We
took the Zeebrugge ferry on the 29th March, drove to Dijon the next day, bought
la variety of Maille mustards. The following day we drove to
Villeneuve-Loubet near Nice and stayed in what used to be a typical French
quirky hotel. Then across the foot of the Alps and into Italy on the windy
Autoroute/Autostrada and onto Monselice near Padua. So thats about 380
miles per day for 3 consecutive days, we expected the next day to be a doddle,
with only 40 miles to go. Got to the ferry in plenty of time only to hear
that Minoan Lines had cancelled all Venice ferries until June! We had a
choice drive to Ancona and get another ferry to Igoumenitsa 2 days later or
get our money back and take the Anek Lines ferry to Igoumenitsa the next
day. We opted to cancel and to our suprise we got all our money back in
cash! We bought our ticket with Anek the next day and stayed in Mestre
just over the water from Venice and had an afternoon in Venice. So,
for the same money as our original ticket we purchased the 2 ferry tickets
and paid for a night in the hotel in Mestre-not a bad
outcome.
When
we got to Corfu we couldn't find the boat as it had been moved to the other side
of the marina. The Weather has been like an English July; very
changeable! Lots to do yet but lots done already. I am now getting used to
the sounds the boat makes in the silence of the night and sleeping
better.
I've
installed my Ebay purchased Garmin Marine Sat Nav, the AIS system and the first
of my 2 solar panels. The house batteries have died over the winter and we
will need 3 new 140Ah batteries; yet more expense!
I
hope to send the next blog from a sunny anchorage.
