Emma woke me up for the loo at 03:20. I dragged myself out of my bunk bed, woke Freya up then hauled them both down to the dog toilet area, the ghostly lights of ships on the North Sea, the only life. They both eventually had a wee and we headed back upstairs. Then, just outside the room next to ours, Emma had a big poo in the corridor. This meant a second trip down to the dog toilet, so I could dispose of it. Bloody dog.
Mind you, at least she managed to avoid doing it in front Reception like she did a few trips ago. And the corridor, fortunately, wasn’t carpeted. Speaking of Reception, when Mirinda popped down to get a coffee, she overheard an old chap ask the guy in reception how he was going to turn his car round when we docked.
I assume he managed to get out a lot quicker than we did.
Because we’ve been told off previously for coming out of our room too early, we waited for a bit longer than we should. This meant that, while there wasn’t queues on the stairs and in the lift, by the time I reached the car, all the other cars were full and starting to leave the ferry.
A guy asked me if I’d lost a driver. I smiled and indicated that she was right behind him. Unusually, no one beeped or yelled or did anything impatient. That was probably because they were seasoned ferry travellers and knew there’d be a long wait at passport control.
Not for us, you understand. No, our Swedish residency means we don’t have to wait for our passports to be stamped. That saves us ages. Actually, I didn’t see many UK cars, most being from The Netherlands and Germany which, basically meant, we all sailed through.
And then we were back in the EU and headed across country towards Germany.
And, this time, Freya decided that she prefers to sit on the higher spot in the car. Previously, this was Emma’s position.
Mind you, she did start shivering when Mirinda put the temperature down inside the car, to avoid falling asleep. I wrapped her in my fleece and shivered instead. I’m guessing she didn’t appreciate the haircut the other day.
We decided that Thöles Hotel, Bücken, the place we stayed at in January, was very nice, so we opted to book there again. Though it meant a bit of a long drive, we managed to stop a couple of times which should have been a few more, as it turned out. But, what with the excessive rain and sun, we really didn’t want to get out of the car.
This was Freya’s opinion as well.
There was the usual amount of roadworks on the motorways but, when we left to head across country to Bücken, the roads through farmland were pretty empty of both work and other drivers. Of course, it helped being a Sunday.
What didn’t help was the fact that the hotel is all but closed on a Sunday. Which means no restaurant, no bar, no staff. I had to rouse the security guy to let us in. Fortunately, he was expecting us and handed me a key card.
Of course, the room was excellent, and it didn’t surprise me that on the TV, a screen saver didn’t just show a map of the region we were in, but it highlighted all the roadworks and the awful weather, currently slowing drivers down.
Mirinda flaked out as did the girls while I caught up on my blog writing.
A while later, we walked to the only place open in Bücken, Flic-Flac. The restaurant in the hotel, where we ate last time we stayed, isn’t open on a Sunday and, in a way, I’m glad because it’s always good to try something local and mysterious and hidden really, really well. As it was with Flic-Flac.
Of course, I should have checked that they took cards (they don’t) as well as if they allow dogs (they do) but, it didn’t matter because there was a handy ATM not far away and they trusted us to come back.
Obviously, I had the pork and two weissbiers. While there was only a little bit of English and virtually no German, it all worked out fine. A thoroughly enjoyable meal.
And we got to see the wonderfully lit church.
It was lucky because the lights go out at 9pm, sharp.
Oh, did I mention the rain? It just keeps falling.
