Today a brief distraction has been thinking about our spring holiday. We're planning on going to Germany or Austria to go walking in early April. Decisions to be made: when exactly, where exactly, do we take a car or fly and hire?

According to Cheapest Ferry Crossing UK the best two routes are
Hull to Zebrugge (14 Hours) at £150 or Dover to Dunkirk (2 Hours) for £99. We have to decide whether skipping the drive to Dover and a posher ship is worth £50- possibly is in petrol alone- or whether we avoid the extra time at sea.