Incredibly a week has passed since we took Frankie to Antwerp to be loaded onto the ship, so I’m not exactly reporting in real time.

We left on Sunday afternoon and headed down to the Eurotunnel for a 6.30pm crossing.  Huge delays meant we ended up sat in the sunshine with all the french coach drivers.

Eventually arrived in Calais and headed towards Antwerp where we had planned to stay overnight in a nice leafy Aire next to a river.

Cue enormous traffic jams which meant that by 11pm we were only just approaching Ghent.  Too tired to drive any further we pulled off the motorway and parked up behind a truck (who obviously had the same idea as us) in an industrial estate.  A not particularly romantic way to say Goodbye to Frankie on European soil.

5am on Monday morning we were awake and heading out realised we had parked opposite a bakery.  Trucks were loading up from the back but we were able to get a delicious pain au chocolat and killer coffee to get us under way.

All going well until 3.8 miles outside of the port we were waved down by another car and realised we had a puncture.  We pulled over into the hard shoulder just before the tolls to a tunnel.  Lorries were rattling past us as we donned our high vis jackets and took our lives into our hands and changed the tyre.  Not sure the very expensive hydraulic legs were installed with the intention of being used as jacks but they worked a treat.

An hour later we set off through the tunnel and doubled back on ourselves to visit the petrol station we had seen to have a quick fuel top up so we had the 1/4 tank we were told we needed for the shipping.  Spotted a Tyre Garage so pulled up and let them check all the tyres – turns out it was a dodgy valve.

Back on the road and as we approached the tunnel again (which incidentally we then had to pay €19 for the privilege of going through for the 3rd time – also explained why there were soooo many trucks flying towards the tunnel before 9am while we were trying to change the wheel) I glanced down at the paperwork and realised that the shipping logistics company had asked for the van to be delivered on Tuesday 20th – so not Monday 19th which when I checked again I realised it was!!

What followed was 20 mins of nail biting while I weighed up whether or not to tell John that we were about to attempt to deliver the van a day early and deal with Johns immediate hysteria or whether to keep it to myself and hope they let us on anyway!!

I made the right choice as not 40 minutes later we were sat on the side of the road with our overnight bags having left Frankie with a charming ship worker chap sporting a rather fetching pair of high vis dungarees.  All frighteningly easy – hand over paperwork, drive round the corner, wait outside gate with couple of other trucks and one other camper van then drive into dock and park up and hand over the keys.

While we waited for the taxi John realised we had left the 12V on so waved down our friendly high vis clad friend once again who happily retrieved the keys for our precious van, our home for the next few months from his pocket (not quite the high security we were hoping for bearing in mind our bikes and all our belongings were inside)!!

So we bid Frankie a tearful Au Revoir and caught a taxi to Antwerp station.  A boozy lunch in Brussels in the sunshine then a quick over nighter before heading home on the Eurostar.

That was a week ago and it turns out the ship, Atlantic Compass, was late in picking up so has only just taken to the seas.  John is checking it’s progress hourly via an aptly name App ‘Boat Watch’.

Nothing we can do but watch and wait and occupy ourselves with tearful farewells.