We set off pretty early on Thursday morning to allow plenty of time to get to the ferry. But of course, best laid plans and all that… There had been an accident on the M1 (a lorry tried to cross the central reservation) and 2 lanes were closed. John was convinced we’d miss the ferry so we were not allowed to stop en route, Maria and I just had to cross our legs and hang on. As it was we made the ferry with a good 15mins to spare and had an easy crossing.
By about 7.00pm (local time) we were at the Ibis in Aalst. A cheap but clean hotel, fine for just somewhere to sleep. John made us go to bed early because we had a long way to go on Friday and he wanted an early start.
When he said early he meant the middle of the night! He and Maria were up at 5.30! That’s only 4.30 back home!!! What I couldn’t understand is why I had to be awake, they could have just transfered me to the car, it’s not as if they let me take a turn at driving.
Blimey, it’s a long way! By 9.00am we had covered 3 countries, Belgium, Holland and we were in Germany. Germany goes on and on and on…. Good job we had a lot of CDs with us, everything from Hungarian Folk Music to Queen and the Wurzels.
We made reasonable time, with Maria and John swopping every couple of hours, until we arrived to within a couple of kilometers of Hegyeshalom, the Hungarian border,when everything stopped. We waited for about ten minutes, starting to panic about whether we’d get there before the restaurant closed (10pm). John had just decided to phone the hotel when we started moving again. There had been an accident but it was quickly cleared away.
Maria was home! The motorway was great but once we got onto the small roads it got VERY dark, John didn’t enjoy the driving at all. I think he was pretty tired too. We got there at just before 9.00pm which was pretty good.
We are staying at the Villa Classica in Papa and our room is lovely.
It is on the second floor, so Maria whinges a bit, but I think it will do her good and we are only here for 3 night. Breakfast was great, all I remember HUngarian breakfasts being.
