The continuing journey!

April 20th 2016

Stage 3 -Today we travelled from Wisques, just outside of Calais, to Dijon (333miles). Weather was lovely. Mark was stressing about the road toll booths!  I ended up stressing about Mark stressing about the road toll booths!

April 21st 2016

Stage 4 - Today we travelled from Dijon to Aix En Provence (304 miles). When we pulled up outside the hotel in Aix En Provence it looked fab. We couldn't park Snorky the camper van in the underground hotel car park as he is a high top. The other car parks nearby were also unsuitable for the same reason, so we had to abandon him outside the hotel which was a Tow Away Zone! Things got worse when we were shown the room/studio. It was tiny and very claustrophobic.
About 5.00am, I woke up to hear clanking noises and imagined Snorky being towed away so I thought I'd better investigate. Rocky and Bobby aided me in my recon. Where was Mark I hear you ask? Yes, he was asleep. It was just a delivery van unloading though.

Snorky parked in a Tow Away Zone in Aix En Provence! (He's still shy!)

April 22nd 2016

Stage 5 - Today we travelled from Aix En Provence to Piacenza in Italy (308 miles). We went via Monte Carlo. It was a bit hectic in Monte Carlo - too many peeps for me. Stunning scenery though and lovely and sunny. Again hard to park Snorky, but we eventually managed and had a walk through the streets. Then it was onto Piacenza in Italy, through what seemed miles of tunnels. The hotel seemed to be situated on an industrial estate! No coffee making facilities in the room and the restaurant was closed the night we arrived, so we had to order in a take away. The Wifi was non existent. Apart from that it was fine! I think I need to have a word with Booking.com!

April 23rd 2016

Stage 6 - Travelled from Piacenza to the port of Ancona today (239 miles). Arrived at Ancona for the ferry but had to wait a  few hours to board and it was a couple of hours late leaving port. The ferry itself was nice inside.
There didn't seem to be much in the way of instructions as to what to do when we boarded the ferry. We parked up on Level 2 and Reception was located on Level 7 but we couldn't find any lifts so it was up 5 sets of stairs. Rocky and Bobby weren't too impressed with that! Mark ended up carrying backpacks and food bowls up and I carried Bobby up. Eventually we got the keys for the cabin. We had a pet cabin so Rocks and Bobs could stay with us.  I'm not good with small spaces and have to admit to being a bit claustrophobic in the cabin.
I had to immediately have an escape route planned in case of a Titanic situation. You never know, there may be a stray iceberg floating about in the Adriatic what with global warming. Mark mentioned that there was a muster station to the right when exiting the cabin. Not me - I'm to the left straight along the corridor, up two flights of stairs and jump off the top deck into the sea - DONE! I have walked that route just recently so I know where I'm going. I also have to make sure I have clothes ready to go, placed easy to access in case of emergency as I'm not exiting the cabin during the night in my PJ's (Catastrophes always seem to happen in the middle of the night). You may think I'm being a tad organised here but the survival instinct is strong in me.
Sleeping on the ferry was impossible for me. Every time I laid my head on the pillow, it was like my brain was being used as a pneumatic drill. How on earth is Mark asleep AND the dogs?

April 24th 2016

Stage 7 - The next morning we had breakfast, which was really good. We spoke to the waiter in a variety of languages, who was then completely confused. We started off with French, then Italian then Greek ending with English. When I say "speak" I mean hello, thank you etc.
Looking around, I saw the spitting double of Mark! Then I realised it was a mirror! (I didn't have much sleep last night)

Breakfast on the ferry - that's our reflection!

Arrived Patras in the early afternoon and booked into a fantastic hotel.

April 25th 2016

Stage 8 - An early start this morning and a one hour drive from Patras to catch the 10.00am ferry from Kyllini to take us to the port of Poros on Kefalonia! Woo hoo - nearly there!!! Can't quite believe we are nearly HOME!!
There was hardly anyone on the ferry and when we arrived at Poros on Kefalonia it was a lovely sunny day. The sea was a sparkly blue. Good start to a new life.

WE MADE IT! - WE'RE HOME! It took us exactly 1 week and a total of approximately 1600 driving miles.

Arriving at Poros on Kefalonia