At the end of August we packed up the car and took the ferry, with our two dogs, from Newcastle to IJmuiden (near Amsterdam). We stayed in six different countries, drove through another two, took two car trains, and covered over 2,800 kilometres (1740 miles). We returned home on 18 September.
Like last year, instead of EU pet passports we had to obtain health certificates for each of our dogs. This process is very pricey. Each certificate is pages long, is valid only for a single use within limited time and is a direct result of Brexit, something that neither we or our fellow Scots wanted.
Check-in at the ferry port was straightforward. There was no queue and we were soon onboard. In our cabin, the dogs settled quickly and slept remarkably well, despite the usual background engine noise that reverberates around any ferry of this size. As for us, it wasn’t the greatest night’s sleep but we enjoyed a very good choice of vegetarian food for our dinner thanks to the excellent service that DFDS provided. They are certainly much better than Brittany Ferries.
Once in Europe travelling was easy, with no further passport checks or other bureaucracy thanks to the Schengen Agreement.
We had a fantastic three weeks and it will take a number of new posts following this one, to cover the places we visited on our road trip.