Up at 06:00 to pack and ready myself for the day ahead.
I do the cleaning I should have done yesterday and then
go for my breakfast.
I load the cases at 08:00 and we depart at 08:30. The
lovely lady at reception has given me a bag with a small present for each room of
a nicely wrapped parcel of sweets (liquorice I think) and a hotel card asking
people to comment when they get home via the internet.
Even though the hotel was somewhere you probably wouldn’t
stay for long I did like it especially the staff who were all very helpful and
courteous. Dinner was a buffet each evening which again for a few days is great
because you can eat as much as you like and the welcome drink on the first
night was a nice touch.
I wasn’t so sure about Lelystad, though it was in a
convenient location, was as I‘ve said before a little like staying in
Basingstoke. A lot of modern towns just don’t have the character of older
places and it all seemed a bit soulless. But then we aren’t here for long and
after a three tiring days most people were quite happy to retire a bit earlier.
Well I think they were but if they weren’t I definitely was!
Anyway we return to the motorway and have a comfort stop
at the border opposite where we stopped on the way down. It just took us a
couple of hours less!
I am glad we stopped here because we hit some heavy
traffic approaching Antwerp although Antwerp itself is running freely.
I decide to press on to the service area past Ghent for
our main stop and we should reach it in about half an hour from Antwerp.
No chance!
Another long traffic jam and we lose the best part of an
hour again! No accident this time just sheer weight of traffic with lots of
holidaymakers heading our way.
I am not too concerned as I’ve allowed for this and we
still have plenty of time to reach Calais.
We reach the service area just after midday and will
leave at 13:00. They are building a new building on the site and it all looks a
little like a building site (well it is a building site!!) but the restaurant
is open and you get a good selection of meals and the toilets are free! Also it
is not very busy which is a bonus.
We are away from here at one o’clock and head for Calais
which should take an hour and a half, which it does as we arrive at 14:30.
We join another traffic queue to reach passport control
along with a dozen other coaches. At least here they have opened two lanes up
to speed up the process unlike the shuttle who seem to do anything in their
power to delay you.
The passengers walk through passport control and rejoin
the coach and we drive to the ticket booth. I am pleased to find there is room
on the 15;20 sailing that is running late and doesn’t depart until 15:40. We
were originally booked on the 16:05 so are just ahead of time.
The 15:20 is one of the massive new ships P & O
operate called the Spirit of Britain and is the sister ship to our outward
crossing on the Spirit of France.
It is a whole lot busier on this crossing though!
The only problem with these big ships is disembarkation which
unless you are lucky enough to be at the front is a slow procedure.
On the way home we have a comfort stop at Cobham Services,
close to the A3, where I also take the group photo that I forgot to do over the
weekend!
I am back in Petersfield by 19:20 and soon everyone is
off in their taxi’s and on their way home.
I have enjoyed the weekend and always feel this is this
is the start of my summer. I like Holland very much and always enjoy coming
here but a few less people about next time wouldn’t be a bad thing!
Tot Ziens!!
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