Summer Vacation, Day 20: Venlo

This morning we took the ferry from Dover to Calais and drove from there via Antwerp back to Heiderust in Baarlo, the campsite we stayed at on our first night.

Canon · EOS R5 · 150mm · ƒ/5.0 · 1/2000s · ISO 5000

Today was our day before the last day of vacation. The ferry departure was at 11:30am local time with arrival at 2pm in Calais. Knowingly we had a flex ticket, we are permitted to take any ferry four hours before or after the booked timeslot. We decided to take the ferry at 9:45, as a pet owner you need to be there 90 minutes early to be booked into the “pet queue”. We arrived at 7:45am and to our surprise passed border control quickly and during check-in got assigned the ferry departing at 8:15am! Fifteen minutes after checking in to get to the right lane and enter the ferry. Next to three other cars we’ve been the last to go on board. With a time saving of more than three hours we decided to skip our overnight stay at Tournai and go the extra kilometers so we can do the final leg home tomorrow. We decided to stay again in Heiderust and arrived early around 3pm after a total ride of 390 km today. I felt exhausted due to getting up at 6am, the stress of the ferry procedures and French, Belgian and Dutch drivers. I did not think of saying it three weeks ago but the speed limits on the UK roads and the friendly way of driving of UK drivers made driving there a lot more pleasant, except the narrow roads. The ferry cruise itself was a no brainer but the sanitary areas were in a disastrous state. Oh, I lost Kellin for a minute on deck 8 which probably cost me a few years of my life.

Canon · EOS R5 · 600mm · ƒ/6.3 · 1/2000s · ISO 320

Canon · EOS R5 · 347mm · ƒ/5.6 · 1/2000s · ISO 200

Canon · EOS R5 · 600mm · ƒ/6.3 · 1/2000s · ISO 5000