My Channel video

I wanted to stream this video when I posted a record of our trip the Germany in the last post, but couldn't quite work out the best way to do it.

Shooting snippets of video with a digital camera while travelling, and posting it to a blog, presents a number of challenges, not least of which are editing and ensuring the finished size does not overwhelm communications.

I didn't want to have a bells and whistles video editor software on my little netbook, because I can't use it properly and I would rather enjoy the travel experience than spend most of the time bent over the computer.

I discovered, that my little point and shoot Casio has a basic video edit function, and a nifty piece of free software called Avidemux, which can convert and compress my visual efforts.

So sit back and enjoy a crossing of the English channel using the channel shuttle.

On in England



Off in France

Somewhere near the truth

A 4 day cruise on the Rhine vicariously described as a party cruise by our tour operator Phoenix Holidays seemed just the anecdote to see out the hectic year that was 2008. The actuality and the description in the travel brochure proved to be somewhere near the truth for our festive break.

Our journey started with a 2230 pickup in Newcastle, through the channel tunnel, ending 20 hours later as we stepped aboard MS Arlene, moored at Boppard on the Rhine, and shown to our spacious cabin. There is a secret here, pay the extra and book one of the five standard cabins on the Promenade deck, it is well worth it.

Our cruise over the next two days revealed itself to be a 20 kilometer sail downstream to Koblenz followed next day by a 7 hours, 70 kms upstream slog against a strong current to Rudesheim. Even in cold sunny days and glistening sharp frosts this part of the Rhine remains beautifully spectacular


With Christmas over and the tourism season not yet started Boppard, Kolblenz and Rudesheim remain pretty well closed with very little happening except for those businesses catering to the out of season cruise market. The honourable exception was Siegfried's Mechanical Music Cabinet which captivated us with its collection of working mechanical instruments.


Always to hand was the Arlene where we could retreat from the cold to warm drinks and excellent dining while musically entertained by electronic keyboard our live entertainment. If you consider Deal or no Deal, and a minimum £10 raffle to be engaging party entertainment then you would be well satisfied. But a cruise is all about your fellow passengers and our table proved an agreeable lot.

We were ushered off our boat with a 0600 bags outside cabin doors call on our final day for our long return journey home arriving at our drop off point at 0220 next morning, our drivers shaving an hour and a half off the scheduled time.










All in all a great 4 days.