Day 1 - UK – France – Belgium – Germany

Sunday 16th September

The alarm goes off at 5:30am, the plan being to meet in reception at 6am and head down to Embankment as a group, a slight reluctance to get out of bed not withstanding we were on parade on time as were “most” of out companions, the new friend we had made in the hotel lobby the night before may have gone a little overboard on the wine the previous evening and was nowhere to be seen, the other problem being that none of us knew what room she was in or what her last name was! With some help from the very helpful staff we managed to find out which room she was in, send the girls up and get her on her back feet and ready to go just a tiny bit behind schedule. A short walk with large backpacks, a dead end and a quick road crossing and we were there at the bus and ready to head off, the bags were loaded the families and friends of many waited on the pavement to wave goodbye and just like that we were on our way!

A hop skip and a jump down to Dover, a short ferry ride with a much appreciated fry up and we were back on the road, I would say we visited France but this a bit of a stretch as our feet never touched French soil. We zapped through to Belgium, where we had a much needed comfort stop as the beers from the ferry were beginning to catch up with many of us and then it was on to Germany. Another comfort stop and we were on our way again to tonight’s destination, the Rhine Valley where we will be camping and tasting some of the local wines. With a few camping virgins in the group and some people who have not even opened their tent since they bought it (you know who you are) tonight promises to be an interesting evening, there has even been mention of Schnitzel!