Heading back to the Netherlands.

Pen-Y-Bont Caravan & Camping Park

We have fallen in love with the area around Bala and it was heavy hearts that we had to leave and start heading in a southerly direction.

Yesterday we drove down to Brynmawr, sometimes diverting off the main road to shorted our route bit ensuring that the road was still wide enough to tow a caravan.  The drive was pretty so we took longer to get to Brynmawr than what Google maps says. 

Yesterday's route.

It was good to see our friends, Sue and Ian, again as well as their human and furry family.  Initially we left the caravan at the bottom of Sue and Ian's driveway but Ian suggested we bring it up near the house overnight.  So, after a bit of manipulating, Paul managed to reverse the caravan up our friends' driveway and put it on a level spot.  We hoped it wouldn't snow overnight otherwise we wouldn't get down!

Paul getting some attention from Strawberry

Paul had an appointment to attend an appointment in Portsmouth which was a bit of a deviation from our route to the ferry terminal in Dover.  We ended up leaving our friends after the morning rush-hour, making sure we had time to spare for any eventualities along the way.  Fortunately we did leave well in time - parking spots were like gold dust.  Eventually we found parking near a bowling alley that was undergoing renovation, and parked in the bowling alley's car park - hoping that we wouldn't end up with a parking ticket. We got back - no parking ticket, whew.

Today's route into the wee hours of tomorrow morning

Traffic to Dover was fine and we had plenty of time to spare.  We were hungry and found KFC in town and stopped our rumbling stomachs.  We arrived at the ferry port a few hours early and were prepared to wait for our ferry which is at 2am.  The check-in chap was going to turn us away as there is no place vehicles could wait for so long (1 hour maximum and we would be waiting for our ferry for at least 4 hours).  We must have looked tired because the chap asked us where we had driven from, so we told him.  Needless to say he took pity on us, managed to find us a spot on an earlier ferry and waived the earlier departure fee (more expensive). 

So now we are on the ferry heading to Calais, France.  Yippee!  Once we get to Calais we will drive straight to Paul's mum's place in the Netherlands and then get some much needed 💤.