(First, our apologies to those of you who have written comments: until we can fix an 'administrator' problem, we won't be able to have comments appear. We can read them...and appreciate them...but nobody else can.)
Because the ferry to England didn’t leave until 10:15 p.m., we decided to spend the day in Den Haag, which is quite close by. But it is a busy city, and all the parking signs led to garages with height restrictions. We finally just lucked out finding a spot on a street alongside a canal. Rover stuck out a little in the rear, but who are we to be judgmental, and we decided to chance it. Besides, it was only about three blocks from where we wanted to go: the library to use the internet briefly, a small museum with a Jan Steen exhibit, and a stroll among some impressive buildings (old ones, naturally).
The narrow road to the Hook of Holland where the ferry loads is full of trucks heading to the freight terminal. We were the first in line to drive on the ferry. All of Susan’s concerns about whether they would take us were for naught: no one asked us anything about our LP gas tank, customs on neither end seemed to care what we had aboard, and British customs didn’t ask for any vehicle emission tests--they just wanted to know if we had a dog.
The Stena Ferry is a massive new ship with restaurants, bars and entertainment. We had a lovely little inside cabin about the size of Rover’s interior, and we were very comfortable until the 5:30 AM wakeup call. We were almost the first to drive off, and the very first building we came to right next to the port was a large grocery and gas station,so we pulled right in and napped until it opened. Because we knew our refrigerator would be shut off for hours on the ferry, we had previously purchased very little food. Now we filled the freezer and the refrigerator and bought gas (a bargain at $7.87/US gal).
And then we had no excuse to postpone driving on the left on the roads of England. The first sign read “Please drive on the left” (as if we had a choice). And the first five miles or so had more signs every quarter mile reminding us “Drive on the left” in several languages, along with special lane dividers and arrows painted on the roads. But they soon disappeaed and it was just up to us to do it ...uh...right (or left). When you are in traffic it isn’t too disconcerting, because you just follow the vehicle ahead of you. It’s the narrow country roads with tight corners that are the exciting ones. So far, so good: even in the small towns with cars parked along the narrow streets, where everyone has to take turns passing, drivers are very considerate of one another--that quintessential British quality--and we just take our turn.
We are camped at Polstead, a nicely redone campsite in the Suffolk county, filled with Easter holiday campers. We took a double decker bus into Sudbury and Hadleigh on Saturday. It just careened along the narrow roads and convinced us that if it could get through, we could. We visited Thomas Gainsborough’s birthplace, which has been turned into a lovely little museum. Both towns were filled with Easter shoppers.
A healthy meal of fish and chips, delivered to the campground.
On a gorgeous Easter Sunday we walked 1-1/2 miles to a country church, being welcomed with bells for the last 10 minutes of the walk.
The church was full (about 100 people including 5 Easter bonnets) and almost everyone was dressed up! It was lovely to have a service in English and sing familiar hymns, even at a stodgy tempo. Then we took a slightly longer walk back, this time through some farm fields. It is permissible in England to walk through private property on marked footpaths. And once again Susan has stolen her first lilacs of the season.