THURSDAY 5th JULY 2012

BACK TO LONDON

Yay!!!! A four fifteen call from Jase announced that we have a new Grand Daughter - Layla Rose Allan was delivered with no problems and we even got to talk to Katie! Great excitement and lots of relief that all had gone well - much sadness that we won't be able to see her for about ten days! Mumsie and I both shed a tear or two over that!!!!
It wasn't much use trying to go back to sleep - we were due a six am wake up call anyway - so we showered and dressed, packed up our cases and headed down for breakfast! We were the first of our tour in, but as the others turned up everyone wanted to know about the baby and brekky was a pretty hectic one! Rohan and co duly arrived and we were able to pass on the good news on to them as we ate.
Once we had loaded our cases there was time to say a sad farewell to our new found mates - amazing that in a month we grown as close and had had so much fun together!
Once we were on the road we left Amsterdam behind and the autobahn took us past miles of farming land, all very low lying and wet looking, interspersed with industrial towns.
We crossed into Belgium and stopped at a truck stop for a quick coffee as the rain began again, and then it was on past Dunkirk to Calais - luckily it had fined up again - where we did our passport control and got our boarding passes.
We loaded our cases onto the baggage trolleys and then said our farewells to Maurizio who is taking the coach back to Rome! He has become a very popular figure on our tour, always cheerful, very helpful with the cases and he always had a supply of cold bottles of water in the coach fridge! He was an expert driver, handling the 14.3 metre coach as though it was a car, getting us into and out of the narrowest streets you could think of! He had a great sense of humour and copped a serious bagging when Italy got walloped by Spain in the soccer final, he appeared in the morning waving a white hanky! Great bloke - a Honda rider too!
We had a bit of a wait for the ferry to arrive, and once all the passengers were off and the staff cleaned up, we we boarded and settled in for the ninety minute crossing! Again the trip was calm as could be - Mumsie can thank her lucky stars that all four ferry trips have been as flat as a tack!!!
Once in Dover we retrieved our luggage, boarded another coach and were soon on our way to London. The driver was a complete contrast to Maurizio, hard on the accelerator and brake, and once in the suburbs he ran two red lights and nearly cleaning up a pedestrian, screeching to a halt with inches to spare!!! Silly old git!
We dropped a few of the group at the Trafalgar Reception Centre in Waterloo and then made our way to the Ibis Earls Court for our overnight stop! Our room was pretty good, and we started immediately repacking our cases ready to add some stuff which had stored at Taz's flat.
Later we met Taz and had a drink to whet Layla Rose Allan's head, then found a quirky little restaurant where we had dinner, and following dinner walked the short distance to the flat a got the couple of bags.
Sad for Den and Sue to say goodbye to Taz! She hopes to home at Christmas but it was still a pretty emotional time.
Back at the hotel we got all the gear organized, throwing out some clothes that had become pretty ratty, and putting the overflow into a couple of small carry ons!
Well, that's the tour done and dusted! It has been an awesome experience, we have seen so many places, so many wonderful sights, quite a few places very easily forgotten and have certainly had a ball! The group, despite a couple of people being a pain in the ass, were good company and all got along very well. Victor was an excellent Tour Director and looked after us just so well!