Thursday 11 July 2013

Greece to the UK...

After returning from Igoumenitsa last Thursday taking Allen and Jean to the Ferry to get their flight home it was all hands to the pumps to get the boat ready for leaving for the time we were in the UK.  We also had to swap out the things we had been storing in the car and pack it up again ready for the journey home.  The latter included taking an outboard motor and generator back to England for Tony as well as our more mundane bits and bobs.

All packed up and ready we set off at four o'clock Saturday morning to catch our ferry for Venice allowing enough time for anything which may go wrong on the way, we all know about Mr. Murphy's law!  As it happened nothing did and we had time a coffee and a stroll before the ferry arrived twenty minutes early at 06:40.  Despite loading straight away the ferry did not depart until eight thirty.  For the first time ever we did not have a swimming pool on the ferry and for the first time ever Sandra had taken swimming gear on board to take advantage of it during the twenty five hour passage.  Oh well I think Mr. Murphy must have had a say in it.

The ferry journey went very well and by eight thirty on Sunday morning we were already on the road for Milan which we made in a record two hours with no commercial vehicles on Italian roads on a Sunday.  The downside; temperatures of thirty odd degrees and no air conditioning as it is loosing it gas to fast to have made it worthwhile to have gassed up before departure.  So fully loaded with roof-rack, top box, us and our worldly chattels we were doing between 85 and 100 MPH all the way and still according to the Clio's on-board calculator we managed 55 MPG over the entire journey.

Monday travelling from Kepple-Graphenhausen  in southern Germany to Zeebrugger, we discovered that the map updates which I had done to the sat nav had not been fully implemented, all the Benelux countries and west were missing, great when you are doing Germany, France, Luxembourg and Belgium!!  Anyway it was out with the trusty road atlas and do it the old fashioned way not that we don't know the road by now.  Having said that we did miss the correct Strasbourg turning but that wasn't really a problem.  We arrived at Zeebrugger in great time for the final leg of the trip back to dear old Yorkshire.

Home sweet home.
We got back home at ten o'clock Tuesday morning and had the caravan moved and set up fairly quickly and started to get the paddock into something like shape.  While we are away the lads do cut the grass but I like to get it neat and short whilst we are living on it, it'll all green up in the next week or two.  The big surprise was when we arrived home it was 28 degrees bloody lovely!!  Yesterday and today are not so high but at least it gave us time to get things squared up.

Saw all the grand kids yesterday, and read their school reports etc.  We are as pleased as punch about the reports they all seem to be getting on very well with their education, they must take after me!!!

Anyway hopefully more to report next week and maybe even some photo's

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