Ferry to England

Tues.3^rd Sept. :  We made good time this morning, arriving in Hook of Holland at just after 11a.m by taking a short cut which involved a small ferry accross the Nieuwe Waterweg

 …the roads were good, the sky was blue and the sun shining…a glorious day, perfect for a ferry crossing across the North Sea.  After collecting our tickets from the office and placing Boris in the queue, we bought fish and chips from the imbiss on the docks, recommended to us by the lady in the ticket office and scoffed them before checking in began at 12.30p.m.  We were on board by 1.00pm, only an hour and a half before sailing time! 

The ferry, Stena Hollandica, is only 3 years old and is a lovely, comfortable ship, with a cinema, restaurants and bars, childrens’ play areas including an enclosed area on deck for ball games, comfortable chairs and cabins for the night crossings.  The actual crossing took about 4 hours or so, it took about ¾ hour to clear the harbour and at the Harwich end, well over an hour to cruise up to and dock at the international terminalfor a total of six hours.  It was a quiet, smooth crossing, the sea was calm and it was a pleasant way to spend an afternoon.  On arrival at Harwich,

 remembering to drive on the left, we made our way to nearby Dovercourt where we camped overnight and the owner gave us a 50% discount on seeing our boat ticket. 

Wed.4^th Sept. :  On the way to the Norfolk Broads this morning, we detoured to follow a couple of signs which we thought might lead us to somewhere interesting and came to Stonham Barns, a leisure & retail village, with a golf course, showgrounds, a caravan park and a lovely tea shop where we had coffee and homemade cake and scone.

as well as garnering useful local information from the proprietress and a Yorkshire couple at the next table.  Continuing on, we came to the town of Framlingham and spent a while exploring the late 12^th century Framlingham Castle,

for more than 400 hundred years the residence of the earls and dukes of Norfolk and the place where Mary Tudor was proclaimed Queen of England in 1553. 
Mike decided to join "English Heritage" Which,although a bit expensive, gives us freeentry into hundreds of sites around the UK. A good tip for fellow travellers.
From there it was a short drive on  B road to the seaside town of Aldeburgh,

where we decided we’d stay the night.  Once we’d booked in to the caravan park, we cycled along the coastal path into the town but didn’t join the queue for fish and chips,

which this morning’s acquaintances had told us was simply ‘the best’.  Back to base for bbq dinner, wash up and off to bed.  It is very enjoyable to speak in English after nearly five months of trying to converse in several other languages. We can now finally watch our TV and understand what they are saying! We have scant info on the news of the world and that’s the way we like it. Except

GO DOCKERS1