Jun said how much is it I said its free as I took it back out and saw the price on it and realised I nearly had done shoplifting. Heavy rain when we left to walk to bus station and the plane was delayed leaving so we were late arriving at Pisa, and it was dark by the time I picked up the hire car for a 2 hour drive to San Gimignano the 13th century walled town famous for its towers. The  first half was on motorway but after that small unlit roads and the dawning realization that drivers in Italy don't take much notice of the dividing line down the middle of the road. When we arrived we had to find the right gate to enter the town to find the place we were staying then I had to drop Jun off with the bags and drive back outside and find somewhere to park. The hotel had been a small palace according to the owner and they had kept many original features, we went for a walk around the town after checking in and found the world famous ice cream makers Gelateria Dondoli's ( apparently it has won every world award ), it was delicious.

The next morning after a lovely breakfast we put our bags in the car then spent all morning exploring the town, really like going back in time we visited all the sites including a church and convent and bought truffles, then as we headed back to Dondoli's for a final ice cream I overheard a group of American ladies talking about the buildings and one said pointing " Gee it's just like a medieval New York" which made me do a quick turn to see what she could see that was like medieval New York and it was the seven towers. Back at Dondoli's I took a photograph of a large group of Chinese stood in line waiting for ice cream Jun said " they must be Taiwanese" I said "how do you know" she said "they are all in a orderly line if they were from the mainland they would be pushing to the front" ha-ha. We then drove to Voltero another lovely walled town had a late lunch visited the cathedral great views across the Tuscany countryside then set off across small back country roads stopping off at a rather strange town and watched what seemed like two rival groups of musicians in semi para military uniforms playing against each other, then on  to the farmhouse we were staying at for 3 nights just outside Montichino arriving after 6pm it was on top of a large hill looking down fields and fields of grapes and we had the place to ourselves and after unpacking we drove to a village supermarket to get food.

The next day we were up early to see mist in the valleys and the town of Montchino and a couple of hills seemingly floating in clouds a beautiful sight. Then we set off to visit the Benedictine Monastery of San Antino arriving just as Mass was starting so joined in, the monks sang beautifully, after which we walked around the place and gardens seeing and talking to some painters who were over there on painting/tuition holiday. We then drove in to Montchino, yes another walled town, famous for a particular type of wine and we had lunch at a restaurant where the walls from floor to ceiling were full of bottles of wine, there was a large extended family eating near us and picking the bottles out of the racks after having long conversations about them, so as we were leaving Jun asked them for advice on a nice wine which set off a long conversation about the various merits of wines before picking one for us. We then had a drive around the area stopping off at some Cypress trees after I spotted loads of photographers there, arrived back at the farmhouse made some coffee and we went on the balcony then a wind blew the door shut with the keys and phones inside and we were locked out!!!  Jun said she would walk down to the owners farmhouse about half mile away and arrived in time to see their car leaving, she then went to the next farm and managed to make them understand by miming what had happened and they then phoned them and got the brother in law to bring keys to us, but not before Jun had to walk all the way back.

The following day we set off to drive to Pienza  and on the way decided to stop at a town for a coffee it was called Santa Quiriso Orisa ( I think), and what a beautiful unspoilt non-touristy place we first stopped to watch some guys unloading grapes in to a small local winery and one of them gave Jun a large bunch of them ( would have cost 10 pounds in Tesco's) so we sat and ate them and later walking down a small back road we had walnuts falling off a tree around us, so we ate those too then had lunch staying there for 4 hours. After this we stopped off at a famous little chapel surrounded by cypress trees that you had to walk to, It's called The Madonna di Vitaleta but called by everyone The little ears chapel and we met a nice Chinese couple there and stayed for a nice talk.We finally reached Pienza famous as being the summer residence of Pope Pius 11 only stayed a couple of hours then drove back to farmhouse and had a lovely walk across all the fields at sunset before watching the film Tea with Mussolini.

Up early and packed ready to go after Mara the owner arrived and after about 20 minutes driving she phoned to say we had left our coats so we went back then set off again for Florence via Sienna I knew you couldn't drive in to the walled city so we parked about 15 minutes away and got a bus up. We paid for two returns and spent a couple of hours there then got the bus back and two inspectors male and female got on examined our tickets and said they were not valid as the returns are only valid for 1 hour we said sorry we didn't know and offered to pay the fare and after taking both our details and getting off the bus with us then said you are fined a penalty of 48 euros each plus the fares I said no way are we paying that at which point they said if you don't pay now it goes up to 90 euros each I said how could we know its not written anywhere and they said it's in English at the bus stops after they gave us the tickets and walked away we got back to the car and I said to Jun i'm going back to the bus stop to check and sure enough nothing in English so I went after them and asked them to show me where it says 1 hour in English and after searching they couldn't see it and pointing to the bus companies web site said "there if you go on that it's in English". I couldn't believe it and said to him would you go to a local bus companies website before getting on a bus in England? and he said " yes I would" and I just said that's a lie you know you wouldn't and walked away.

Anyway we then set off to drive to Florence and still being upset about it I missed the turn off for where we wanted to be and had to drive right through Florence from one side to the other in rush hour traffic before finally finding the ex monastery we were staying at and collapsing with exhaustion ha-ha. The place was on the outskirts of Florence so we just got the bus in to the centre and on the first night went to Mass at the Santa Marre del Flore very beautiful and later on the bus back I received a call from the captain I knew on a ship in Teesport asking me if I could pick him up I said I don't think I can I'm in Florence which gave him a good laugh. The next day after a great breakfast we spent walking around Florence visiting all the sites like the Ponte Vecctio bridge just taking out time, we then got the bus back to Hotel then later drove the car up to Fiesole a lovely little town overlooking Florence and had something to eat there. We went back in to Florence the following day to visit the Uffizi art gallery we had booked the tickets weeks before to fast track in, but still had to queue but it really was worth it. We then went to find  the famous food stall in the indoor market,  we knew we had found it when we saw the queue and we spotted the Chinese couple again in the line so we had a meal with them, the stall specialises in various meat dishes but they did a great vegetarian pasta for me. 

Later we got the bus back to the hotel as the young man on reception had promised to help me put an appeal in against the Sienna bus company and after that we sent it off by recorded delivery. On the last day Jun went to do some shopping and I just went for a long walk across the river up to the other half of Florence and then met back up with Jun and we went up to the park that overlooks Florence and on the way back in the centre I saw a woman sat in one of the horse drawn carriages that cost up to 50 euros to hire being driven around and all the time she was just scrolling and texting on her phone I found myself saying " whats the point" in a good imitation of Karl Pilkington ha-ha.

Up early the next morning packed had breakfast and set off to drive to Pisa spent first half hour trying to find a garage to fill up, we stopped off at Luca but only had time for a very short look around arrived at airport car ok and went to check in. First time they found Jun's wine and a jar of relish so we left the check in and went outside and gave the wine to 4 elderly German ladies who were very suprised and delighted to have it free, then we went back in to check in and they found Jun's truffles and took that so we didn't bring anything back except some great memories.  

We have just got back late Tuesday afternoon from a week in France we flew into Paris hired a car and drove to Chartres through the Paris rush hour and down the motorways which took about 2 hours. We arrived at the hotel which was a ex Catholic Monastery after driving up some very narrow cobbled streets in the old quarter and I was helped in by a stranger who then helped us with our bags, we thought at first he worked there but once inside we could see he was a priest who told us he had a church in Illies Cambro and invited us to visit. Later that night we went for something to eat in a restaurant close to the city square and ordered Galettas a kind of pancake with fillings in and what we didn't know till later was that it contained buckwheat which Jun is allergic to,  so her throat started to close up and her body came out in lumps and rashes we had to dash back to the Hotel find a Hospital and then drive there and we spent over two hours before she was seen examined and given an injection.

 Jun was ok the next morning once so we spent the next day looking around Chartres and went to Mass and Vespers on the night in the Cathedral, it is a magnificent building and the rose windows are wonderful, there was also a light show being projected onto the outside of the cathedral with music and that took your breath away to see and hear it.

 The next two days we spent driving, we visited Illies Cambray as we wanted to meet the priest again who had his church there,  he had also told us it was where Marcel Proust spent holidays there as a boy and his famous novel was about the town "In search of lost time". Unfortunately he was not at his church when we visited and the house of Marcel Proust was closed. We then drove to Chateudun that was a lovely place as well, then to Bonneval all very old towns with lots of history. The second day out we drove to Orleans that was a bit difficult driving through with lots of security about, we visited the Cathedral and home of Joan of Arc but that also was closed, wandered along the river looking at boats and walked around the old city area. We then decided to drive out and visit a medieval village about 30 minutes outside the city called Combleaux that was really nice walking along the river/canal and seeing all the lovely buildings and soaking up the quiet atmosphere , then back to Chartres via Chateudun again. Got back to Chartres in rush hour and  we used Juns Google map  it kept telling me to go this way and that way, all either no entry roads or pedestrian areas before we realized we had it on the walking app instead of the driving app, we nearly caused chaos haha. The next day we set off to take the car back to the airport, we had run into a few yellow jacket protestors on roads  usually camping on roundabouts disrupting the traffic etc, but it was mainly ok and when we came off the motorway at the toll booth there was a large group of them and lots of police, they had taken the toll booths over and were  letting everyone go through free, the police just stood by doing nothing.  We called to Versailles on the way back driving through the forests to get off the main roads some beautiful countryside and quaint villages. This was followed by the sharp contrast of driving north through Paris and after dropping the car off we took the train into Paris for the last 3 days, there wasn't any demonstrations while we were there but a huge police and army presence as well as lots of evidence of damage to buildings, shops ,banks, cash machines etc.

We visited the galleries, The Orsay  was amazing as was the smaller Orange, we also visited The Grand Synagogue but the man said its closed today can you come back tomorrow and we said no we are going home and have walked miles to get there so he arranged a private viewing for us with this other man who explained to us its history, let us take photos and even opened the room at back of altar to let us see the Torhas. We also visited the Basilica Sacra Cour another beautiful church and on the Sunday night went to High Mass at Notra Damme after which we went to a Turkish local café. There was also a famous restaurant Jun wanted to visit The Chartier apparently been going for well over a hundred years, very busy and you had to share tables it was like going back in time...although they didn't have much in the way of vegetarian meals, Jun had snails followed by duck. On the last night we walked around the Champs Elysees and towards the Eiffel tower.

We did both agree Paris had changed a bit in the last 10 years since we were last there, it had become a lot dirtier and there was a huge increase in homeless people  wandering around going through dustbins and refuse bags and begging which was very sad to see and also the weather the whole week had been either below or just above freezing so it must have been awful for them.  

Our holiday to Peru was delayed when our flight from the UK to Amsterdam was cancelled due to the adverse weather conditions, we finally left 48 hours later which created lots of problems with having to re-book our missed internal flight in Peru as well as places we had booked to stay in. There could also have been a big problem when we were checking in at the UK airport when the staff told Jun she needed a visa to get into Peru, we told them she didn't and produced the letter we had received from the Peruvian Embassy when we had wrote to them to confirm Jun didn't need a visa at which point they said OK (seems they had been consulting an outdated visa guide book). Finally got aboard plane then had to wait while it was completely de-iced, we then had a 4 hour wait in Amsterdam ( spent some of it in the meditation room) followed by a 13 hour flight into Lima by which time we had been up 22 hours. We then had to locate the local airline office LPC Peru to re-book our flight to Cusco for the next day for which they charged us an additional $70 then followed the mayhem of trying to get a taxi to go to Mira Flores in Lima ended up chasing them all away and asking two policemen where the green taxi company was and took one of there's and by the time we got to the hotel at Mira Flores we had been up 30 hours.

The flight wasn't till the afternoon so after breakfast we had a lovely long walk along the coast firstly passing three fire crews working to put out a bus fire just around the corner from the hotel, had a lovely coffee on a balcony jutting out over the Pacific Ocean and visited a lovely Catholic Church, then back to collect our bags and the taxi owned by Henry ( lovely man) back to the airport and the inevitable flight delay before arriving in Cusco after 5pm the landing was a bit spectacular coming across the mountains then a very sharp turn before dropping down in the valley. We felt the effect of the altitude immediately and started to chew the Coco leaves and drink lots of Coco tea. Again taxi drivers hassling you wanting 60 Sol ( £12) to take us to the old historic quarter where we were staying we got one down to 20 and later found out even that was to much. After unpacking we laid down to rest and slept till 11pm then decided to just get into bed and we slept till 5am.

The next day after breakfast we went for a walk and to buy the tickets for Machu Pichu and Peru Rail, I had a headache but Jun was feeling ill so we went back to hotel Jun went to bed and I went out again on my own and visited the San Francisco Convent and Monastery a very beautiful place and while I was walking around I came across this couple with a guide and as we entered an upstairs room she stood in the centre and sang Ave Marie I had goose bumps down my back later we all went up to the bell tower and roof and on the way back I asked her if she would sing it again and let me video it to show my wife who was back at the hotel poorly and she did. she also showed me in another large room that you could stand in one corner with your ear to the wall and she went across to the other side and whispered to the wall and I could hear it as if she was stood right next to me.  

I went back to the Hotel but Jun still not feeling well so I went out on the evening for a walk and get something to eat and bring something back for Jun. The next morning we went out visiting museums and the Convent of St Theresa's Carmelites and bought tickets to go on a tour of the Sacred Valley as we intended to go nearly all the way of the tour but get off at Ollyamtambo to catch the train to Machu Pichu, but Jun started to feel unwell again so we went back to the hotel, then I went out again and visited the Church and Convent of De Santo Domingo which was built on a Inca site of which you can still see, I found a very hippy Vegan restaurant on the way back and we went there on the night.

We checked out the next morning and waited for the tour bus which didn't arrive so we rang the guy we had booked with and he came with a taxi and we caught up with the bus and set off on the tour of the sacred valley visiting Chinchero, Tupac, and other Inca sites with great views across the valleys and mountains also visited a local village and watched them processing and natural dying of Alpaca wool, as we walked in an Alpaca jumped up on Jun and I had my camera ready to get the shot. We then went to Moray a pre Inca site to see the famous circles, there were a group of young Koreans on the bus and they asked me if anyone had told me I looked like Walter White from the TV series Breaking Bad, I said yes quite a few and they said they had looked at me then did a internet search to look at him to compare. There was also another Korean on board who was the Head Chef at the Korean Embassy in Lima and had been taught by Gordon Ramsey ( who he said had made him cry) he was a real character I found him stood on the top of the hill overlooking the circles videoing himself singing "I did it my way". We then visited a valley with huge salt pans apparently the second best in the world and after lunch we arrived at Ollyantambo and the amazing Inca site there, but what a climb to the top but well worth it, the guide showed us the quarry site for the granite blocks which weighed upwards of 40 tons each it was down the valley and right up the top of the other side and still no one knows how they did it or even how they cut it. Recently 240 people from the town tried to pull a block weighing 40 tons using ropes on level ground and managed a couple of feet,  after this we said goodbye to everyone else and went to the station to catch the early evening Peru Rail train to Aguas Calientas for Machu Pichu arriving in a very heavy downpour, but we had to still get the bus tickets to take us up to the top the next morning then made our way to a little not very nice place to stay the night, we set off next morning just after 5am and there was already a lot of people waiting for the buses and it was still raining, what a ride to the top sheer drops in places and no barriers, when we got in to Machu Pichu we climbed up to the highest part but it was covered in clouds and mist but as it started to clear it made for very dramatic shots, and what an amazing place it took your breath away and then later we bumped into our Korean friends again and on the way out I had my passport stamped with Machu Pichu. We went back down to the town once again experiencing the sheer drops had a lovely meal overlooking the raging river that ran through the town then caught the afternoon train back to Ollyantambo and looked around for someone to take us back to Cusco managed to get on a mini bus and only paid 10sol each and he eventually set off shouting out of his window every few minutes "Cusco" "Cusco" "Cusco" till his bus was full but what a crazy driver I couldn't believe some of the things he did, but we arrived safely in Cusco nearly 3 hours later and we collected our bags and went to another place to stay in the San Bas area  with our own kitchen etc.they provided wonderful breakfasts with terrific views, the San Bas area is full of artisans, craft shops,markets and festivals great place.

The next day we walked around more of Cusco visiting museums and archaeological sites as well as going back to the Convent De Santo Domingo and booking our tickets to Puno on the Cruz De Sol bus. On the way back we stopped at a local café and Jun had a local delicacy part of a sheeps head and they managed to put together some veggie dish for me, we went back to where we were staying and then went out again at 5pm I had some street rice pudding which was delicious then we stood and watched a wedding and were invited in to the church, we also watched some great street dances and then went for something to eat and got caught in thunder/lightning/hailstone followed by rain so arrived at a local café drenched and Jun had the local dish of Guinea pig there.

Checked out the next morning early to get to the bus station for a 6:5 hour bus trip to Puno, very comfortable seats that reclined right back like first class airplane seats. About 1 hour before arriving at Puno we drove through a "city" called Juliaca which is now the dirtiest city I have ever been to, I have never seen so much rubbish anywhere and the roads were non existent with mud and dust everywhere, very noisy and terrible looking buildings and in all this I saw a few small areas of grass also covered in litter with signs saying "keep off the grass".

Arrived in Puno and took taxi to jetty on Lake Titicaca ( 200 miles long and 40 miles wide) where boat took us out to the reed island we had booked what a fabulous place, we were staying with a family who live on one of the islands and their families had lived on them since the Spanish invaded. They really made us feel welcome and they told us a great deal of the history and about their culture. After settling in they gave us a canoe to go exploring which was great and that night was one of the loudest thunder storms I have ever heard, the whole lake lit up with lightning followed by torrential rain ( and not a drop got in). The next day they took us to other reed islands as well as going on a reed boat to meet more locals and visiting a school where we had photos taken with the children and teacher, we cheered up one little boy who had been crying as it was his first day at school.

On our way back to Puno I managed to get to see a famous ship in the harbour there the Yavari It was built as a gunboat/cargo/passenger ship for the Peruvian Navy in England in 1862  then boxed up into 2,766 pieces and sent around Cape Horn as cargo. It took six years to transport all the sections of the boat to the lake, carried over the Andes by llama and on horseback, reassembled by English engineers and finally launched in 1870 and has now been fully restored as a B&B.

We then set off by bus again at 3pm heading across the mountains in heavy rain and going over huge potholes for the city of Arequipa arriving there at 9:30 pm and staying at a little hotel close to the city square. The next day after a fantastic breakfast on the roof of the hotel with stunning views of the city and the mountains in the background including a volcano we set off walking around the centre and then visited the Convent of The Monasterio de Santa Catalina, what an extraordinarily beautiful and very large place, everywhere painted bright blues, deep reds and flowers everywhere with such a feeling of silence and tranquillity this was the home of Sister Ana de los Angeles died in 1686 and Beatified by Pope John II. it has to be one of the best Religious sites I have visited, we also visited the impressive Cathedral in the square and spent time wandering about the old area enjoying the life and architecture of a beautiful city.

The next day we booked ourselves on a  open top bus excursion around Arequipa and the surrounding countryside which we both really enjoyed one of the places we visited was a park where Jun went for a horse ride and a alpaca farm which just happened to have the shop next door selling the clothes. The following day we made our way to the airport for a flight back to Lima which of course was delayed and no information given, we only knew when it had started boarding when Jun asked me to go for a walk around to check and I found the boarding line tucked away in another area all together to where it was supposed to be, so we arrived in Lima at 1pm instead of 11am and met Henry who took us back to Mira Flores, later we walked down to the coast and spent a couple of hours in a bar at the end of a great old pier drinking pisco with the large waves crashing around it. The next day we went into the city centre and visited the Cathedral and went down into the catacombs, not the place to be if you suffer from claustrophobia. we also visited the Presenditial Palace, no changing of the guard that day unless you count the police relieving the previous police on duty by a casual walk over and shake of hands, but did get some great shots of Jun with them fully kitted out with machine guns etc. We found two local cafes which we ate in and went back too one for Jun with the local speciality of fish soup and the other a veggie café for me  which cost us about 12sol (£2:20 each). Later we got the tram/bus out to Barranco a seaside place very run down with old colonial buildings which apparently was the place to be in the 19th century, but now peopled with artists, drop outs, hippies, great atmosphere so we stayed there till night. we were walking down one street and I pointed out a house to Jun which had a second floor and conservatory on it with lots of statues and plants at which point this old guy who had been washing his car came over and invited us to go in as it was his house he showed us all the statues and paintings that his wife had done before she died we had a chat took some photos and left. A bit later we passed a church on a hill overlooking the ocean and the front looked really nice and well maintained but the rest of it was decayed and covered in ripped tarpaulins and housed dozens of small vultures. On the evening we found this restaurant in a old building which looked like a ex warehouse which was owned and run by a family from Argentina for generations, I said to Jun it's like we have walked onto the film set for The Sopranos or something, after that we walked all the way back to Mira Flores.

The next day we checked out and Henry took us to the bus station to get tickets down to Paracas to visit the nature reserve and go out to the Ballestas Islands, the bus wasn't leaving till the afternoon so we took the time to visit The Museum Larco which houses the biggest collection of Peruvian Culture anywhere, all in the ex Governors House and with beautiful gardens. We took a taxi back to the bus station and traffic was very heavy and we were late so this time I was glad he drove like a madman as he got us back just in time.

We drove down the Pan American highway and arrived at Paracas after nearly 5 hours, we tried to book tickets  for the return the next day but they were full so that started a frantic search to find another bus company, I wanted a coffee but as Jun rightly pointed out to me by saying " we can get a coffee anytime but not bus tickets!" We asked one woman in the street who took us to a very run down room/office with a family in it obviously run by the matriarchal old lady in a wheelchair who sold us two tickets on a bus leaving the next afternoon. Jun was very unsure about this so we asked the guy in the hotel who went back with us and spoke to them but he didn't look so sure as well, and then when we booked our tickets for the boat we asked the guy there who said he had never heard of that bus and pointed us to another bus company who happened to have 8 seats left so we went back to  "The Family" and asked to cancel, you thought we had just greatly insulted them all and they all started talking together in a corner eventually I said we will give you some money to compensate you after which we got our money back.

The next day we went down to the jetty for our boat and it was closed went back to the agents who told us all boats were cancelled due to bad weather around the islands so that was the end of that we just waited for the 3:30 bus back to Lima arriving back at 9pm picked up our luggage from Mira Flores and went to The Grand Hotel Bolivia for our last night in the city centre, it was a hotel built in 1920 and many famous people stayed there but is now well past its sell by date but still had the faded opulence and was huge I said to Jun the corridors reminded me of the Overlook Hotel in the film " The Shining". The next day was Jun's birthday and we spent it sightseeing including visiting the famous Monastery of St Francis of Assisi spectacular building and history and huge catacombs full of human remains. On the afternoon we managed to get on a local open top bus that was full of Peruvians and they let us do half of the 2 hour tour around the city and out to the more run down areas, at one point we passed the café we had been in a couple of times and the staff recognised us and were shouting and waving. After this we went back to the hotel and Henry picked us up for the drive back to the airport in very heavy traffic for our flights back, which left on time 13 hours to Amsterdam 2 hour wait then 1 hour to Durham Tees Valley and picked up by our friend Paul and home.

https://www.apostleshipofthesea.org.uk/chinese-crew-looked-after

I spent Christmas at home apart from going to one of my sisters for Christmas day dinner with Jun being back in China and the evening I spent with friends at Ali's house in the village. I went to Throssel Buddhist Abbey for the New Year retreat which was really good and drove back home on New Years Day night in bad weather with a section of my exhaust hanging off, I think some of the villages I went through thought there was an invasion ha-ha. Got it fixed the next week followed by having to get two new tyres so that was a bit of an expensive start to the year.

I completed my Merchant Navy Ship Welfare Visitor training and exam and now have the ID and qualification and have been visiting ships on my own for last 3 weeks or more, as well as doing my training to drive the large mini bus, been on some lovely ships as well as one or two you wouldn't want to sail down the river in. It is great to be able to meet crews from all over the world and help them in such diverse ways, for example I was on a Polish ship last week and a young female cadet officer asked me how she could get to Middlesbrough for 11pm Tuesday night as she was leaving the ship to go back to University in Poland and had to get the bus to London at midnight followed by further buses all the way back to Poland as the shipping company wouldn't pay for her to fly back. We arranged for a taxi to collect her at the dock gates and for someone to watch out for her till the taxi arrived and Stella Maris paid for the taxi. Another time I had arranged to pick up some Vietnamese crew to take them in to Middlesbrough shopping and they asked me could I firstly take them to Middlesbrough Football ground to have a look around which I did and I was even talking to the wife of one them on his mobile back in Vietnam, then I dropped them off at the shopping centre and arranged to go back at 6pm to collect them. When I went back the same guy showed me some toiletries he had bought for his wife and I said was it expensive for you, and he said yes sir we don't get paid much and gave me a punnet of grapes he had bought for me as a thank you, I was really touched by that and on the night I was at our meditation group and Dave brought in some unwanted Xmas presents of which some were perfumes etc. So the next day I was back down the ship and gave them out to him and a couple of others as gifts for their wives, girlfriends.   

I was at a meeting last Wed with Peter the Chaplain and Jerry the Harbour Master that I had arranged for them with the Interfaith group to let them know what we do and look for volunteers from other faiths as well as get names, addresses and other contact details from various religions for crew members. It was really good to be able to set all that up within a week of them talking to me about it. I have also arranged with Rev Adelin to take close to 20 people from the chaplaincy and ports up to Throssel for a day at the end of March.

Jun arrives back on the 30th of January and for her 50th birthday in March we are going to travel around Peru for 3 weeks, really looking forward to that as I have never been to South America before.

We start the Gainford meditation group in the village hall on Feb 8th so it will be interesting to see who comes and what they make of it, we did put a full page in the Parish news about it, I wonder what the local Vicar will make of it as she is starting a Christian meditation group at the same time, I am sure it will be fine as she is a lovely woman.

I went over to the Lakes with my friend Rob from next door to do a photography shoot specifically at a cave called Cathedral Quarry. Rob set a post code of a house on the sat-nav supposedly close by as we were not sure where it exactly was took us 2:5 hours to get there, we asked directions at the house and were told continue down the lane ( tractor trail more like) till we see some slate and a sty and if we reach the river we have gone to far. So we reached the river crossed it parked up ate some lunch then set off walking back the way we came and turned off at a field, we then trekked through water, bog and snow up and down hills in the rain for 2 hours with no sign of it. Eventually we made our way to a farmhouse and asked the lady if she knew it she said yes get back on the lane walk 200 yards and when you reach some slate there is a sty on your left just take that. So off we go again and found a footpath across hills with a wooden sty about 200 yards away...great this must be it we thought but after another 45 minutes we realized it wasn't and made our way back to the lane and asked a man at the next house we reached. He said yes I know it, continue down the lane "cross the river" continue on and when you come to a ford further along don't go over it but bear left and it is up there, and it was. We worked it out that the 200 yards the lady had told us was really close to a mile away  and the sty was two very small steps in a slate wall. But it was certainly worth all the effort as we got some great landscape shots as well as some inside the cave.   

Hi All,

Well I settled down a (little bit) after my time spent on Caldey Island, a few visits up to our Monastery  Throssel Hole Buddhist Abbey and continuing with the meditation groups in Teesside and Gainford plus two visits to the Hindu Centre in Middlesbrough for lunches as well as attending the Diwali Festival which I hadn't been to for the last 5 years. It is a lovely festival and I went with Paul and his son Daniel and Simon and met John there, it was really well attended and had a lot more people there who are not Hindu than I remember from previous attendances as well as more younger Hindus. One observation I made was seeing a young man sat in front of me who all through the first part of the ceremonies played a football game on his phone, later when he got up to leave the ceremony hall I turned to John and said it must be half time.

Rev Adelin came down from Thursday to Saturday in October, on the Friday we visited Peter the Chaplain for Teesport and Hartlepool  and spent the day with him and Brian another ship visitor visiting crew on ships and getting to know the job and dock locations. On the Saturday we had a day retreat in Middlesbrough and I also was given the telephone number/e mail and address of Mia  ( a lay Buddhist I know) and her husband who have now located to Beijing so hoping to see them soon.

Well we finally got Jun's Spouse visa after lots of problems, delays, e mails, including me meeting with our local MP and getting her involved. It was clear practically from the start that the UK visa office are not up to the job, and after 60 working days they sent Jun an e mail to tell her they hadn't been able to process it within the guidelines of 60 days as her case was not straightforward and when we contacted them they wouldn't say why but promised to escalate the case. They then sent out another e mail at a later date which was by then 72 working days saying exactly the same thing  (not-straightforward), and when I phoned and wrote to them they made the same promise as before ( we will escalate the case). So I  told them our MP was now involved with the case  and then all of a sudden they write to Jun to inform her they are now dealing with her case but there are some documents missing and gave her 10 days to send them, by this time it was upto 84 working days ( these documents were not missing we had been very sure about sending in everything they required). So we resubmitted them and within a few days Jun got confirmation she had been give the Visa, she then had 30 days to return to the UK to collect her Biometric card. I would not wish for anyone to go through this process it was so frustrating and upsetting and we were treated terribly. 

So finally Jun arrived on the 7th of November for 3 weeks minus her luggage which had not made it onto the connecting flight and the next day we travelled to Durham to collect her card and then meet the van driver in a motorway service station to get her luggage.

Jun came with me on some ship welfare visits and Peter is very keen for her to start work especially with her translation skills, Jun really enjoyed it, and I have now completed the training and awaiting my qualification from The Merchant Navy Board after completing their ship welfare course.

We went upto Scotland for a few days stopping off at Jedburgh and watching the Remembrance Sunday parade, then to Melrose visiting the famous Abbey there, then to Edinburgh for 2 days staying with a French lady in her lovely apartment through Air BnB, she is an artist and her apartment reflected this.  We spent time visiting art galleries and going down to the grassmarket, Leith and going out to the Forth bridge. On the way back we followed the coast heading for North Berwick, our first stop was as we were driving through a village called Aberlady when we observed a huge cascade of poppies in front of the church, as we walked up a lady was opening the church and told us the story that the thousands of poppies are all hand knitted by people from all over the world and it is quite famous. We spent time at North Berwick which in some respects is like going back in time, after which we stopped off at St Abbs a small fishing village but well know for its diving, then on back home.

Jun went back to Beijing at start of December and will be back here at end of January so I am spending more time doing ship visits, collecting Xmas gifts from all over, amazing to see so much generosity from people, went to the Seamen's Mission Xmas party  to help out, staying for a couple of hours but had to leave as I was setting off early the next morning for a retreat at Ministeracres which was well attended.

The following week my friend Dave and I sailed from North Shields on the DFDS ferry to Ijmuiden in Holland for 3 days on a 15 hour overnight crossing which should have given us just less than a day in Amsterdam then a overnight crossing back. It was very cold the whole time with snow in Amsterdam but the ferry was very nice  the cabin was comfortable.....but, there is always a but, there was a delay disembarking so by the time we got off and the coach got us to Amsterdam it was nearly 12 noon. We bought tram tickets and quickly got to the Van Gogh Museum which was amazing, we then went to the Amsterdam Houseboat Museum going onto a large converted houseboat all done in 1950's décor beautiful! Then after something quick to eat we headed back to the pick up point outside the station for 3:45 to find a large queue waiting for the coaches which were.... not there as apparently other people whose flights had been cancelled owing to the weather were going back by ferry and had taken our places, and the bus drivers had not thought to check for their boarding cards. So after nearly 2 hours stood freezing we were back on the coach back to Ijmuiden, the bus driver said to me how sorry they were but the good news was that the ferry was waiting for us, my reply was " I should bloody well think so" ha-ha. Anyway it was a good crossing back and we made up the time, the crew were really good on the ferry all very polite and helpful, and I got lots of photographs over the 3 days.

I was straight back down to Teesport visiting ships with Peter, and  one day we visited 5 ships and handed out 75 presents to crew including presents for a female Filipino Chief Officer whose joy at receiving a present was heartwarming. I have agreed to work with Peter on Xmas day and am looking forward to going on the ships that are in and taking the crews ashore.