To travel hopefully...

...no, no, no! Arriving was definitely better. From Stroud in the Cotswolds to Rudesheim am Rhein in Germany took at least 20 hours by coach and ferry from Dover to Calais. Highlights of the journey included the a smooth crossing on the  brand new P&O ferry, and a motorway service station in Belgium that seemed more like a family-run restaurant. Other moments included having our coach searched (loverhead lockers, engine compartment) for Emigrants. Someone had tried to leave Britain by stealth only the day before. 'Leave the UK?' I hear you say. 'Whatever for? ' 'Surely there cannot possibly be a better life in France, after they have tried so hard to get to England? Why could they have not waited a little longer for a free flight to Rwanda?'

D met me on the coach at Cirencester, but there was room for us all to spread out once we got to Folkestone. That was lucky, because he's not small, and I am incapable of sitting upright with my legs pointing forward for 20 hours. We arrived at our hotel at a few moments short of 11pm German time, having left my home in Stroud at 2.30 am. 

The hotel is old fashioned, comfortable, and quiet. It's everything I could wish for, and has a quaint duck theme thrown in on the linens, the stationery, the door plates, and so on. Quite frankly, it could have a shark theme and I wouldn't mind at this stage! Sleep cannot be far off after the day I've had.