2017-07-17 Home to Rotterdam via overnight ferry
Home to Rotterdam
The start of a new adventure, a drive from our home in Lancaster to Turku in Finland in our Hymer B544 motorhome to take part in the Europeade 2017 Folk Festival then returning via the Baltic States. This will be the longest and most adventurous motorhome trek that we have attempted, it will combine folk dancing, birdwatching and wine tasting where possible.
Day one, the Hymer is already packed with some of the things that we will need; we have all day to travel to Hull to catch the overnight ferry to Rotterdam. We finish packing, add fresh water to our tank then take care of the last-minute jobs that can’t be done beforehand. We leave home 1415, then it’s on the M6 south and across towards Hull on the M62. We make a detour to the North Cave Wetlands and walked around, noting mute swans, lapwings, feral pigeons, mallard, starlings, greylag geese, coot, little grebe and a host of juvenile waterfowl. Called off at Asda in Hull to fill up with 60 litres of diesel then on to the ferry terminal.
No problems checking in, not much of a queue and we were onboard. Grabbed our overnight bag and headed for our cabin, cracking open a bottle of merlot then to the buffet dinner where we are our fill. Like all ferries, the food on Pride of Rotterdam in not bad, but it’s not great either. Portions are somewhat skimpy, which is often how it is. Back to our cabin and into those narrow little bunks, Gill’s bed sloped a lot. No window in our cabin, we don’t see the point of paying extra for a window when all we’re going to do is sleep, it seems a waste of money. Sleep comes easily to me despite the engine noise and rolling motion of the ship.