blue birds over....

... the white cliffs of Dover? I hardly think so, it was a little windy for all but the bravest of birds. We had a fine drive down from Gloucestershire, arriving exactly in time for check-in, but the winds were up by then so we waited in line for an hour or more. I had hoped to blip the cliffs from on deck as we left, but by the time we got on the ship, it was rolling heavily so I decided to sit tight inside. Very fine boat it was too, DFDS. I travelled a lot by ferry between Belfast-Adrossan; Liverpool-Dublin; Holyhead-Dun Laoghaire in my early years, and ferry travel now is certainly a more luxurious experience than it was in the 'seventies!

My single mum would make all of us bring sleeping bags, and then we would bed down in front of the purser's office like caterpillars, with the youngest in her carrycot, while drunken men lurched over us and swore, throughout the livelong night. Once, we even got a cabin....

Back to now: it was a long, long drive to Geesteren in the Netherlands, where my brother lives, and the moment we crossed the border from Belgium into Holland, all the lights were turned off! Got there around eleven at night; my mother was there, but due to leave shortly. We stayed up far too late so that CleanSteve could unwind, as he is the solo driver, while I am merely the incompetent navigator; and went to bed in an attic room on what seems like the the 112th floor of Ruaraidh and Sandra' rambling town house, opposite a church in the middle of the village.

This was shot from INSIDE the car, as it was windy out. Strange how caged the cliffs look behind the fence at the ferry port