Bon voyage to all the passengers, many of them from Cornwall, who are sailing off on Saturday on a fully booked Falmouth to the Fjords cruise on the liner Van Gogh. The 11 day cruise takes in Dublin, Stornoway, Lerwick, Alesund, Olden, Flam, Ulvik and Bergen with Harwich the final port of call.

Judging by the line of deep frontal depressions and bad weather sweeping across Northern Scotland and Norway this week it was definitely not the place to go cruising. Examining cruise liner itineraries for May only one other well-known cruise liner, the Braemar is venturing so far north early in the month. Let's hope by the time Van Gogh arrives in northern climes the weather systems will be more favourable.