Oct 22, 2004Ah, the wind in my hair and the salty sea breeze in my nostrils...
The ferry ride was lots of fun. The boat was so large that even the big waves near the stormy coast of England didn't scare me that much. It was fun to ride them out and see how high they actually rose in comparison to when we started out in France.
We met an absolutely amazing woman named Gabrielle McCartan on the ferry, and she was full of great stories about the UK, her family and the best sites to see while we were there. We actually spent the majority of the ride just sitting pleasantly spellbound at her side in the ship's lounge. With eight hours of travel time ahead of us on water, she was a godsend!
Our arrival in England was nothing like our arrival in France. The people were friendly and appeared eager to ask us where we were from, where we were headed and how our vacation had gone so far. In fact if it hadn't been for their friendly demeanor we might have been miserable drowned rats that night.
The ferry landed just as the last rays of sunshine were vanishing on the horizon. We wandered out of the port feeling a little lost and worried, carrying our bags on our backs and hoping to find a nearby hostel before the dark clouds above us started dumping rain.
As the first big drops started to fall from the dark skies, we decided to divide our forces to cover more ground. Jason and I went one direction, while Nate and Robyn headed another. With the dark storm above it was apparent that few people wanted to be walking around in the weather, so we were having difficulty getting directions.
Seeing a pub just down the street gave us hope however, and Jason held my bag while I stepped inside to ask a few of the pub's attendees. The quickly pointed down the street where we'd come from, where there was a second pub that rented out rooms to travellers. Grabbing Nate and Robyn from a side street we headed to this second pub, where Robyn and I were invited to stay (in the beds of two locals) and Nate and Jason were given only goodhearted ribbing. After politely deferring on their playful invitations, all four of us headed off to a third location where we were told we would be able to stay together.
At last we found a hostel with four tiny single beds all in one room. They were bunk beds, and Jason's feet hung off the bottom of his, but at least they were out of the stormy weather. Robyn and the menfolk headed off to hunt down dinner, while I got out of my wet clothes and kicked back for some rest.
After a meal of authentic English fish and chips, we all attempted to get some sleep for the following day's adventures.
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