Leaving the UK Behind.

We have had a great week back in the UK, catching up with family and friends and of course the oppertunity to sample the delights that are available in the UK Indian restaurant. This is the one thing I miss most since moving to Gozo.

We hit the road again for our return road trip to Gozo on Wednesday, and were greeted with the news that the French lorry drivers were blocking the ports, again, so we left early and still managed to get the Eurotunnel train that we had pre - booked with only moments to spare. Further trouble reared it's head when driving through Paris and we found traffic jams following an accident, this delayed us a further 90 mins.

Our 1st stop after 10 hours driving was a Water Mill called Le Moulinot , we stayed there this time last year and this is a wonderful part of Burgundy. On to Le Chateau des Comtes de Charme an old Chateau now hotel overlooking the Rhone Alps, quite expensive but nice with stunning scenery.

We are now staying in a B&B on a vineyard in North Italy, high on a hill overlooking the town of Asti not far from Turin, Villa Sampaguita a wonderful old house with vinyard, highly recommended. Tommorrow we head for the ferry in Genoa, and a 39 hour ferry trip back to Malta.

"Nobody got anywhere in the world by simply being content." Louis L'Amour.

Malta to Genoa Italy to Calais France to UK.

We left Malta on Thursday as planned for the start of our trip back to the UK, the views from the ship as we left Valletta harbour were fantastic. We had a 39 hour sea crossing ahead of us to Genoa in Italy, a very pleasant crossing, the ship is great, the staff are great, the accommodation great but the food sold on board is very expensive, enough even to bring tears to eyes of Bill Gates.
We had a nice easy drive up through Italy to the border of Switzerland, where my wife blatantly lied to the Swiss border Police when questioned before entering Geneva. In her defence she misunderstood the question, I understood the question but sat there quietly, we drove on through Geneva with a wonderful view of the lakes, I of course had to point out to her the error of her ways an hour later, she was devastated.

On to France and first stop Burgundy in a small bed and breakfast owned by an Englishman and his Danish wife where we were made very welcome. We had a wonderful meal that evening in a local restaurant and also went supermarket shopping for local cheese and wine. Suitably stocked up it was on to Calais and Euro tunnel. We decided not to book on this occasion, we simply turned up payed and in ten minutes we were on the train and travelling under the English channel to the UK. I recommend booking as it is quite a bit more expensive to not pre book, you live and learn.

We arrived in the UK , we travelled up the M20 motorway and upon arriving at the junction of the M25 motorway encountered our first traffic jam in 800 miles of driving ..... Welcome to the UK.

"There is no love sincerer than the love of food." George Bernard Shaw.