Laden with wine and cheese, we drove to Cherbourg and prepared to board the Stena Lines ferry to Rosslare in Ireland. By now seasoned travellers, the boys were delighted to be on a ‘sleeping ferry’ once more. As soon as we had sorted out our cabin we headed off to explore the ship. The captain warned us all that we were in for a rough crossing which did not thrill any of us. We explored on deck while we had the chance: “Where is the swimming pool?” wondered little WB. Looking at the grey stormy skies we assured him there would be no need for one on this trip.

Shortly after setting sail we were all herded into the main bar for a safety drill which featured a giggling French school group being bundled into life jackets and off out to the life boats. The crew seemed very efficient although we were left wondering exactly how bad the weather forecast was meant to be.

After the drill was over the children piled into the soft play area and big WB came running over, beside himself with excitement: “There’s a boy here and he speaks English!” This had been a rarity for him since we left London on 21 July. From that point on the two of them stuck to the play area (and their new friend) like glue. Mama WBs had an unusually relaxing voyage – we were able to read the newspaper and everything. During the night we all slept reasonably well – the journey was a bit rocky all right but the ship stayed afloat so we had no need of the emergency drill after all.