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The drive today is another bugger as once again there isn't a motorway or main road that takes us directly from Wroclaw to Bydgyoschz so even though it’s not massively far, it's gonna take us double the time to get there. We leave around midday and are soon motoring along the Polish equivalent of the A9 at a world record average speed of about 40 mph. It's actually not that bad a drive though and we manage to keep ourselves amused by cracking bad jokes in a polish accent and quoting lines from our favourite movies. At one point a local police car pulls in behind us and proceeds to tail us for what seems like the next 4 hours (but is actually only about 10 minutes). We are so paranoid about being pulled over and the officers bashing our headlight out and then charging us for having a headlight out (okay we have a vivid imagination but they look like ex-rugby players, we’re in an ex-communist country and we don’t speak any polish). Thankfully we are spared and Greg finally releases the breath he has been holding.
As we get about 20km outside of Bydogoscz, (N.B- has anyone noticed
how many different ways I've spelt that so far?) we hit standstill traffic. We have to wait for about half an hour before we move at all. We notice some teenagers walking along the hard shoulder in drips and drabs so it looks like a school bus or something has broken down. The traffic clears up shortly after that, and when we get a bit further ahead we see large tyre marks that have gone off the side of the road into a field, so whatever it was has been towed off now. Bydogoszcz has the weirdest roundabouts in the world as they are about a football pitch in length, and you have to give way while on the roundabout. And half the time you don't even realise you're on one! By absolute sheer chance, we find our hotel (the directions we have printed off tried to take us up a dead end about half a mile away). It's a nice looking place up a quiet street with a quirky little restaurant inside. We only really have enough time to dump (I can hear greg giggle at that word as I write it) our bags before we head off to pick up Greg’s mum and dad from the airport. It’s really exciting to be meeting up with them so far from home and I’m really looking forward to seeing them. It'll be nice to have someone else to talk to as well (Greg- I love you but so far we've spent about 32 hours in a car together and there’s only so many times I can hear the same Alan Partridge quotes).
Their flight is on time, but unfortunately the heavens have opened and it's torrentially raining just as they leave the airport. We hug it out then head back to the hotel for some drink and some grub (definitely in that order). Just as we set off, Charlie starts to stutter and protest, and the engine cuts out half way over a bridge. Not the best of starts. Next we try to find a supermarket that is still open and sells alcohol (forget food, this is an emergency situation, and the 6 beers we bought for them beforehand just won’t cut it). After Greg driving the wrong way into the supermarket entrance, exchanging a few ‘friendly’ hand gestures with oncoming motorists, we stock up.
Back at the hotel and after a few warm up drinks, we decide to eat in the hotel restaurant as it’s now nearly 11pm. The food is actually really good and we’re all impressed with the quality of it. We wash it down with a few beers, then a few wines, then a few vodkas... The end result is a very bad hangover the next morning.
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