A Tale Of Two Cities

On checking the ‘Wind Map App’ just prior to departing Bilbao, it looked as if we would be in for a bit of a bumpy sailing across the Bay of Biscay. I just don’t know what is about any of these weather related forecasts these days, but they just don’t appear to get their predictions correct. There were ‘swells’ which did cause the ferry to roll slightly, but that is normal, we have been on previous crossings where we have bounced of the walls when trying to walk along corridors, and many a time Shazza, who can get sea sick just standing in a puddle, has laid on the bed in the cabin and stayed there for the full duration of the trip 🤢 However, on this occasion we were able to go to the VIP Lounge where we took all our meals, Lunch and Dinner on the first day and Breakfast and Lunch on the second and, over the 32 hour crossing we did occasionally walk around the various decks on the boat just to stretch our legs so, all in all, a very reasonable crossing.

We had a cabin that had a nice big viewing window, however, apart from the odd fishing vessel, or a freighter or two on the horizon, we rarely saw anything else, not even any Dolphins or Whales on this trip. So it came as a nice surprise, when I just randomly took a look out of the window, to see us passing a three masted sailing yacht.

Five days after leaving our home in Southern Spain, we arrived in Portsmouth, England on schedule at 9pm. We did wonder if, due to the UK ETA procedures, there would be separate Immigration lanes for British Citizens and Non-British Citizens and, if so, whether driving a Spanish Registered car through a UK Only Citizens lane would create any issues. As it turned out there were no separate lanes, however the Immigration Officer had noted our Registration Plate as when we presented our Passports he asked, “Are you visiting for long ?” and “Where are you travelling to today ?”, he was quite friendly and wished us a pleasant stay and then we were on our way, it was all quite painless really. By 10:30pm we were checking-in at our pre-booked hotel.

I won’t bore you too much with our time spent with our Grandaughter’s, suffice to say we had a very active few days with them, Ten Pin Bowling, walks to the Play Park, visits to various Eateries and Ice-Cream Parlours, yes ice-cream, even on cold days 🥶 Although the adults quite sensibly stuck to hot coffee and cake. Swindon also has a couple of nice country parks and we visited them too.

So, after a very active few days 😮‍💨 it was time to head three and a half hours North to South Yorkshire, we would be staying this time with Shazza’s mum and enjoying a short, but much welcomed, two day mini-heatwave, temperatures reaching 24 degrees(C) 🥵 Our time whilst here would be spent either visiting Shazza’s other family members, or them visiting us but the fuel crisis was constantly on our minds. Although we could have easily have got to Doncaster with fuel to spare, we had decided to just keep topping up when we could, so we departed Swindon we called in to a ‘BP’ fuel station on the outskirts of the town, Diesel here being £2 per litre, we only needed 14 Litres, although we could have got it a little cheaper at a Supermarket fuel station, but that would have meant deviating off our route. As we drove up we noticed that a lot of the pumps had collars on them stating “Fuel Not Available At This Pump” 😳 that applied to both Petrol and Diesel, however, we did manage to find a pump there that did have diesel available. When I went in to pay I asked the chap behind the counter if the fuel supply was getting worse, he told me that he should have had a tanker deliver him fuel five days previously, but that it hadn’t arrived until the previous day, and then he was only permitted to have half of the tanker contents 😲 Every time we drove past a fuel station we looked at the prices, but also we looked to see how many had ‘No Fuel’ collars on the pumps and some did, but other’s didn’t 🤷‍♂️ However, a few minutes away from Shazza’s mums we knew that there was another fuel station, so we stopped and topped up again, this time with 17 Litres (£2 Litre). However this time there were no fuel collars on any of the pumps and, when I asked about whether they were having any issues I was told ‘No’, and that they had two deliveries a day, because they were on a major motorway route, and the tanker drivers had, ‘allegedly’, told them that they couldn’t get it out fast enough 😳 So it seems that we had experienced a ‘Tale Of Two Cities’, a North South divide. The main thing was that as it stood, we had sufficient fuel in the tank which would get us back down for a final day visit to our Grandaughter’s in Swindon, and then still have sufficient to get us to Portsmouth and into France, but we would try and refuel again at a fuel station we have used previously just a couple of miles before the ferry port before getting our ferry to France, where Diesel, according to media reports, is apparently between €2.20-€2.30 per litre and still on the rise 😲 So, here in the UK, dependent on where we re-fuelled, we were still able to get diesel at a cost of between £1.86 and £2.00 per litre. We would continue to monitor the fuel situation on a daily basis, but we also had another dilemma, that being the adverse weather in France !!

We knew, well roughly at least, the direction we would be heading in France, as we journeyed from the Northern Coast of Normandy down towards the Pyrenees and the Spanish Border, although we had no specific route, as we wanted to be flexible as to where we would go and where we would stop, for we had planned on spending around 3-4 weeks just exploring the numerous different Regions, Cities and Towns in France, before exploring some places in Northern Spain, that we had not previously visited, like Donastia (San Sebastian), Pamplona and Zaragoza before heading home again, which would be a total road trip, including the 9 days in the UK, of around 7-8 weeks 🤗

However, each morning and evening, whilst we have been in the UK, I have checked the weather forecasts for the different areas we would potentially be travelling through, disappointingly it showed wall to wall rain, North to South including Northern Spain 😲 It was looking as if those ‘Dark Forces’ had it in for us yet again, our only hope was that the ‘Works of Fiction’ would do what they normally do, and get it wrong. However, in Northern Spain, on the Eastern side, although they were currently forecasting that they too, in the North and Central areas, were currently having day on day of rain, but that was due to change with effect from the 12th of April, when the sun would return, with daily temperatures of between 23-27 degrees(c), now that sounded more like it 😎 However, we only had a short window of opportunity if we wanted to ‘try’ to change our ferry bookings from France to Spain, for even now, at such short notice, that may not be possible, decisions decisions 🤔

We had both been looking forward to a few weeks exploring France, for whilst it was nice to see family in the UK, with all the travelling, and family visiting that we do, it isn’t really a holiday for us. Even when we were living full-time in our Motorhomes, both ‘Big Momma’ and ‘Little Fokker’, we never really travelled that much in France and so there are so many places that would be new for us, which we were quite excited about but, will they be as enjoyable in the rain ☔️

The media reports showed no sign of the fuel crisis easing, and whilst it may still have been available now, even if a ceasefire was agreed between Iran and the USA, they were saying that it could still take months for the flow of Oil, and other essential goods, to reach countries. So, our primary fear now being that as fuel reserves diminished, UK, France and even Spain may introduce fuel rationing, to essential user’s first with domestic users being the lowest priority. Governments do not want to create a state of Panic that would creat people bulk buying, so they are cautious not to be open about the real situation, but they could implement rationing at short notice.

We could not have foreseen this crisis at the time of booking our travels and advance accommodations, but now, we were both asking ourselves whether it would actually make more sense to just cut short this extended holiday trip and go straight home ? At least once at home we were not really reliant on diesel fuel for our car, we could still go out walking and could do our general shopping at local stores, in small amounts that can be carried up our hill, and over a period of days rather than in one large shop. To be truthful, we had anticipated that most of our time, whilst we were on the road, would be taken up on deciding which places we would be travelling to next, researching what there was to see and do in and around those places and what scenic routes we could take to them and not being concerned about the availability of fuel, or what the weather situation would be like in mid-April in Europe 🤷‍♂️

I did mention to Shazza that when I looked back on it, that we had not been very lucky on our last two or three road trips, having to also cut them short too, for one reason or another 😤 But, with my more positive head on, I also just mentioned that at least we were not being bombed, or finding ourselves homeless, or not being able to go on, or return from holiday as flight’s were being cancelled at short notice, it would be so easy for us to get despondent, but as I said to Shazza, “There are always people who are worse off than ourselves”, although I am not sure that in reality my words provided any sort of consolation, for either of us 🤷‍♂️ Shazza told me that she would leave the final decision on what we did completely up to me, not that she was putting it all back on to my shoulders but more because it was she that had wanted to come to the UK, as part of the overall trip, but she knew that I was really looking forward to the France part of the road trip. So this was probably going to be a practical head over heart decision for me, no pressure then 🙄

To discover the decision that I made, based of course on availabilities of an alternative ferry, if required, all will be revealed in my next ramble………………

Adios mi Amigos, La Vida Es Buena