In Brugge

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After 20 minutes of packing the car, taking everything out again and then repacking it in order to fit all our suitcases, cooking equipment, and Christmas pressies in, we finally manage to set off for about 10.30am. We have a long drive ahead of us today, all the way from Glasgow down to Hull, in the snow (at least it’s good practice for wee Charlie). The sat nav says it should take about 4 – 4 ½ hours, but as it’s been snowing heavily and we don’t know what the roads will be like down in England, we give ourselves an extra 2 hours just in case. I’ve bagsied the UK part of the driving, as the last time I drove on the right hand side of the road it ended with a tyre being skelped of the kerb and a chunk out of the aforementioned tyre being taken out, ahem.



We really make good time as the roads once we get into England are completely fine with not a drop of snow in sight. We only stop once for a break and as a result, make it into Hull for just before 4pm. As we have plenty of time to spare, Greg sees a signpost for the Hull football stadium, so we decide to take a little detour and have a quick look. Unfortunately on the way back, we get caught up in loads of traffic, so it is actually after 5pm by the time we make it to the ferry terminal. I can’t help but feel everything is going far too smoothly for us so far, not a drama or argument in sight… Surely something must go wrong?? But no, we manage to board the ferry, get our cabin and get settled without any hitches.



The ferry is late in setting off - it is meant to head off for 6.30pm, but actually doesn’t get going until about 7.30pm. That’s fine for us though as it means it will arrive in Zebrugge later on in the morning, meaning a longer lie in. We have a walk around the ship while we are waiting which is actually quite big. It has three floors with shops, 2 restaurants, 3 bars, a café, casino and a cinema inside. We then take advantage of the bar on board the ship and have a few well deserved beers while we are waiting. Once the ship starts moving, we head down to the restaurant for some food as we’re both quite peckish and slightly light headed after our pre-dinner drinks. The restaurant looks really nice, and is actually quite expensive so we just stick to one main course and a glass of tap water. The waiter fawns over us until we order, at which point he realizes he isn’t going to make his millions out of us and then leaves us alone. The guy on the table next to us hears our accents and starts up a conversation, as it turns out he is Scottish too (a point which he manages to repeat about 50 times during our conversation – “I’m Scottish by the way”). He’s actually from the Gorbals which is quite funny. He and his pal (from Blackpool) are on a mini break to buy some cheap tobacco for their friends. Greg and I look at each other though, as surely the cost of the ferry, petrol, and meals etc will counteract the amount of money they will actually save from buying the tobacco? Anyway, they are nice enough and we all chat away, then they wish us a safe and exciting journey when we leave.



We have a few more beers in the bar then head off to our cabin to watch a film on the computer and then get some shut eye, as it is going to be a long few days driving. Our cabin is fine, it’s not the Ritz but bigger than some of the hostel rooms we have stayed in before so it is more than adequate for our needs. I actually manage to get to sleep surprisingly quickly, which is amazing for me, but I speak to soon as I get woken up about 4am by very choppy sea. The cabin is swaying quite violently from side to side and creaking away each time we go over a wave and then crash down by a good few inches. I actually start to pray at one point as I am absolutely terrified the ship will crash and sink. Thankfully it doesn’t, but I never actually manage to get back to sleep. So much for a good night’s sleep! As it turns out, Greg is the exact same, and has been awake since about 4.30am as well. Well, hopefully we’ll have a proper, non moving, non swaying sleep tomorrow night.

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