ALTHOUGH breakfast at the hotel finishes at 9.30am we don’t need to check out until midday. We’re in no huge hurry so have breakfast, get back to the room, get our stuff together and leave the hotel around 11am.

The drive to Portsmouth is uneventful with only a sandwich and toilet stop along the way.

The ferry is scheduled to leave at 11pm so we have some time to kill and end up visiting Nando’s for some dinner, then on to the ferry port where we sit in a queue for an hour or so before boarding.

Our wee cabin is fine and we chill for a while before some zzzz’s….the ferry gets into Caens at 5.45am so not gonna get much sleep!