Return to Curly Sue

The mouth of the Tyne

After a prolonged stay in the UK on March 14th we set off to return to Curly. We were driving. We had bought a VW Passat estate for the sole purpose of the journey and our route was to be to Newcastle, ferry to Amsterdam, then drive south through Europe ( Holland, Belguim, Luxemburg, France then Italy ) to Ancona in Italy, then a ferry across to Igoumenitsa in Greece. Then about an hours drive to Preveza where Curly had spent the winter. Never having been on a car ferry before it was all new and exciting for us. Leaving the River Tyne was great as we stood on deck pointing out places we new as we sailed down the river. Our trip across to Holland was pleasant and it was nice to feel the motion of the sea again. We docked at Ijumieden at 0830am and we drove off the ship onto 'the wrong side of the road'. Miss Tom Tom consulted and headlight thingeys fitted we set off. The Passat immediately proved to be a worthwhile buy. It was loaded to the gunnels with all kinds of everything. A portable generator, two big solar panels, a large barbecue, a 2metre long motorcycle ramp ( to be made into a passarelle/boarding plank ), sewing machine, 2 large boxes a groupage, halogen oven, everything except a fondue set in fact but it still went like the wind and returned 50mpg. Our first stop was at Nancy in France where we stayed in a Campnile travel lodge. I parked the car outside the window so I could keep an eye on it. Next day we set of and decided to take the 'quiet french toll roads'. Huh, as if. I think the whole of France had decided to go south that day and we were soon on nose to tail traffic, crawling at a snails pace. Now for those who are bothering to read this, that discounts Susan to start with, and actually know their way through Europe ( thats you cousin Malcolm for one ) you must accept that our route may seem strange but we were guided by Miss Tom Tom the whole way. The service areas were absolutely packed out on the way south, what on earth was going on, where was everybody going. The huge mountains of the Alps appeared and we kept offering our credit card at each toll. Ker-ching !! Then through the tunnels, KER-CHING !!! It was about 5.30pm when we emerged from The Frejus Tunnel ( The where, I hear you all cry, Why did you go that way !! ) after another eyewatering 36 euro removal from my dwinding funds. Italy. It was snowing. "We'll have to find somewhere to say" so we drove off  the autostrada onto a place called Bardonecchia. It started to snow more heavily as we trawled the streets with Miss TT totally lost. On finding the tourist info, Susan went in while I fended off the parking warden brandishing a book of tickets. My God is there no escape. Susan emerged with directions to a hotel which took half an hour to find. We checked in with the very pleasant Italian owner. We were put in the Snow White room, compete with large snow white keyfob and Snow White herself standing 2 feet tall outside the door. Susan reminded me of Mae West saying " I used to be Snow White, but I drifted ". Oh well, that sounds promising, I thought. Bardonecchia, if thats the correct spelling, which I doubt is a pleasant Italian ski resort and were currently hosting a large snowboarding competition. After a pleasant evening and a meal in the hotel restaurant of all things Italian, like veal cheeks, we retired to our lumpy bed hoping that the seven dwarfs weren't suddenly going to burst in with a chorus of Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it off to work we go.

Our Alpine refuge

The next morning we set off again, and rejoined tthe autostrada as they snow continued to fall. After another couple of series of tunnels ( and tolls ) the snow turned to rain, heavy rain as we cut through Italy towards Ancona. We decided to get as close to Ancona as we could so that the following day we didn't have to far to drive to the ferry, jst in case we got lost or some other problem occured. We ended up in a east coast town of Fanu where we found a pleasant hotel with a secure car park. We managed to skype the girls from there ( Hoy, you lot wot 'aven't got skype, get it, its brill, and free. video calls for free ). We had a leisurely strat to the following day and meandered along the coast road to Ancona. It took a bit longer than we thought but we were still there in plenty of time. Ancona is a very busy port with a very busy and not unpleasant town but we didn't have a lot of time to look around. We got our place in the quque then went for a wander and a bite to eat. We returned as boarding was about to commence. Now in comparison to the well oiled wheels of the DFDS boarding this was chaos. With much flaying of arms and shouting, then more flaying of arms and people running around the car decks, yes this was a greek ferry, no mistaking. We settled down for a beer in the lounge and got chatting to a nice english couple who were returning to their home in Greece. At Nafplion to be precise, which was the first capital of Greece, prior to Athens, following their independence from the Turks. Not a lot of people know that you know ( except you cousin Malcolm, cos you lived in Greece ). Dinner in the restaurant that night was entertaining. We were engaged in conversation by another english couple, the lady of which was three sheets to the wind, and was going around the tables drinking the complimentary grappa that other diners didn't want. We were then befriended by the waiter who insisted we must visit his home town of Arta which was close to Preveza. We promised we would, so he gave us an extra bottle of complimetary olive oil to seal our friendship. The following morning chaos returned for disemabarkation, however it was swft if nothing else. We were on Greek soil......hurrah, Miss TT decided she didn't know her way around Greece and went on strike.....boo, I missed the turn for Preveza.....bugger, but after an illegal u-turn ( I've got the hang of this greek driving already ) we were back on track and watched the ferry leave port en route for Patras.

It was a wonderful feeling to be back in Greece. It was a pleasant temperature and as we drove down the very quiet coast road towards Preveza we kept stopping to take in the views. We headed straight to the boatyard which is actually at Aktio, just to confuse things, not Preveza,a dn you have to drive through a tunnel under the channel to get to it ( toll 3 euros ). We were greeted by the girl in the boatyard then went to see Curly. We tentatively uncovered her but she seemed fine. Inside she was dry as a bone with no sign of mould or squatting livestock ( mice rats etc ) thank goodness. After a couple of hours sorting out ( that was just the start ) we popped back across through the tunnel ( 3 euros ) to Preveza to see Jenny our travel agent and get some shopping in. Jenny is a very nice Greek lady with an overwhelming liking for all things feline. She adopts all the stray kittens in the neighbourhood and they hang around her office to be fed.......then pee !!! phew...... Anyway, Jenny is lovely and we like her a lot.

We then returned for our first night back on the good ship 'Curly Sue'. We slept well our first night back on board, allbeit she was not in the water and woke up the following day to greek sunshine.