Day 62 – 71, Jabbeke
We continued to relax and follow a routine of breakfast and playing games on the iPads in the morning with films in the afternoon and evening.
I took the opportunity to update our Amazon Firestick to include the latest Kodi as well as add the Black Panther APK. This allows us to watch a number of the latest film releases which included Aquaman, Green book, A star is born and many more. It allowed us to have some variety.
In the evenings I would often watch some football and we would catch up on the latest news from the House of Commons on the “Non progress” of Brexit.
Our days were interspersed with trips to the local supermarkets to get the few essential items which included the odd cream cake. Yummy.
On Monday 18th we visited the local vet again. We had made the appointment 3 weeks earlier. This visit was for her to administer the required worming treatment and update the pet passports in readiness for our crossing on Wednesday. She examined the dogs and made a note in the passports that they were fit and healthy to travel. We will see what happens on Wednesday.
Tuesday we spent packing up all the unnecessary things we had out so that our departure on Wednesday would be somewhat easier. So we packed away the Aquaroll, Waste master, Washing line and fitted the towing cover.
The day of departure arrived and we left the site at around 10am stopping to collect our €25 deposit on the gate access card that we returned. We hoped that we would arrive in Calais maybe an hour early and get an earlier train. As in turned out there was a lot of traffic on the motorway and we were held up for some time on a number of times. I was getting worried that we may not get to meet our scheduled time. We passed a string of lorries that were being held by the police in the fast lane on the motorway with no apparent reason. The queue must have been 10 miles long when we were driving past. We did feel sorry for these guys.
We arrived at the Pet reception and approached with trepidation which was not needed as everything was fine. After making our way around to check in we were offered a train 30 mins before our scheduled departure. Tina was not convinced we would be going home until we were actually on the train. Bless her!
Our trip home and to the storage yard was uneventful. However, we did read on the gate that the storage yard had some thieves steal 3 caravans… 2 belonging to a local caravan dealer. They had broken through unused locked gates and moved a pile of pathing material which was in front of the exit. This would have been done by hand and all between midnight and 6am. Our thoughts went to how glad our van was not in the yard at this time.
When we started to open the post later on Wednesday I found out that the Caravan insurance renewal remainder and invitation had been missed by our insurance company and had been sent out after we had left the UK and we were given 2 weeks to renew. So for the last 8 weeks the caravan had been uninsured…. what a relief nothing happened.
Thursday saw me on the internet and phone getting quotes and quickly getting the caravan insured again. Fortunately the thieves did not revisit on Wednesday night.
In conclusion the holiday was enjoyable but not necessarily a complete success. At this point in time I suspect we will not be repeating the experience next winter.