Portsmouth harbour at Dawn

Docked at 6:15 after a dreadful night’s sleep. Honestly, those reclining chairs should be reported to Trading Standards. Every man who snores should also be banned from ferry lounges — I’m not joking. And who on earth thought it was a good idea to blast the air conditioning all night? It was absolutely freezing. I was in shorts and a T-shirt and we ended up cuddled up on a sofa to stay warm.

It was our first time doing the night crossing — we thought it would be fine, but never again without a cabin. Lesson well and truly learned. We’re going to risk the Bay of Biscay next time… how bad can it be?

Got home by 9:30am and promptly collapsed into bed. Slept until just after noon — completely knackered. Spent the afternoon unloading the van, now the house looks like a jumble sale. It’s raining (of course), so the holiday washing can wait.

In bed by 9pm. Done in. Zzz.