Tam and Toby ~~ Hunting Zorba .....Take two.

[f6c]

Yep I noticed you where looking a bit rough round the Whiskers

 

[nicholsong]

As the announcer in the old days of the Shipping Forecast on R4 used to say at the end of the broadcast -

"Good sailing Gentlemen !"

I always thought it a nice touch for all those out at sea in whatever conditions.

Safe Home Tam.

Geoff

 

[NicandJay]

Thanks Tam for the ride along in Greece. Safe travels on your return journey

 

[mitzimad]

Yeah my wifi is always turned off

wifi good roaming bad

 

[gus-lopez]

Safe journey home

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[Northernraider]

Well im about 30 minutes from port i think ....remind me later to give all my complaints about the ferry etc ...the biggest being no masks being worn inside by anyone other than myself and the crew ....really annoying.

 

[StephandJohn]

Look forward to hearing about it. Anyway, you're one step nearer home now.
Where am I going to get my travelling fix once you've got home?

 

[Figaro]

Where am I going to get my travelling fix once you've got home?

Hopefully we'll be getting our own fix soon but big thanks to Northernraider for sharing his travels and getting us through some very long winter nights that have been so difficult for everyone.
Better times are on the horizon now

 

[dalspa]

Have a safe and uneventful onward journey, Tam.

 

[Lenny HB]

Help he's getting closer.

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[Raul]

Italy is planing on tightening restrictions from Monday onwards. I don’t know what it entails exactly but I hope it does not hinder with your trip. The feel in here is that Easter will be in lockdown to avoid a third wave. The infections are on the rise.

 

[dalspa]

Help he's getting closer.

Be VERY afraid

 

[Offagain]

I don't want ship wifi ....on the way here i was connected to italy for ages then it switched to greece

There will be a point going between Corfu and Albania when it’ll connect to Albania’s 4g if you leave roaming on, which can be expensive if caught unawares

 

[Top Hat]

Help he's getting closer.

Me thinks he doth protest to much, he is missing you Tab.....it has to be your first call.

 

[Northernraider]

Few pics of Ancona as we arrived in port ...thay will keep you going till i have dinner its been a long and eventful day and ive not longed parked up for the night so cooking some pasta for dinner with a couple of well deserved beers

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[Podney]

You made it!
Lovely blue sky where you are.......we’ve had that today..only difference we’ve had hailstorms and freezing wind as well!!!!

Hope the next leg home goes well for you.

 

[Northernraider]

Phew what a day .

Woke up this morning after a broken nights sleep as the cabin was like a sauna and despite it having 4 beds the dogs insisted on sleeping in mine so everytime i moved i was disturbing a dog. The only thing good about the cabin was the shower which was brilliant ...the rest was cramped and smelt strongly of disinfectant and drains.

So i felt a little queesy first thing so we went up on deck for fresh air.... The crew were power washing the decks so everytime you sat down 10 minutes later they were asking you to move ...so after working my way from the front of the ship to the back i finally gave up and went downstairs to the next deck ... Left the dogs outside and went in to the lounge to grab a coffee and a bottle of water ....€4.50 for the smallest cup of coffee you've ever seen and another €1.50 for a 300ml bottle of water ....about 15 -20 lorry drivers all sat in there with not a mask between them every one of them looking at me like i had 2 heads because i had one on and waa wearing it properly covering my nose aswell unlike every one of the crew who either had them under their nose or under their chins... ...was not impressed in tje slightest. Seemed to be not a care in the world ...so i was back outside as quick as possible. So i returned to my outside table and got the dogs ....just sat down with my coffee and the next minute i get a load of water coming down from above soaking the back of my shirt and splashing on to the table and in to my bloody coffee ...i shouts oi to the guys above who had started power washing the deck again above me ....they continued and the water was absolutely pouring through the roof all over the lower deck ...and the only way off that deck was back in to the cafe area or up the stairs to the deck above that they were spraying water around ....trying to get up a slippy stairway juggling a cup of coffee and 2 dogs is not easy ill tell you ..

Gets up there and shouts oi to the men again ...one turns off his pressure washer and i points to my shirt etc and says maybe they could have checked below before spraying me with water ...he just shrugged and carried on ..

Bloody imbeciles.

So anyway i spent most of the day after that outside on the deck and after the coffee and water i started to feel less queesy and we made good time docking around 2pm .... managed to get past the police when coming off ferry as they were giving another camper a thorough search .... thought id got away unchecked but as i left the port 2 guys just in plain clothes with sniffer dogs stopped me .... Milo started going mental so i think they decided not to come in the van but got the usual anything to declare stuff any alcohol , cigarettes etc and then asking how much cash i had on me ...€20 i said which he repeated back to me 3 times like he didn't believe me before finally saying i could go.

So then i got out the port and pulled in waiting for Jackie who's van got searched which i dont envy the police because its like a shithole inside lol
Then we sat trying to book our bloody covid tests online for Ancona airport....took ages as all in italian .
Then a 30 minute drive to the airport....directed in to a barrier carpark that said it was free for covid test parking which later turned out not to be and i couldn't get bloody out again without having to go back in to the airport and find a machine to pay the €4 at.

So back to the test ...get in about 15.30 my booking was for 15.45 Temperature taken before allowed in ...by a thing he touched my forehead with before immediately touching jackies forehead after mine then 2 or 3 others behind me ....

Then we were put in a long queue ( probably about 50 folk in the hall waiting for tests altogether) despite having told them we had booked online .... ended up in 3 different queues in the end and finding someone who spoke English was hard. Finally got to a desk where they take details from passport etc and pay €60 for a tampon molecular test ..... back in another queue and wait to be called ....then it was that really uncomfortable thing again with one stick to the back of the throat and another in to the brain via nostrils. I nearly boaked at the throat one and cried at the nasal one.....not bloody pleasant at all.

So finally all done and back to the van and the fiasco with getting out of carpark ....so by this time its 16.35 ... curfew at 6pm supposedly but wanted to get some miles done. Headed for bologna which i had a choice of non toll road 3 hours 42 minutes or toll road 1 hour 44 minutes ...so decided to just go for the toll ... Sat at 65 all the way and pulled in just 5 miles outside bologna at around 6.30pm ....toll road cost €14.70

So i wont get results till monday morning at earliest for the covid test .... tomorrow im going to head for turin then on to near french border most likely.

Hopefully the result is negative as i dont want to be stuck here because no one seems to give a damm about masks or social distancing here which explains why there are peaks happening again ... from now on in ill just be glad to get home .....




On another note ....my dogs amazed me today ...non dog owners might not believe this and to be honest i wouldnt myself if i hadn't seen it but its totally true . When we were sat up on deck 10 this morning before the idiots started with the water it was just me and the dogs ... hadn't heard from jackie as no phone signal and my cabin was opposite end from her lounge chair ....so we were on deck 10 dogs were lying sleeping on the deck and i was enjoying the sun. There was some garbled tanoi announcement i couldn't make out and then about 10 minutes later the dogs were up and sniffing the air and pulling on leads whining etc and i assumed that the cafe thing on the lower deck had opened and they could smell food etc ....now at this point we were at the very back of the ship and the wind was blowing off the back of the boat ...

Anyway i thought id go down to get a coffee at the cafe ...as soon as i got up the dogs were pulling me to the stairs and down to the lower deck .....get down the stairs and they pull me round the corner and along the deck to jackie sat on a chair on deck 9 ....no one else about and no cafe etc ....so they smelled her from the deck above and from upwind of her ......totally amazing.

 

[Barclaybasher]

so they smelled her from the deck above and from upwind of her

sounds wrong Tam................ hope you didn't say that to Jackie.................just kidding

aren't dogs amazing though

 

[Val 3 dogs]

Yes, dogs have an amazing sense of smell, even more amazing when you think of wind direction, ozone, engine oil etc.
I am increasingly coming to believe in "mind communication".
For instance ; a herd of Impala are grazing,
one spots a lion creeping up and instantly conveys the danger to the rest of tbe herd- they all move on mass, in a split second. Ive also experienced this sort of communication between various horses (not necessarily animals that I knew) and myself.
It is uncanny but i know it happens.

 

[Northernraider]

Yes, dogs have an amazing sense of smell, even more amazing when you think of wind direction, ozone, engine oil etc.
I am increasingly coming to believe in "mind communication".
For instance ; a herd of Impala are grazing,
one spots a lion creeping up and instantly conveys the danger to the rest of tbe herd- they all move on mass, in a split second. Ive also experienced this sort of communication between various horses (not necessarily animals that I knew) and myself.
It is uncanny but i know it happens.

Yes i think they also use telepathy but who knows.

I watched a programme once that said that recent studies found that when you go to work and leave your dog ...your sent is left in the house and over time the sent fades and thats how you can come home and find your dog sat waiting.... they know by how strong the sent is how long youve been gone and thats how they tell the time.

I know mine can be sleeping inside the van with all blinds closed etc yet they can sense when ever there is a dog nearby even if i have music ,tv etc on ...so they can't have heard them as no barking etc but they either sense their presence or they smell them

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[Val 3 dogs]

There is also the sensation you get if someone unseen is watching you-but you know - does their mind/ sub conscious communicate with yours?
A lot of it is listening to ypur "gut feelings"
We as 'superior' beings often dismiss this as nonsense or mumbo jumbo. Dogs and wild animals listen and survive by their insticts.
Which of us is truly more superior?

 

[Just smiffy]

There is also the sensation you get if someone unseen is watching you-but you know - does their mind/ sub conscious communicate with yours?
A lot of it is listening to ypur "gut feelings"
We as 'superior' beings often dismiss this as nonsense or mumbo jumbo. Dogs and wild animals listen and survive by their insticts.
Which of us is truly more superior?

Very true... I believe we all have the capability but we (humans) don’t use most of our brain...

 

[Peter and Julie]

Very true... I believe we all have the capability but we (humans) don’t use most of our brain...

When you and Jackie head off on your separate ways realise you've a friend for life! Bit deep is that!

 

[Lenny HB]

You know Lilly my daughters Springer, you can pick up a stone on the beach throw it as far as possible and she will find it amongst millions of pebbles in a couple of minutes just by smelling my sent from a few seconds contact with it.

 

[mitzimad]

You know Lilly my daughters Springer, you can pick up a stone on the beach throw it as far as possible and she will find it amongst millions of pebbles in a couple of minutes just by smelling my sent from a few seconds contact with it.

gertie does that as well at first i didnt belive it was the same stone so i found a distinctive one threw it and she brought the right one back

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[Sunseeker 115]

Yes i think they also use telepathy but who knows.

I watched a programme once that said that recent studies found that when you go to work and leave your dog ...your sent is left in the house and over time the sent fades and thats how you can come home and find your dog sat waiting.... they know by how strong the sent is how long youve been gone and thats how they tell the time.

I know mine can be sleeping inside the van with all blinds closed etc yet they can sense when ever there is a dog nearby even if i have music ,tv etc on ...so they can't have heard them as no barking etc but they either sense their presence or they smell them

My brother in law believed dogs use telepathy. He was decorating the front room, Mink was in the back of the house, he thought I'll just put this sheet up and take the dog out, couple of seconds later Mink arrived in the front room. They are amazing animals

 

[Northernraider]

When you and Jackie head off on your separate ways realise you've a friend for life! Bit deep is that!

Really!! Dammit im changing my number

 

[Northernraider]

My brother in law believed dogs use telepathy. He was decorating the front room, Mink was in the back of the house, he thought I'll just put this sheet up and take the dog out, couple of seconds later Mink arrived in the front room. They are amazing animals

Im convinced they communicate with each other via telepathy ....apart from milo who barks at everything

 

[Northernraider]

I hate getting ripped off .....

Ive still not booked my tunnel crossing as i thought it best to wait till i had test results and was in france but its getting ridiculous on the price.
When i looked the other week the cheapest i could get is £128 plus £20 each for the dogs ....
Now the cheapest for Wednesday or Thursday is £145 plus the dogs and if i look at booking it for monday its £238 plus the dogs ... so if i dont book the bloody thing now im going to be paying twice the normal price
I hate highway robbery ....most of these trains are running near empty the price should be bloody cheaper the closer you get ... especially when youve to have tests done etc before you can use them ...theres lots of profiteering going on with this and its frankly disgusting.

So I don't know what to do ...im not sure if Wednesday might be pushing it ... but then I don't want to spend any longer in france than necessary either

Still not got a vet either and not sure where to get a test before tunnel or where im going to park overnight if getting a morning train

 

[Scotch mist]

Very true... I believe we all have the capability but we (humans) don’t use most of our brain...

speak for yourself

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