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25 Jan 2002
We are on the ferry at Dover for the coldest, foggiest and rockiest crossing we have so far experienced.
"We", by the way, are John and Fran! |
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England slips away behind us, the rest of us just slip as the ferry rolls about.
Only one thing to do at a time like this - eat! Never let a tilting floor put you off! |
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It's too foggy to take much scenery so let's have a look around the ferry.
Right is the bar and lounge area at the front (pointy bit) end of the ship. |
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Just remember there's no such thing as Duty Free any more and tobacco and alcohol are likely to be cheaper on the Continent than on the ship. |
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By the time we come into Calais, it is getting dark.
It's raining and very windy, especially when looking forward towards the port fown the side of the ship. |
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As soon as I stuck my head around from the shelter of the ship's structure the wind whipped tears into my eyes.
The we were off and away towards Liege for the night. Our two drivers introduced themselves as George - a Geordie whose mobile phone played "The Blaydon Races" and Jock, a Scot whose phone alternated between "Auld Lang Syne" and "Scotland the Brave"! |
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The last time we went to Austria we had two excellent drivers both with a great sense of humour, but these two were equally as good and had the whole coach in stitches throughout the holiday.
The main journey down through Luxemburg and Germany to Austria would be tomorrow. Meanwhile the Belgian autobhans had a few surprises for us. Fran and I were on the second row of seats - probably the best to have in a coach as there is not a lot of leg room on the front seats. |
| Suddenly there was an intake of breath from Jock who was driving and a wheel rolled across the roadway in front of us from right to left. Traffic slowed down apart from a BMW in the fast lane who simply drove smack into it at around 100 miles per hour.
The tyre disappeared and the whole of his bonnet was stoved in. He slowed but I don't think he'd even realised what had happened. It took around 15 seconds for the tyre to come down - he must have knocked it straight up. Luckily it hit empty road and bounced away safely to the verge. The BMW pulled eventually onto the hard shoulder and we saw the damage to the front as we drove past. |
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