437. Ensnared and terminated

Holyport

Round the M25 to Holyport

After getting to bed after three we woke reluctantly at eight for our ten thirty sailing. The gas central heating worked beautifully I'm pleased to say. We had breakfast then I went to pay the parking charge and was pleased to see that it was a very reasonable price.

Unfortunately, the machine refused my card but had a cash facility to I inserted ten Euro and it spat it out. I dispatched Fyfe and he returned with a range of euro and every note did the same thing. With a lot of difficulty, not really understanding the screen I managed to retrieve the ticket and crossed to another machine which swallowed the ticket and said Bon illisible or something similar. I tried every permutation of buttons without success. I pushed the attendant button and it would ring for twenty eight rings then cut off.

The other car in the park was a very nice C6 Citroen (a car I admire, same engine as the Disco, which Fyfe and I had looked at earlier while the family ate their breakfast) and the couple returned. I explained my predicament and the agreed to let me follow them out of the barrier with the result below, the time now nine thirty and we have yet to do customs and immigration, caravan inspection etc.

Nothing for it but to seek help. I ran around the deserted terminal without success and eventually entered the staff only part of the building and ran around, eventually finding a surprised worker with a fluro vest and a radio who escorted me promptly out but did make a call on her radio.

I returned to the ensnared rig and resigned myself to another one hundred and eighty pound ferry ticket as I had not paid the extra for a flexible ticket. Eventually a gamekeeper appeared and released the trap. 

Immigration was painfully slow as the family's visa's had expired (I have right of abode) and my laptop went flat while searching for our tickets. It is possible I was a little flustered by this point but I doubt it. It is more likely that I was a sea of calm. It appears that our sailing was delayed due to fog, I dunno, didn't buy another ticket, but we drove on and the ship immediately sailed while we were still organising ourselves. The photo below taken at ten forty one.

The ship, virtually empty

The white cliffs of Dover

The trip went incredibly quickly including our sitting in the closed bistro mistaking it for the breakfast café. Audrey bought a snitch, Iris, Toblerone, Roman a Lego Mustang Fastback and Fyfe a Nerf gun.

The trip bak to Holyport surprisingly uneventful.

We arrived just after dark and got a tremendous welcome from Jago and Lucy, Sister Elizabeth and Tony appearing shortly after which was lovely.

Tony, Jacqueline, Lucy, me and Elizabeth
Photo - Jago 

The cousins, with Elizabeth
Fyfe, Roman, Holly, Iris, Theo, Audrey and Amelia

Amelia had her Audrey back,
or is it the other way around?

And with that, our trip is over. Four hundred and thirty seven days of it, already, just a memory. We returned with the same rig and the same children, not a bad result.

I will write a bit more as we still have to get home......