July 9- Tough Times

(John) Today was the worst day of the trip so far. It started the night before when Gene and I agreed to skip the 09:00 ferry, sleep in and instead take the 13:30 sailing. The ferry took us from Rosslare in Ireland to Fishguard in Whales - but it was two and one half hours late - and no warning. We only heard silence from the staff at Stena Lines. Needless to say, I was livid!

By the time we arrived in the small fishing town of Fishguard, all the stores had closed including our car rental agency. Even the last train had left town. Then, we tried to get cash from an ATM, but the card was rejected. By this point I wanted to sit down and cry. We didn't even have twenty pence for a phone call. All we had were Euros.

Finally, we walked into a gas station and the attendant was kind enough to let us use his phone. We called Europecar and the number rang through to a mobile phone. That man agreed to come in to the rental garage and check the car out for us(small town hospitality). We gave him a BIG tip! We got on the road to Bath now more than three hours behind schedule.

At 80 mph we raced down the M4 toward our destination (most people were going that speed), to a little seven room B&B in Bath. But the distance was longer than I anticipated, and we had to stop for dinner. We finally arrived at 22:30 - about four hours later than planned. Along the way we managed to grab a burger and call our hosts for the second time. They went out to a party but hid a key in a flower pot.

That kind of stress is enough to send me over the edge, especially when I am not getting information. In fact it did send me over the edge - just ask Gene. I will never ride Stena Lines again! I'm glad I'm going to church at the abbey today. I need to pray for peaceful acceptance of that which I cannot change.