Monday, October 3, 2011

FRIDAY 23rd SEPTEMBER 2011 (English Channel)


Catweazle & Mia had left early for work and they left us alone to run amuck in their house!

Plans of leaving Ijsselstein nice and early went out the window when we realised we'd locked the house and left some things inside!

Luckily for us a rear neighbor had the spare key so all ended well. Good thing really as we got to see the rabbit warren of pathway's out back.



We made a bee-line for Calais. A most un-interesting drive through the lower half of Holland and Belgium. I'm sure we weren't seeing the best of what these countries had to offer...at least I hoped not.

Arriving in CALAIS it was much bigger than we remembered and very busy.
We had a choice to make. Do we cross the Channel by ferry or by train through the tunnel?
We decided to give looking around Calais a miss and went straight to the ferry terminal and booked the 4.30pm ferry to Dover.


The ferries leave every half hour so there were no worries about whether we'd get to the other side today.

We had a short wait and after showing our passports (for the first time) we boarded the ferry and began the crossing of the English Channel.

We chose the ferry because what better way to enter England than to watch the 'White Cliffs of Dover' appear. We weren't disappointed. The afternoon was glorious and the cliffs glistened in the afternoon sun.



Once in England our plans were to head north to stay with Nick, however, following an email from him saying he'd be home a bit late we detoured to visit some other friends.

Once again, we had lost track of time which was made worse by the fact that we forgot that England was an hour behind Europe!

We arrived at Paul & Maggie's and within seconds Smarty dragged Paul off to the shed to talk motorcycles. It's what you would expect when visiting the SMART household.


Before we knew it we were bundled in to the car and away we went to Paddock Wood (love those English names) to the BEST Indian Restaurant we've ever had the pleasure of eating at. Words fail us as to how good the food was.
Company was not too shabby either.

The time went much too quickly and so driving to Nick's was no longer a consideration.

Thanks Smarty & Mags for a lovely evening.

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