It was a beautiful dry sunny morning and the final day of our trip was upon us and we all were up for another early start. We all had never really stopped and we were on the bus and on our way at 7.30am. We could have possibly left later but if the strike by Sea France was still underway, then Calaise would be at a stand still. Our driver said that if that was the case and we were late then the customs would still take the time to check each passport and if that made you miss the ferry then tough.

And we did not want that happening did we?

So we were making sure we were there in plenty time and after a short stop to fill the bus up we pulled into Calaise docks around 11.15am. The driver did ask if we could be put on the earlier ferry at 12.25pm instead of our scheduled 1.10pm but this was not possible. So off the bus for a toilet stop and a bite to eat. Saying that the bite to eat consisted of something out of a vending machine, some chose to wait until we got on the ferry.

We presented Kenny the bus driver with a little token off the teams appreciation and our thanks for how he went out his way to help us andhow great he was with the kids etc. The wait in the lanes for the ferry did give some the lads on the bus a little time for some friendly banter with the bus next to them. We did warn them that the guys on that bus were getting on our ferry so do not do anything outrageous. The safety of the bus would not be there to protect them............lol.

So we boarded the ferry and we were on our way over the English Channel. The lads spent the rest of their Euros on the boat and some even cashed in what they had back into sterling. A little bit of phone number swapping and a few friendly cuddles between some of the lads and some French girls certainly brightened their journey over the water.

We hit Dover, not literally, around the same time we left Calaise, hows that we hear you say and the answer is , we were back to GB time. got ya. The plan was not to waste time and just head right of to Birmingham for our first stop. We pulled into Birmingham services for a 45 min break and the lads headed off for Wimpey for their tea. Then off to the sweet shop for more chunk. The big question was..........

............where the heck do they put it all?

At 6.15pm everyone was counted onto the bus and we were on the road again. Heading this time was Manchester services where we would say good bye to Kenny our bus driver who had been with us from Birmingham on the Friday night. So on with a movie Transporter. The timing could not have been better as the film just ended as we were pulling into the Manchester services. We said a very heart felt goodbye to Kenny and picked up our 3third driver of the trip.........Jimmy. Jimmy would be taking us on the last leg from Manchester back to Edinburgh.

We left at 8.00pm to the opening of Transporter 2 followed by, yes you guessed it, Transporter 3. This saw us up to the M74 where a majority of the bus was asleep. We pulled onto the M8 and weer only around forty minutes from home. The excitement and fun had faded and everyone was just wanting to get home to their beds at this stage. We pulled into Forresters High School at 11.45pm and and quickly unloaded the bus of people and rubbish and got all the luggage off. Before you could say have a save journey home, the place was deserted.

Well that was our exciting journey over with which had started so early on the Friday morning. We can honestly say that everyone seemed to have a great time and their behaviour was really good when you think how long they had to be on a bus for such a long time. So thats nearly it folks, a very big thanks to everyone who made this trip possible.

So that is it now folks..............so lets start planning for next year. Belgium blog 1020..........logged out.