The Rest of Our Week at Warp Speed.

Without too much ado, this is a very quick overview of the rest of this week - with not much rest in between!  

We drove to chunnel via Belgium and France at midday and caught our chunnel train (er... also called Eurotunnel) without any hassles.  Usually the Eurotunnel terminal is heaving, more so during term time but fortunately it was somewhat quieter when children are back at school.

We arrive in England and stayed at Meon Valley Hotel, Golf & Country Club.  On the way to the hotel we were hungry so we stopped to pick up a salad which we were able to eat in our hotel room.

Paul had business to attend to in Southampton on Thursday and left me in the hotel to continue catching up on my blogs.  I could have gone for a swim in the hotel swimming pool but decided not to.  

That evening we had dinner at Samuel's Rest, a pub/restaurant.  The meal was delicious - fish pie.  It was very filling though!

On Friday we drove up to Wales to pick up our post and stayed with our friends:  Sue, Ian and their daughter Lindsay.  It was really good to see them again - more so because they are an extension of our family by marriage.  

Unfortunately we couldn't stay any longer in the UK because Paul has a course to attend on Monday so we headed back to Rijsbergen via the chunnel on Saturday.  We arrived back at Paul's mum's place quite late in the evening but it was good to be back.  

Antwerp, Belgium.

Antwerp

Last night Paul's sister and mum came to visit us on the ship and stayed for dinner.  Although we had only left them 2 days ago, it was still good to see them again.  Paul gave them a tour of the ship before they headed back home across the border. 

Today I decided not to go out and just rested.  I am tired - possibly the slight rocking motion of the ship as we sail.  I also wanted to 'catch up with myself' a bit and have a bit of 'me time'.  It sounds selfish, perhaps, but sometimes I think it is good to have a bit of time to ones self.

The Belgian pilots are on strike so we didn't know if we would  be able to sail towards Rouen, France.  Eventually there was a slight change in plans and we sailed up the river, anchored near Vlissingen and picked up a Dutch pilot to take us out to sea.  So we are underway with the next stop - Rouen, France.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Antwerp

Vlissingen, Netherlands, and then Antwerp, Belgium.

Vlissingen

We were in Vlissingen until lunch time today and then sailed on to Antwerp for an overnight stay then leave tomorrow lunch time. I've been resting and trying to get my bearings a bit.

The Prinsendam is an old ship but she floats! Internal staff passages are a nightmare and seem like a rabbit warren.

Paul has been down to the tailors shop to get a work uniform made as well as coveralls made -  his clothes, except for one pair of uniform trousers and shirt, are all in a trunk which is still on the Maasdam.  And we may not see the trunk for quite a while.  Paul also had to be measured for a formal evening suit but needs to find a formal shirt as there are none on board.  A bow tie has been found for him, fortunately.  He also needs a black tie - which I will try to get at the shops as and when we dock and if I have time to go shopping.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Vlissingen

Back in England & camping hiccups.

We had an early start to catch the ferry, driving through Belgium to get to the ferry at Calais, France.  There were roadworks along the way so it was just as well that we had given ourselves plenty of time.

We arrived in Dover around 1pm, giving us an hour to make our way to Folkstone for the car's MOT/roadworthy appointment.  The technicians didn't mind us setting down the caravan in the parking lot temporarily until the car had been MOT'd.  I was tired so I had a nap in the caravan and Paul did a bit of reading. 

Today's route, more or less.

The car finally passed its MOT.  Whew!

Back on the road again, we took a scenic drive via small roads along the southeast coastline towards Hastings.  The day was drawing to a close and nightfall was just around the corner when we tried to find an all year round campsite.  One place was closed (different to what was said on the website), another one didn't take caravans, two we couldn't find so we had to go onto the internet to look for other campsites and ring them to see if they were open.  We were in luck - one place that we rang was open but not really to caravans at this moment in time because the ground is very soggy from so much snow melt and rain.  When they heard that our caravan was very small they agreed to allow us to stay in their car park rather than lose a bit of business by turning us away because of boggy fields.

Getting to Dogwood Cottage Campsite (http://www.dogwoodcamping.co.uk/) wasn't a problem.  It was the little lane that they were down that was the problem.  We followed the instructions to the village but missed the lane because it was in a darkish corner and not lit up by a road lamp.  I thought I had seen the sign but by then we had 'sailed' past it.  All Paul could do was try and find a place to turn around.  We did so in the car park of a care home for the elderly was sited (from what we could see in the dim light) in spacious grounds.  Back we went but again we passed the small lane.  There wasn't a suitable place to turn around for a good mile or two and eventually Paul decided to turn into a road and then back out onto the main road. I had to guide him as he couldn't see the road properly.  Back in the village Paul drove at a snail's pace so we wouldn't miss the turn-off into the lane.  He was dubious because the lane was very narrow and it was not lit up with street lights. 

We finally got the campsite and met the owners.  They advised us on the best way to put the caravan in the tiny car park and after that we could set up 'home', unhook the caravan and go to a pub for dinner.  We didn't get very far with anything.  The electric hookup didn't work.  And it was pouring with rain.

Paul spoke to the campsite owner who had a fiddle with the plugs but they were working fine.  The campsite owner had a brainwave:  re-wire the our European camping socket because he'd known people from Europe staying at the campsite and having the same problem.  So Paul re-configured the hookup plug and it worked. 

We were starving by the time we headed out to look for a pub that served evening meals.  One pub wasn't serving meals because the owner was away (I guess he/she does the cooking).  We found another pub and they were open.  You could tell we weren't locals.  The minute we entered the pub door the chit-chatter from the locals ground to a halt as they twisted their necks around to check us out.  We were told that the pub was due to be holding a quiz session at 8 so were shown to the dining room area of the pub rather than sitting at a table near the bar.  We bagged ourselves a seat near a heater, and wined and dined alone; listening to the banter coming from near the bar. 

Fortunately getting back to the campsite wasn't a problem.  Time for a shower now - and it is raining outside.  Maybe we should stand out in the rain instead, with some soap and towel handy ....

An expo in Antwerp and a bit of sightseeing.

We went back to Antwerp today and went to an expo,"Erotica", at a convention centre.  It had all sorts of stalls that tantalised or boggled the mind; there was a bondage demonstration and a few strip side shows.  There was even a pop-up swingers club.  It wasn't really our cuppa tea, so to speak. We didn't see the strip shows nor even stick in an eyeball at the pop up swingers club.  At least we went to the expo out of curiosity and with an open mind. 

Afterwards we had a wander around Antwerp city centre and stopped for a hot home-made waffle with ice cream before heading out back to Rijsbergen.  Yum.

Tomorrow Paul will be going on a week long course at CSMART Academy in Almere (east of Amsterdam).  I will stay with his mum, Betty, and have made arrangements to meet up his sister mid-week and go to Elysium Wellness Centre/spa together.  I will miss Paul though, during the week.  He will be staying at the Csmart Hotel right next to the training centre rather than driving to Almere and back again every day.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Antwerp

 

 

 

All sorts.

This past week we have been chugging along, watching a bit of the Olympic winter games on TV and also been doing a bit of clearing out of Paul's stuff and his mum's, taking it to the recycling centre or second hand shop.  There is still lots to sort out but all in good time.

On the news we learnt that the South African President resigned.  Zuma's government was corrupt as hell and hopefully the next chap will bring more stability to the country.

We ended up putting in an offer on a 2nd hand campervan but the guy would only accept cash-in-hand.  Paul wasn't happy about a cash payment and the bank refused to release the cash, advising it was safer to do a bank transfer.  Eventually the seller was ok with the bank transfer.  Before doing the bank transfer though, Paul wanted him to sign a basic AA of contact of sale (the template of which can be found on the internet).  It  basically covers the buyer in case things went wrong.  The seller initially agreed to sign it and then refused.  So we backed out of the deal altogether on the basis that something 'dodgy' was going on. 

The T@B 400, similar to what we looked at.  (Photograph off the internet
to give you an idea of what we saw.)

Yesterday we looked at tear-drop shaped small caravans (also known as T@B or TAB) and then headed to Antwerp to pick up some plastic boxes for storage.  They are more durable than cardboard boxes and eventually, as and when we can buy or rent a house, we can move and empty the plastic boxes and perhaps sell or pass them on to people who might need them. 

It was getting a bit late to do anything else so we had a meal in Antwerp and went to watch a film, "Murder on the Orient", based on one of Agatha Christie's books.  It was fun and nice to go out for a change.

Preparations.

Over the last few days we have been trying to sort ourselves out.  Paul goes back to work at sea and flies out tomorrow; I am going with him.  We have been purchasing a few items we need to take with us, unpacking and re-packing for the next few months at sea. 

In the middle of it all, the weather has been nice so on Saturday Paul felt it would be good to take the quadbike out and take it for one last spin before we put it into a lock-up garage.  The quadbike was a bit low on fuel but fortunately Paul had a jerrycan of petrol in the his mum's garage so he could fill up the tank.  Unfortunately the quadbike's fuel cap wouldn't open, no matter what Paul did.  He eventually asked neighbour, who has a motorbike, to have a quick look but to no avail.   Paul ended up going to garage where he had the quadbike serviced and I followed behind in the car in case he ran out of petrol.  It turns out that fuel cap was broken so Paul purchased another one and then we went to the nearest petrol station.  There was a car wash across the road from the petrol station so Paul decided to get car washed - it needed it after weeks of being on the road.  It was a big mistake.  The spoiler broke in car wash, the garage owners not taking any responsibility however we were told to bring the car back on Monday back on Monday to get it fixed.  I cried on way home, very frustrated at so many things going wrong.

Our quadbike ride route.

On Sunday we took the quadbike out for a ride, popping across the border into Belgium and back again, making use of unpaved roads as and when possible.  It was a nice scenic drive.  We finally put the quadbike in a lock-up garage and the car too, where they will stay for the next couple of months while we are away. 

Today Paul and I made use of the online check-in for our KLM flight to Los Angeles.  Mine went smoothly enough however Paul's didn't.  The online check-in would not allow him to continue to the seat selection because he didn't have a USA ESTA visa.  Because he is a sailor, he doesn't need it - he has other work visas and documents.  In the end he ended up applying, separately, for an ESTA visa and it was approved; yet the KLM website still wouldn't allow Paul to check in online.  Because Paul's office had booked our flights separately (why, we don't know) it means we usually don't get seats together so as and when we check in online we look at the seating plan and try to change our seats so that we can sit next to each other.  This time it wasn't going to happen, by the looks of things.  In the end Paul rang KLM's booking office and after a long wait of nearly ½ an hour he got through only to get cut off by mistake whilst moving his hands to reach for some paperwork.  Frustration is ...  He dialled again and eventually got through after holding on for about 40 minutes.  The KLM representative managed to check Paul in and gave us seats next to each other.  However, when we looked online at upgrading our seats to extra leg room seats we discovered Paul was seated at the back of the aeroplane.  Just as well we had checked!  We managed to get seats together online and printed our confirmation tickets out. 

Betty's fish bowl needed cleaning so the poor fish were relocated to another smaller (cooking!) bowl, while their large bowl was emptied and cleaned out.  In the meantime one of the snails tried to make a quick getaway out of its temporary accommodation and I had to persuade him to turn around and go back.  All done and dusted then it was time to finalise our packing.

It's now quite late and we have an early start in the morning.