Wednesday 06th December 2017 – Cheltenham to Portsmouth.

Wednesday 06th December 2017 – Cheltenham to Portsmouth.

Car Mileage at start – 14,1063 miles.    Running total - 579

Got up finally arranged 81 days travel insurance for whole holiday.

Had a late lunch with my Dad and hugged him goodbye, chucked my final bags into the car hid some of my monies in the car, as I was not going to carry it all on my person.

Started my drive at about 3.45 pm to the Brittany ferry port at Portsmouth, the sailing was 8.15 pm so gave me plenty of time to drive the 90 or so miles, so I thought.

The roads were horrendous, even before I reach the Air Balloon I could see the lights of stationary vehicles up the Cirencester road.

I immediately made a detour to the Severn Springs as a police car with twos and blues ringing shot past me as I got to the roundabout just before the Air Balloon.

Then followed traffic light queues, stationary traffic in Cirencester, and very slow moving queues all away along M3. Finally arrived at Boat at about 7.40 for me to be diverted to the Customs to have a look in and check me over to drugs and guns etc. I think they just wanted to look at the car, as I heard the custom lady shout to the man, I am sending you a Mushy Pea.

The good news was after the search I was sent straight up to the deck 5 and only climbed one flight of stairs to deck 6 where my Cabin was situated, and instead of the 2 berth inside cabin I had booked , I was in a 4 berth outer cabin with a window, TV, toilet, and shower.  Very spacious and comfy.

I unpacked and reclined to the Bar at deck 8 had a pastis and a can of peanuts and started this Blog.

As I was finishing typing I noticed the bar was rocking a little I think the wind has got up.

I started back to my cabin as fast as I could and laid down as it was tricky walking back to cabin and it was not the drink. I was a very bumpy crossing and kept getting woken up as the bunk beds creaked and groaned with the tipping of the boat.