Welcome to 2026!
Now that I’ve caught up with last year I can start on our adventures in 2026!
Libra spent the winter safely tucked up on land in a boatyard on the Saronic island of Aegina, an hour and a bit by ferry from Athens.
We were worried she’d be getting lonely, so at the end of January we jumped in the car and drove to see her. This is a simplification.
Who in their right mind would choose a week on the road in winter over a 4 hour flight? Well, if you saw the amount of stuff we needed to take with us to work on the boat the answer was self explanatory. Plus, where's your sense of adventure?
In case you’re interested in the journey:
Day 1, 23/01/2026: drove to Dover and stayed overnight to avoid a horribly early start next day. In January hotels are dirt cheap so we treated ourselves to the Dover Marina Hilton, which was way nicer than the marginally cheaper Travelodge. It was a 10 minute drive to the ferry rather than 2 hours from our home, with none of the stress of traffic, diversions etc.
Day 2, 24/01/2026: Caught the 8am ferry to Calais. Drove to Dijon. We stayed in a budget hotel, the Kyriad Direct. It was a bit grim.
Day 3, 25/01/2026: Crossed from France to Italy. Along the way we stopped in the town of Vernon, which we'd visited on our trip through France in the boat.
We crossed the French-Italian border via the Mont Blanc tunnel. Interesting approach, the towering mountain and lots of hairpin bends.
There is a toll booth at the entrance to the tunnel which crosses the border, and they limit the number of vehicles going through. You enter on the French side.
When you exit the Tunnel you're in Italy.
We stayed in a place called Alessandria. We didn’t realise but it’s the biggest city in the region, and suitably impressive.
The main shopping street was pedestrianised. The decorations from Christmas and New Year were still up in places. There was a beautiful church with an intriguing crib.
Our hotel was Alle Due Buoi Rossi, right in the centre, comfortable, convenient.
Day 4, 26/01/2026: To Porto San Giorgio. As the name suggests it was a major port in its day. Now it has a fair sized marina. Looked interesting but being wintertime most places were empty and closed.
We stayed at the Il Timone hotel, on the seafront.
Surprisingly quite a few restaurants were open despite it being off season. On previous journeys we've stayed in towns near Rimini and everything has been closed.
Day 5, 27/01/2026: To Brindisi, the Ibis Styles, a standard chain hotel away from the centre. The route took us through the central Appenines of Abruzzo. More glorious mountain ranges.
As always there were a few stops along the way, first at a service station.
Our lunch stop was in Bari, on the Adriatic coast. My Dad used to talk about Bari as he was stationed there during the Second World War.
There is a beautiful waterfront walk and we spent a while watching kids sailing their Optimist dinghies. A lot nicer than the river where our kids sailed! (the Italian kids complained less too).
On previous trips through Brindisi we’ve stayed in the old town, quirky cottages on narrow, marble paved streets but parking is a nightmare. Here you can just park on the street outside, much less stressful at the end of a long drive.
Day 6, 28/01/2026: We caught the daytime crossing to Igoumenitsa, which saves the need for a cabin on the overnight ferry. It leaves at 1pm and you get to Greece about 9-10 hours later. If you’re over 60 you get a big 'senior' discount! Result!!
A lot of cats live outside the ferry office and they took a liking to this car:
The ferry from Italy to Greece is mostly used by trucks, very few leisure passengersn at this time of year. It travels down the Adriatic between Italy and Albania.
The ferry docked at 10.00pm and we got to our hotel by midnight (it takes a while to leave the port as you have to first be released from the bowels of the ship then queue behind all the trucks to get out)
There are plenty of hotels near the port of Igoumenitsa, we stayed in the Aktaion.
Day 7, 29/01/2026: Today was the day we hoped to reach Aegina. It was a bit dull and overcast but hey ho, this time of year that's to be expected.
After a substantial breakfast at the hotel and a walk along the seafront we drove for five hours to Piraeus to catch the ferry to Aegina…but when we went to the booking office we were told that the ferries weren't running 'due to weather condition'. OK, but we looked at the sky and water and checked all our sailing weather apps and there was nothing that would stop us sailing. Fishy!
This meant we had to spend the night in Piraeus. Treated ourselves to the rather nice Port Square Hotel as it said it had a car park. It didn't, but there was a private car park very close by. Had to hand the car key over to a dodgy looking bloke so he could park it.
Apart from this blip The Port Square felt pretty swanky by comparison to all the other Piraeus hotels we've stayed in.
Day 8, 30/01/2026: When we picked the car up the guy couldn't get the keyless ignition to work. The battery in the fob was very low, so to make it work you had to warm it up - either put it in a pocket next to your skin or rub it vigorously so friction does its magic. He was suitably baffled at my technical expertise.
Finally, we were able to catch the ferry to Aegina and on to the house.
It’s a long drive, over 2,000 km from Calais to Brindisi alone, and in the winter it gets dark early. If you have a few drivers or are young and bright you could do it in half the time we took. For safety and comfort, we limit the daily driving time to 6 hours. So, we leave around 8 or 9 am when it’s daylight, drive 2 hours then stop for a coffee, a bite to eat or a bit of sightseeing, repeat. If the energy flags mid afternoon have an espresso and a drink of water then it's good to go for another couple of hours.
When I was younger and we did our epic road trips to Russia I’d drive for 8-12 hours daily as time was short. Being semi retired the time pressure has gone so why take chances?
Once we got to Aegina we discovered that the water supply on the island wasn’t safe. It’s provided by a pipeline from the mainland and this ruptured back in December. It wasn’t mended until mid March. In the meantime, you couldn’t use the tap water for drinking, washing veg, cooking, washing yourself etc. (though the urge for a shower eventually got overwhelming) .
I had a shower my first morning there (before I knew) and couldn’t understand why it tasted salty. That would be due to the supply coming from contaminated brackish groundwater. Apparently it had a lot of heavy metals and bacteria too. Lovely. I wouldn't even wash the car with it.
Most days Igor worked on the boat, with me back at the house. Unlike Igor, there wasn’t a lot for me to do on the boat. I serviced the windlass, the winch at the front of the boat that raises and lowers the anchor.
I helped Igor climb to the top of the mast. Even though there was a ladder he still needed someone for safety. Igor had a rope tied around his middle which needed to be pulled up as he ascended so that if he slipped he wouldn't fall to his doom. He's very brave, I don't like heights at all.
The boat had its heavy canvas cover fitted to protect it which meant that I couldn’t clean the decks (didn’t want to anyway because of the state of the water supply), hence me spending so much time at the house.
I noticed that we were clocking up a couple of hundred miles a week in the car which confused me as the island is so small, but realised that 12 km to the boatyard (24 km round trip) twice a day, six days a week plus a bit of sightseeing soon adds up.
Many places were closed for the season. We went to Perdika, a pretty former fishing village about 4 km from Val and Tim’s house, to get dinner our first evening there. Along the waterfront are maybe 20 excellent restaurants. In summer they are heaving with local people, tourists and boaties. This time every single one was closed, a ghost town.
A week or so later we went there on a Sunday to eat. One restaurant was open with a few people eating. It cost twice as much as we expected. It wasn’t even very good.
We also ate in the restaurants by the fish market. These are always busy, and being the place where fish from the boats is sold the quality is fantastic.
Whilst we were at the boatyard we had a look at our sprayhood. This is the ‘windscreen’ with a little tent over the gangway. It was looking very sad. The plastic screen was scratched so badly you could barely see through it. The stitching had rotted from constant exposure to UV. I’d mended it repeatedly over the years but now both the canvas and the plastic were disintegrating. Not worth repairing, it needed replacement.
We asked the boatyard for a recommendation and a guy duly came along and gave a quote. It was about a third of what we’d been expecting. He asked us when we wanted it. The end of April, when we planned to launch. He told us that he gets really busy as the season draws near but at the moment things were slow so no problem. We paid half upfront and got quite excited at the prospect of being able to see where we were going.
We were busy, but not too busy. The local cats realised that the house was occupied and brought a lot of their friends to meet us and be fed by us.
It was the end of winter but it felt like springtime on Aegina. Lots of rain meant that everywhere was green.
All the roadsides were full of spring flowers.
It wasn’t hot, just a pleasant 15C or thereabouts during the day.
We stayed on Aegina about 4 weeks, then on 2nd March set off on the long journey home, not quite a mirror image of the journey there:
Day 1, 02/03/2026: Ferry around lunchtime to Piraeus, then drove to Igoumenitsa, staying in the Aktaion again. Stopped for a bite of lunch by the Corinth Canal. Every time I see it I marvel.
Most of the bridges over the Canal soar above it.
Here, at the Aegean end, the crossing is not just level with the canal, it descends into the water, allowing ships to pass above it. We must have unknowingly crossed it in Libra as we emerged from the Canal.
Day 2, 03/03/2026: Ferry from Igoumenitsa to Brindisi departing 13:00. We checked in to the Grimaldi Lines office, then Igor, the passenger, had to go through to the lounge while I, the driver, took the car through the customs/search procedure. It always confuses the desk clerks who assume Igor will be driving. It’s not like Greek women don’t drive!
The ferry felt almost empty so we had 2 massive couches and a couple of small tables to sit at during the long crossing. Arrived in Brindisi late at night then checked into the Ibis Styles again.
Day 3, 04/03/2026: After a good breakfast (included, another reason to keep returning to this hotel) we drove to Rome. What’s the point of a road trip if you don’t stop at some of the fascinating places along the way? This was the first time we've driven up the western side of Italy, rather than the Adriatic route on the east.
The drive is over six hours so we stopped off a couple of times, including at Salerno for lunch. We were both hungry and pretty much stopped at the first cafe we saw. Great choice, had the best sandwiches ever, piadina - fluffy flatbreads with a delicious filling, plus a plate of deep fried variants on arancini for luck. Way too much but it was so good.
Afterwards we had a walk along the waterfront.
The hotel in Rome was small and sparse, La Casa di Nazareth, run by an order of nuns (though we didn’t notice any). It was comfortable but no luxuries– not even a TV in the room but a good shower.
I’d booked it as it said it had parking but when we got there they didn’t have any spaces so we had to park on the street. No spaces anywhere, I drove round for about 20 minutes then parked next to a couple of other cars, thinking it looked like the sort of spot where parking wouldn’t be allowed. There were no signs though so I decided it would do. I was past caring.
We went to a nearby pizza restaurant for dinner, where I had fresh artichoke for the first time. Nice, but ultimately just a tasty vegetable. Don’t feel I’ve missed out by not eating it until now.
Day 4, 05/03/2026: Rome, sightseeing. First stop St Peter’s Square, three stops on the Metro from our hotel. The huge square was almost empty. It didn’t feel particularly spiritual.
Lots of tourist groups queuing with their guides, following like well behaved sheep.
Given that we were in the Catholic season of Lent I thought that there would at least be signs suggesting you went to confession! Nope, just a billboard showing a video of priests in the chapel alternating with an announcement of a service on Saturday on a loop. We decided to move on.
Next stop, the Trevi Fountains. The Roman authorities have recently limited access to the fountains themselves, charging a few euros for the privilege. We felt we could see enough without joining the crowd by the water. I was impressed, the fountains are so much more beautiful than the photos I'd seen.
Being early March, there weren’t too many people blocking our view (especially when you use AI to remove them lol).
We went for a wander.
We saw loads of buildings, piazzas, fountains and statues then caught a bus to the Coliseum. We came to Rome once before, on a cruise with my Mum when the kids were small. We saw the Coliseum then but it didn’t make much of an impression on me. They’ve done a lot of work on it since then.
The building has been tidied up and some parts reconstructed. The area in front of it is huge and pedestrianised. There wasn’t much of a queue at the box office so we queued and got tickets. We had to show ID, which we hadn’t expected. Luckily we had the necessary.
Inside, looking over the ancient stadium, you get a sense of the scale of the place. For once, having lots of visitors at an attraction added to the experience. After all, it was specifically designed to deal with crowds.
We’d bought the standard tickets as we hadn’t realised how much there was to see. After two hours, despite feeling almost overwhelmed, we wished we’d bought the ticket giving access to all of the tourist areas. One of the most impressive places I’ve ever visited.
By now it was past lunchtime so we bought sandwiches and sat on a marble bench by the walls of the Coliseum to eat. We were touristed out so went back to the hotel and had a nap. Got takeaway slices of pizza for dinner and ate in our room as a restaurant was too much effort.
Much better than it sounds, this takeaway pizzeria was founded in 1954 and the quality was as good as you'd expect. It wasn't the nasty stodge you get in dodgy cafes in London.
Day 5, 06/03/2026: A great night’s sleep and a good breakfast under our belts and we were back on the road again, heading to Genoa, about 5-5½ hours. When we got to our car we saw a parking ticket under the windscreen wiper. 29 euros. Cheaper than most hotel parking. I paid it online when I got home.
Our first stop was an almost-island called Orbetello. Here's a map:
We decided to get a coffee but there weren't any cafes on the waterfront so we went to the street running through the middle of the almost island. Standing in the main square, drinking my cappuccino, my brother Laurie rang about work stuff. I just am so darned hard working.
Stopped for lunch in Livorno. I'd forgotten, but a couple of years back we caught the ferry from here to Olbia on Sardinia. This time we were away from the ferry port.
There's a magnificent paved seafront with gardens so we took our time and enjoyed the faded elegance.
By now the novelty of the long drive was starting to wear off. We stayed at the Genoa Best Western near the airport purely on the basis it would have easy parking. I hadn't bargained for the spaghetti like road system and absence of meaningful signage. Not the most scenic part of Genoa. Never mind, the takeaway pizza we got for dinner was excellent. Yes we ate a lot of pizza in Italy. Who wouldn't?
Day 6, 07/03/2026: Today’s 6 hour drive took us across the Alps. This is so impressive. The mountains dominate the scenery for hours, almost as if they have an animate presence. Winter tyres (which we have) are legally required at this time of year. Thankfully there was no snow on the road. We stopped, pretty much at random, to have a look at one of the villages. There seemed to be some sort of festival going on as there were a lot of children and floats massing in one of the squares. We left before they started closing roads.
Our destination was Chalon-sur-Saone, the birthplace of photography. We stayed here on Libra on our journey south. This time we were in the Appart’ City Classic, a sort of bedsit/hotel room.
It's a very charming small town, the Saone flowing through. Funny how memories can be distorted. We walked to where Libra had moored. In my mind it was under the shadow of the statue of Nicéphore Niépce, credited as the inventor of photography. It was actually about a 10 minute walk.
We wandered around a bit before finding somewhere to eat. It's a small town and quite lively.
Eventually we ended up having fish and chips, always an adventure in France (usually a good one). Maybe I'll suggest our local chippie adds flowers next time I go!
Day 7, 08/03/2026: Our final day of continental driving, Chalon to Calais. Our route took us through Reims, in the heart of Champagne country. We’ve passed by here so many times but today, as it was a Sunday, it felt appropriate to have a look at the cathedral.
We arrived there around lunchtime. Now, I’ve seen a lot of old French churches and cathedrals. Many of them have limestone carvings on the outside, saints, apostles, gargoyles etc, but I’ve never seen one that comes close to the intricacy of the carvings on this cathedral. I’m guessing it’s been renovated. The detail and beauty are incomparable.
Inside the cathedral it’s very simple. The only decoration is stunning, luminous stained glass. The pillars supporting the ceiling sweep up, drawing the eyes towards heaven.
So many French churches have tons of decorative elements, not Reims. Instead the simplicity calms and puts you into a meditative state of mind. This is the sort of experience I’d hoped for near St Peter’s.
After the spiritual experience of the cathedral we had the definitely secular experience of a Burger King for lunch. Don’t judge, we still had a long drive ahead.
We’d booked into the Calais Ferry Ibis but when we arrived the clerk warned me that another guest had been making a lot of noise, the police wouldn’t intervene, so would we prefer to move to the other Ibis, an Ibis Styles, in the centre of town? This sounded much more inviting.
Last time we were in Calais it made a really poor impression. I remember bleak concrete and hollow eyed men leaning against walls, presumably waiting for their trip across the Channel. It’s changed, or we were in a different part of town.
It was getting dark as we arrived, but there was plenty to see.
The hotel was near the sea, in a street of shops and restaurants with an illuminated fountain in the town square nearby.
The lobby was big and inviting and the room very pleasant too. We were a short walk from a few restaurants, all of them full of diners, rather than being miles from anywhere like the other Ibis. Definitely a good move.
Are you wondering why we stayed an extra night instead of crossing the that day? I'll explain.
Six hours driving equates to 9-10 hours on the road, especially with our long stop in Reims. It was around 7pm when we reached Calais, so we wouldn’t have got onto a ferry until 8pm at the earliest. By the time we disembarked and had dinner we wouldn’t be home until getting on for midnight. By then I'd be so tired that lapses of concentration would be a real risk. The last thing we needed was for me to forget which side of the road I should be on.
Day 8, 09/03/2026: A trip to the hypermarket then onto the ferry. Back in Dover for lunchtime. Grabbed salads from M&S then drove home. What a trip but good to be home again, just in time to see the tulips blooming.
Out of curiosity I asked an AI (Microsoft Copilot) which is the better option for the environment, to fly or to drive.
Just looking at CO2 emissions, they are slightly lower for 2 people flying than 2 people driving:
- ✈️ Flight (incl. taxi + bus): ~155–185 kg per person
- 🚗+⛴️ Car + ferry (2 people): ~180 kg per person
However, if you factor in the extra warming effects of aviation (contrails, NOx at altitude) flight becomes: ~230–350 kg per person (CO₂e) while driving remains the same.
The carbon footprint of the actual car is pretty similar whether you have one or five passengers so the carbon footprint per person drops rapidly if you have 2 or more passengers in the vehicle. Food for thought. Anybody want a lift next time we drive?
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