Left home around 4pm with a brief shower of rain arriving in Harwich at 5pm. Apparently it had rained heavily in London, but not much at home. Hopefully that was an omen for good weather! We sailed from Harwich on the DFDS Dana Sirena, which left bang on schedule. There were a hundred or so bikes on board, including a Virago bike club going to a rally in Denmark and a number of policemen on BMWs heading for Norway. Our cabin was perfectly comfortable. Twin beds (no doubles) with two additional pull down beds. We ate in the A la Carte restaurant and had a great window seat with a fab view of the North Sea. We'd pre-booked a 2 course meal which was top notch! To start, Cathy had green asparagus, prawns and caviar and Nick had mussels in white wine. For the main course we both had rack of lamb with really tasty vegetables and lovely potatoes. All washed down with an Aussie Red. We shared a pud which was raspberry cheesecake with strawberries and bilberries. Yum. Went outside on deck for a blast afterwards, but there was no wind, not cold at all and the sea was really calm and inky blue. Our beds were extremely comfortable and we slept well. Didn't feel like we were on a ship, it was a very smooth 18 hour crossing.