The steps along the road may have begun with the purchasing of Austin but the first real move must surely be the ferry crossing from our tiny island to the continent.
In the original journey Mum, Dad and Jim, along with my uncle Mickey and his wife Barbara, made the crossing from Dover to Ostend in Belgium, where they camped for a week while they got their bearings. Mickey and Barbara would soon head back to Blighty and the others would head first to Germany, then further eastwards.
photo by James Holmes
And this was my plan, too.
However, a quick look through the Lonely Planet guide book lead me to believe that the only ferry routes today between Ostend and the UK link to Hull and Scotland. Hardly convenient for someone driving up from Cornwall.
So I was left with one of two choices; drive to hull and across to Ostend or leave by the original exit of Dover. If i chose Dover then I would have to cross first to Calais, then head north along the French coast, cross the border into Belgium and then head for Ostend. Not a great position to be in. Eventually after a bit of thought I decided that, bearing in mind the price of fuel these days (I've certainly picked the wrong time to do an intercontinental road trip haven't I?), the cheapest and probably the quickest option would be the Dover- Calais route.
Then while trying to organize a ticket I discovered that there is still a route from southern England to Ostend -via Ramsgate. Brilliant!, well not Ramsgate, but rather as second option.
Grabbing the bull by the horns I clicked across to the Ramsgate-Ostend route and began typing in my details. Everything was going fine until it came to "Car Make". I went through the drop down menu and, of course, there is no option for AUSTIN. Okay, then let's try OTHER, which allows me the opportunity to actually type in the make and model. After carefully typing in Austin- Cambridge- A60 the system had a little think and then promptly sent me back to the beginning as if I had been sent to the back of the queue by some over officious clerk. A second extra careful round of typing got the same result- Computer says no! It seems that the world of internet and 1960's cars aren't aligned. So, tomorrow I'll have to call and do it the old fashioned way-on the phone.
Wish me luck
Have a good week folks
Cheers Matt
