Friday 16th September 2023
Nothing planned for today other than a swim, a walk and tonight an overnight ferry to Corsica, but first feed the dogs and ourselves.
Andrew took us up to the top of one of a local mountain for a walk and a observation spot to admire the views overlooking the clear, blue Mediterranean. The walk for me was too much so I stayed with the car and chatted with several cyclists who had just cycled up this mountain, albeit with electric bikes!!!
Early evening we headed to Toulon to catch the overnight ferry to Corsica, we knew we had tickets but only one cabin; there were 4-adults and a 2+ year old!!!
The port looked very organised for cars but for foot passengers, that was a different matter. We walked the the length of the ship to get to the terminal and when called, we had to walk all the way back; oh no, it would have been “too” easy to go direct!!! The one good thing is the escalator on board, no queuing for the lift or no stairs to climb!!!
The first port of call was the Purser’s office to get a second cabin; no chance, fully booked🥵; OK dump the bags, have a meal with a “fair” amount of alcohol and hopefully we may get some sleep!!!!!
The restaurant food was excellent but the service was woeful; lots of chiefs but few Indians so the simplest request took for ever to get resolved.
After the nice food and walking back to our cabin we passed numerous people sleeping on the floor, in passageways and any other “nook or cranny” they could curl up in. Apparently this is the norm!!!!
Fortunately Andrew had booked a de-lux cabin, well in name that is, though it had slightly more floor space “we think🤔”, The night started with Elton on the floor next to Christine, Andrew and ion the bottom bunks and Louis on the top. What I hadn’t realised when we finally got into the cabin after a couple of bottles of wine and a couple of Cognacs later that it was an inside cabin with no air-con, wow it was hot, stuffy and smelly. There was a change round of sleeping arrangements during the night, Christine swapped with Andrew after Elton woke up.
It was going to be a long night!!!