A long tiring and delayed journey back home for both of us. We got up in plenty of time (5:45), joined the breakfast rush, huge queue for the coffee machine (the guides, who have clearly been through all this before, came down for breakfast at the last minute and breezed through as everyone had finished by then!) The usual mix of cereal, croissants, coffee, fruit and yoghurt.

Back in the room we checked under the bed, under the pillows (vital) – we’d had to put the cases outside the room before 6:30 to be collected and put in the coach. Despite all of this, Barrie had to sprint back to the room after we had got on the coach to collect his toothbrush and toothpaste (irreplaceable apparently?).

Off we went with a stop at Baie de Somme services (as we had on the way there) where I picked up some gifts for Zeny. Slightly rainy at that point, the first rain since a few drops on Tuesday morning.

So we arrived at ‘All4trucks’ near Calais, which despite the name seemed to be full of Leger holiday coaches and customers. here the cases were sorted out and loaded into the ‘feeder’ coaches ready for the journey home. We all waited in large rooms with a coffee bar and lined with seats until a woman with a megaphone announced our coach number – Barrie went first, mine was called about 10mins later. I gather though that Barrie’s coach didn’t actually leave until ours as they were a passenger missing…

Barrie and coaches while waiting to board ferry at Calais Port

From there a few minutes drive to Calais port, where we had to go through passport control – took a while as we joined a long queue of coaches waiting and gradually edged up to the portakabin. Once we got there everyone had to troop off the coach, through the passport check, and back on again. Then we were  through to the ferry boarding queue, joining lots of other coaches, only to find out that there was a serious delay caused by the ferry due to leave before ours being unable to open its bow doors, which meant it had to sail out and turn round to use the other doors.

Eventually we got onto the ferry at round 2pm (UK time), where I didn’t see Barrie – the boat was infested with schoolchildren and both of us just found somewhere to sit, have a drink (and in my case eat my packed lunch collected at ‘All4trucks, a nice cheese baguette and a cookie) instead of searching round for each other. Off the ferry at around 3:25, and we started a long stop-start drive up the M1, just going from one slow queue to another. Barrie seems to have had more problems going west-about on the M25, and on the M40.

Arrive Castle Donnington at about 10 past 8, transfer along with 6 others into a 9 seat taxi. Drop 3 off on way to Nottingham, and the rest of us outside Broadmarsh Shopping Centre, where I rang Zeny who arrived to pick me up around 15mins later. So home in time to watch the football match (sorry Barrie).

The end of an action packed and fairly tiring but enjoyable week.