The last Greek chapter for a while . . . . .

Well this is it - captains blog, stardate 150309 (one for the trekkies among you.) Job list (for now) complete, route planned, ferries booked, digs booked as its too cold for camping sadly and UK stop offs confirmed. Its all systems go for the UK on Tuesday 17th March at 0600hrs. The ferry to Venice takes 24hrs and gets in at 0800hrs Wednesday morning. We then head out of Venice and we are hoping to cross both sections of the Alps in one day so we can put the snow worries behind us, approx 350 miles. So we head first towards the Alps, then up and over the Brenner pass - not too worried about this one as it is the lowest of the crossings and a major route through. We then drop into Innsbruck at the other side and head out towards Switzerland. Long before Switzerland, we then head north over the Fern Pass which we are concerned about as it has been snowing quite heavily there. We do have a plan B in case it is closed, along the valley and out through the lakeside of Switzerland and then up to the Tirol region and southern Germany. Our first nights stay is at Altenstadt in a small hotel. Thursday morning, another 300 miles planned and we head off towards Ulm, then Stuttgart and Karlsruhe all in Germany before heading south into France and Strasbourg. From here we follow the main A4 motorway towards Metz where we have a French type travelodge booked. Friday, another 300 miles and we are heading for Dunquerke and the ferry to Dover. Ferry booked for 1800hrs so we have a steady day to get there. From Metz we head towards Reims then up towards St Quentin, Lille then on towards Dunquerke. Ferry to Dover then down to Winchelsea where we will stay with a friend for a couple of nights. We head up north on Sunday to call on another friend and have a night with them, before making the last stretch up to Cowling on Monday.Well that's the plan, 1200 miles, the Alps, five countries and two ferry crossings - we hope it runs as smoothly as it sounds!! We will be sad to be leaving here but on the other hand so much looking forward to seeing family and friends in good old Blighty. The next episode of the blog will be from the UK reporting back on how the journey went so look forward to blogging the trip home when we get back. See y'all very soon love D & L x x

A couple of movies of the place . . . .

Well as promised, here are a couple of movies of the place, one from the outside and one from within. Last night and today we have been having one stonker of a storm - can't be much sand left in the deserts from where they came as most of it is in our house!! We had the door open this morning whilst we had some work done by an engineer. Mrs D was not best pleased, she nearly set up a bucket and spade stall as there was so much sand... What about our job list I hear you ask . . job list (for now) just about done - yippee!!!! Nearly time to start thinking about a route home and where to stay along the way as it may be a bit cool for camping coming back. We are looking forward to seeing everyone and catching up on whats been going on in good old blighty in our absence. Apart from the storm, weather generally picking up here with warmer longer days. Just hope it's a still and calm day for the ferry back to Venice - 24hrs of a crossing. Still Pushbikes stll out weekly and we have probably done more miles here this year so far than we did all year last year in England. Its time to get the fire going now - been cutting some more wood this afternoon - so will sign off and see y'all soon....D