Day 8 - Venice to Igoumenitsa
Wednesday 4th July 2014
Our wake-up alarms are set for 2am. The thunderstorm in the night has left the bikes wet and glistening in the hotel security lights. We pack rapidly and and slip out of the hotel, with no breakfast and still half asleep.
Although the boat is due to depart at 4:30 there is no movement for an hour. Various officials in yellow and orange safety jackets wander about grunting into hand held radios and looking official. There is no information to be had. We sit on the bikes and doze.
Suddenly it’s all action. We are roused by a barked command and much arm waving as an official waves us forward. One last ticket check and we are directed aboard. We ride into the bowels of the ship and up a steep and decidedly greasy looking ramp all the way to the pointy end.
Since we are the first to board the reception desk is empty, no sign of the total chaos about to descend on it. So we have our cabin ‘keys’ with no fuss. The signage on board is abysmal but we finally find our inner cabin and get out of our biking gear. Then it’s into bed to complete our broken night's sleep. Although this is a shared cabin no one else joins us as the ferry steams out of Venice and out into the Adriatic.
The ferry docks at Ancona to take on more passengers and we get a lodger in our cabin. He is a Bulgarian driver and friendly enough but he immediately climbs into an upper bunk, goes to sleep and stays that way, snoring gently, until we reach Igoumenitsa.
Our wake-up alarms are set for 2am. The thunderstorm in the night has left the bikes wet and glistening in the hotel security lights. We pack rapidly and and slip out of the hotel, with no breakfast and still half asleep.
It’s only a five minute run to the port and we arrive to find lines of cars, camper vans, lorries and coaches all queued up in their lanes waiting to board. Fortunately we are directed down an empty lane to the front of the queues where another 20 bikes are already waiting. It’s 3am.
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| Hanging around on the quay |
Although the boat is due to depart at 4:30 there is no movement for an hour. Various officials in yellow and orange safety jackets wander about grunting into hand held radios and looking official. There is no information to be had. We sit on the bikes and doze.
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| Sailing out of Ancona |
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| The swimming pool and bar before the Ancona rush |
Since we are the first to board the reception desk is empty, no sign of the total chaos about to descend on it. So we have our cabin ‘keys’ with no fuss. The signage on board is abysmal but we finally find our inner cabin and get out of our biking gear. Then it’s into bed to complete our broken night's sleep. Although this is a shared cabin no one else joins us as the ferry steams out of Venice and out into the Adriatic.
We have a whole day of enforced inaction ahead of us. The prices on board are very reasonable compared, say, with North Sea Ferries. We breakfast on croissants and coffee and later have Spaghetti Bolognese in the cafeteria for €7.80.
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| Mick has no idea what is going on |
The ferry docks at Ancona to take on more passengers and we get a lodger in our cabin. He is a Bulgarian driver and friendly enough but he immediately climbs into an upper bunk, goes to sleep and stays that way, snoring gently, until we reach Igoumenitsa.
The ferry is now rammed full of people. A tent city appears on all the open decks, inflatable air beds and sleep mats are in every corner, children and dogs wander about in the blazing sunshine. You could walk over the small swimming pool on the heads of all the kids splashing about in there.
With relief we welcome the sun going down and get our heads down for our second night on board.
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