A bientôt EU

[Jay586]

You sound really happy.

 

[kave]

Lovely writing!! Keep it up!

 

[Amarillo]

Day 220 - Calabernado to Salicetti

For a second time we said farewell to Sicily, pausing briefly at a pet shop in Catania to buy a muzzle for Meg - mandatory for dogs travelling Brindisi to Igoumenitsa. We were in the middle of paying for that and some other bits when we noticed Jack was missing. He had left the shop, had dropped his trousers and pants and was peeing in the gutter. I guess we can conclude from that that he no longer needs nappies. The next stage is to persuade him to ask to use a toilet.

We crossed the Strait of Messina for the fourth time, and blasted north along the autostrada.

The campsite is very nice, right on the sea, but no hot water in the bathrooms or for washing up. The beach is fenced and locked overnight and daytime from 13:00 to 15:00. There's some sort of beacon in the water emitting a high pitched bleep every two seconds. We will have a proper explore in the morning.


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[Amarillo]

We are on a lovely campsite, right by the sea, where the arch of Italy's boot begins. The few people on the campsite are retired German couples spending the winter in Southern Europe. The reviews of the campsite really do not do it justice: it has an ACSI rating of 7.2, and we try to avoid any campsite with a score below 8.0. Apart from a dated sanitary block, this is a good campsite, in a great location with a wonderful private beach - all for 13 Euros per night.

The campsite's beach bar

Unfortunately we are not here for long. Tomorrow, with storms forecast, we take the overnight ferry to Greece. I'm worried. Winds of 35-55 knots, thunderstorms, rough seas. I wonder if they will lash the van down as I remember them doing to cars on cross Channel ferries years ago when the sea was high. I don't suppose there is any chance at all of the boys sleeping through the entire crossing...


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[Jabberwocky]

Hope all goes well. I hate rough seas too. Come to think of it boats are my least favorite mode of transport!
All the best.

 

[GillianC]

Good luck Tom. Hope you and the family keep safe.

 

[Bellcrew]

We are on a lovely campsite, right by the sea, where the arch of Italy's boot begins. The few people on the campsite are retired German couples spending the winter in Southern Europe. The reviews of the campsite really do not do it justice: it has an ACSI rating of 7.2, and we try to avoid any campsite with a score below 8.0. Apart from a dated sanitary block, this is a good campsite, in a great location with a wonderful private beach - all for 13 Euros per night.

The campsite's beach bar

Unfortunately we are not here for long. Tomorrow, with storms forecast, we take the overnight ferry to Greece. I'm worried. Winds of 35-55 knots, thunderstorms, rough seas. I wonder if they will lash the van down as I remember them doing to cars on cross Channel ferries years ago when the sea was high. I don't suppose there is any chance at all of the boys sleeping through the entire crossing...


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We found Stugeron the sea sickness tablets to be better than nothing on rough crossings, they also cause drowsiness and our children would normally sleep after taking the appropriate dose.

 

[Kmann]

Safe travels ;-)

Those ferries can cope quite some sea after all. We had a pretty rough trip from Corse to Sardegna in 2016. Massive wind (+35 knots) and big waves. The picture does not make it justice - but we all had a hard time keeping in balance - the monk included. Sorry, I don't have a video, because he literally ran all over the place ;-)

 

[Amarillo]

Good luck Tom. Hope you and the family keep safe.

Thanks Gillian and others. My anxiety is about a night of moaning and groaning children, and not personal safety. I've had rough crossings in the past, notably Roscoff to Plymouth after force 10 gales, and recovery is rapid once docked.


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[Amarillo]

Boat delayed by 2 hours. Wind has dropped to nothing.


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[burnercan]

Boat delayed by 2 hours. Wind has dropped to nothing.

Was the boat delayed by the wind? Or was this just Mediterranean punctuality?

 

[Amarillo]

Was the boat delayed by the wind? Or was this just Mediterranean punctuality?

Unknown. It was supposed to depart at 18:20 GMT (19:20 local). Delayed until 21:00 local.

This is the view from our van now...

Stuck behind a Bulgarian truck waiting for the boat which has not yet docked. I think ferries have to slow down in heavy seas, so that may well be the reason for the delay.


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[burnercan]

Here's hoping the seas settle a bit for a nice smooth crossing

 

[Amarillo]

Here's hoping the seas settle a bit for a nice smooth crossing

Thanks - I have no idea how smooth or rough the passage was - we all slept soundly in our cabin the entire crossing!


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[Amarillo]

Day 222 and 223 - Salicetti to Vartholomio via Brindisi and Igoumenitsa

Our longest leg yet of some 850 Km started leisurely enough after lunch at 2pm. We had a three hour drive to Brindisi to collect a refill campingaz bottle from a chandler opening after siesta at 16:30. Finding gas refills has been a constant problem on our trip around Europe. We ran out of gas in Poland, and could not refill until Germany. Having learned that Campingaz refills are scarce in the Balkans we were keen to get as much gas as we can carry before leaving Italy. We were therefore delighted to be able to exchange our empty 907 bottle for a massive 909 bottle for 30 Euros. We now have about 12 Kg of gas to see us through the Balkans. If that is not sufficient, we have a 1000 watt electric hob.

Gas fully stocked we went to the Brindisi ferry terminal. Our crossing was delayed from 19:20 to 21:00, probably because of storms in the Adriatic. The wind seemed calm to me. So after collecting our tickets we went away again and saw a bit of Brindisi. It's a very nice town with piazzas and fountains everywhere we went, modern and prosperous.

We returned to the ferry terminal at 7pm and waited. We were then moved onto the dockside and watched the large lorries being loaded, reversed onto the lower deck and driving forward up the ramp to the upper deck and reversing back. Cars were last to be loaded, and we were all put in a front corner of the upper deck.

After some fumbling to lock our van with the alarm disabled we headed straight for our cabin. Making up a third of the total passage cost of €330, taking a cabin was a very wise choice. It was warm, quiet, clean and comfortable, and after Jack dropped his pants and pooed on the floor, we were very grateful of the ensuite shower.

The ship left dock at 10.30pm and I had a quick look around the decks and just happened to spot the pilot return to his launch.

View of the car deck

We all went to bed and slept soundly until awoken by tannoy telling us to get up and clear out of our rooms. It was 5.30 Italian time (6.30 Greek time). We still had 90 minutes until disembark and found a play area.

On advice, we had left Meg in the van, and she was fine. Cars were the first to disembark.

We found our way out of Igoumenitsa, and straight onto the motorway.

After some distance, sat nav said go straight on, signs indicated turn right. We found ourselves on a brand new motorway (A5) not on the sat nav map. How Greece has been able to afford such pristine new motorway in these times I have no idea, but there it was, opened in August 2017.

"Ping" went out low fuel indicator. The first service station was not yet built. 30Km on and the second service station was not yet built, a sign indicated 55km to the third service station. The onboard computer told me we had a range of 85 km, no sweat. But that too was not yet open with 15 Km to the fourth but crossed in red indicating that also was under construction. Using the sat nav linked to MiFi (mobile wifi) we found an open filling station off the motorway. The problem was there was no exit from the motorway. We sailed past the filling station on the old road at a fuel-saving 70kph unable to know if we could reach it as the motorway was unmapped. Then, some 5km after the town there was an exit. Now range was reading 0km. We drove the 5km on empty and made it. The empty 80 litre tank took 80.29 litres of diesel.

The previous tank had lasted us for 1067Km.

From then on we had a more relaxed drive to our campsite, and we arrived soon after 3pm, just over 24 hours after leaving the previous campsite.

I received an email from the head of school admissions at Greenwich Council. After weeks of us telling them that we are entitled to apply for a school place for Ben, and them telling us we are not because we are overseas, I insisted they refer the matter to the borough's lawyers as we felt they were acting unlawfully.

The answer came back at about 4pm (2pm Greenwich Mean Time). We were right. In the circumstances we have described, we would be entitled to apply for a school place for Benjamin, however, on the balance of probabilities the head of school admissions in Greenwich does not believe we intend to move back into our home when the current tenancy is over.

We really could not make this up!


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[Bill R]

A drama filled edition - that empty tank feeling is stressful enough without half built fuel stations and roads that don't appear on the Satnav !

 

[Jay586]

We nearly ran out of petrol in Greece once, very squeaky bum for a while.

Maps aren't great there. I was at college with Greek people and they told me it was because of the fear of invasion. Also wise not to lurk near military installations...particularly not with binoculars. (-:

Have fun, very interested in this leg as we want to escape the miserable weather in years to come.

 

[WelshGas]

“ After some distance, sat nav said go straight on, signs indicated turn right. We found ourselves on a brand new motorway (A5) not on the sat nav map. How Greece has been able to afford such pristine new motorway in these times I have no idea, but there it was, opened in August 2017.“

I think you might find they didn’t pay for it.

 

[Amarillo]

A drama filled edition - that empty tank feeling is stressful enough without half built fuel stations and roads that don't appear on the Satnav !

It was quite funny at first... 100 Kph on a pristine motorway and Mr SatNav saying, "now make a U-turn", echoed behind by Ben, "Daddy, you must now make a U-turn".



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[burnercan]

on the balance of probabilities the head of school admissions in Greenwich does not believe we intend to move back into our home when the current tenancy is over.

Un...believable... That's the kind of thing that would make me want to stay in Greece instead of going home.

 

[El Greco]

“ After some distance, sat nav said go straight on, signs indicated turn right. We found ourselves on a brand new motorway (A5) not on the sat nav map. How Greece has been able to afford such pristine new motorway in these times I have no idea, but there it was, opened in August 2017.“

I think you might find they didn’t pay for it.

Shhh...... they are keeping it quite!

 

[T6 CFO]

Shhh...... they are keeping it quite!

 

[Amarillo]

Un...believable... That's the kind of thing that would make me want to stay in Greece instead of going home.

Indeed - I would really burn into her for her incompetence in misinterpreting the statutory schools admissions code, when I as a layman could see no reason why Ben should be excluded simply because we are travelling overseas, but I still need her to review her decision.

Two weeks ago she asked me for a copy of the tenancy agreement on our home, proof that the house is ours and proof of our return to the UK.

I immediately sent her an electronic copy of the tenancy agreement, a copy of our latest mortgage statement which my father brought out to me at Christmas, and explained that our return Eurotunnel ticket had not been bought as we might return a day or two early and stay with relatives.

The basis of her thinking we are more likely than not lying appears to be that I had originally said the tenancy ends on 12 June. I was wrong, the tenancy agreement shows the tenancy to be from 16 June 2017 to 15 June 2018.

None of this appears relevant anyway. What matters is Ben's "Principal home address", and if that is not our home in Greenwich, where is it?

And besides all that, why the hell does she think we are so keen to secure a place at a local school to our home address if we are not going to be living there?


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[Bellcrew]

Indeed - I would really burn into her for her incompetence in misinterpreting the statutory schools admissions code, when I as a layman could see no reason why Ben should be excluded simply because we are travelling overseas, but I still need her to review her decision.

Two weeks ago she asked me for a copy of the tenancy agreement on our home, proof that the house is ours and proof of our return to the UK.

I immediately sent her an electronic copy of the tenancy agreement, a copy of our latest mortgage statement which my father brought out to me at Christmas, and explained that our return Eurotunnel ticket had not been bought as we might return a day or two early and stay with relatives.

The basis of her thinking we are more likely than not lying appears to be that I had originally said the tenancy ends on 12 June. I was wrong, the tenancy agreement shows the tenancy to be from 16 June 2017 to 15 June 2018.

None of this appears relevant anyway. What matters is Ben's "Principal home address", and if that is not our home in Greenwich, where is it?

And besides all that, why the hell does she think we are so keen to secure a place at a local school to our home address if we are not going to be living there?


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If it is a decent oversubscribed school they will be investigating almost anyone who applies, often very compact catchment areas results in people using relatives address or renting for short term to gain access.
I am sure they are just nonplussed by your unusual circumstances and will be reasonable in the end.

 

[Keith Smith]

Could you not point her to this site and your story here, or perhaps your blog?