Smooth waters

The ride down to Plymouth to catch the ferry was uneventfull. I'd arranged to meet Phil (the joke telling Welshman) and Julian (the trip leader) at Exeter services. I arrived first and whilst waiting at the petrol station got chatting to a guy on his way to Morocco. Talking to him about his route brought back some good memories.

Phil rolled up a few minutes later shortly followed by Julian. It was great to see them both and we were soon joking about last year's trip.

After a burger and a coffee we headed off to Plymouth to meet the rest of the guys. This year there are twelve people including Julian, two of whom booked after reading my trip report. I shall have to discuss commissions!

We managed to make it on to the ferry without losing anyone and were soon all in the bar ready for Julian's briefing. Phil was on top form telling us about Pavarotti's funeral. He was saying that Pavarotti had been cremated in a giant microwave because, technically, it's not over till the fat man pings......

The group is a real mixed bunch. There's a 747 pilot so I can talk QNH & QFE's with him as well as guys from as far afield as Scotland and Guernsey. One of the guys from Guernsey is a coastguard, the other is in finance. He could turn out to be a Merchant Banker.

The evening got messy with too much beer and wine. What did me in though was the Pina Calada nightcap Phil insisted we had!

Watching the acts in the caberet bar it was good to see that there were job prospects for those entertainers that can't pass the Butlins or local pub auditions.

Waking the next day I had a thick head and my throat felt like I'd eaten my pillow during the night.

A slap up breakfast soon got me functioning and it wasn't long till we were packing our gear to leave the ferry. The crossing had been really smooth, the only wobling around was all self inflicted!