I am writing this blog while sitting on the ferry from Harwich to the Hook of Holland. We are leaving the UK and it feels wonderful. Let me give you a catch up from our traumatic couple of days.
First though can Steve and I say a huge thank you to all our family and friends who took the trouble to make a final day phone call, text or email to wish us Bon Voyage and good luck on our travels. It made us feel very cared for and lucky. We will take you all with us in our hearts and hope to see you soon. An invitation is extended to all of you to come and visit us in Cyprus so keep in touch and keep it in mind please.
The removal men found our camping cheques at about 11am so we dashed over to Staines to collect them. They charged us £137 for the 2.5 hours of searching in the boxes which stung a bit but neverthless it was worth it to us and after all it was our fault. The relief was immense and we felt we could progress without any more tension. All morning was spent cleaning again - the fridge, the freezer, the bathroom, the floors etc and also finishing off stacking the caravan with everything left in the bungalow. Steve also put the bikes on the roof of the car. Everything fitted into Esmerelda easily - it really is a tardis!
The lady came to complete the inventory check and all was well with that - then we had to lock the place up and hand her the keys - rendering us homeless so we had no option but to go ahead with our plans - we were well and truly committed now.
Steve and I popped down to the post office to collect some euros then returned home to attach Esmerelda - Steve from next door offered his assistance and gave us a send off. And off we went to Colchester for our first night away from home.
It was 100 miles to the camp site and it took a couple of hours - the rain that had been pelting down all day stopped and the sun shone on our journey - that helped. Without any more hitches we arrived at the camp site and set up the caravan. There was plenty of space so we left the van hitched to the car to make our early start the next morning easier. The camp site was clean and pretty with lots of flowers and shrubs and clean toilets and shower blocks.
Settling in was fun - we shared a bottle of bubbly (provided by Jackie the day before as a leaving gift) to celebrate(again) and cooked a lovely meal of tuna cooked in tomatoes, coriander and lemon with rice. Then we had a read of the newspaper and listened to the radio before having an early night. It was really cosy and comfy in Essie and we were so glad to finally get on our way.
Up at 6am we had a cuppa and some breakfast before taking our showers and preparing the caravan for the 20 mile journey to Harwich and the port. All this went smoothly and without any problems thankfully. The ferry is very well appointed - we have had a cuppa already, Steve has bought his Daily Mail and we are going to watch The Spiderwick Chronicles on one of their two cinemas at 11am. There is also a casino on board but we'll give that a miss. Obviously there is wi-fi available or I would not be typing this. After the film we will have some lunch and maybe a read of our books and we will be in Holland - the journey is six hours. It isproving to be a wonderful way to travel - and a great start to our adventure.
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