Arrived in Nice around 0830 and got a croissant for breakfast and a litre of water. Walked down the main street to the beach. Nice is not as garish as I thought it might be. Water really clear but didn’t swim as couldn’t leave passports, etc. Climbed up the steps to an old castle with a good view. Caught a train along the coast to Italy where we needed our passports for the first time. Wish we’d gone to the Alps but couldn’t find the right station. Not sure what we are doing tonight. Overnight train? Where to?

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We decided to return to our original route and catch the train from Milan to Amsterdam, if we can find what patform the train goes from. Journey to Milan was slow & hot.

Caught the train to Rosslare. The boat left at 1700 and should get to Le Harve at around 1500 French time. Watched Look Who’s Talking which was v. v. funny. Had a really good night’s sleep on the floor of the TV room and am now having false croissant and Irish milk. Can’t wait to get to France.

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Most of the day on the ferry. Watched Joe vs the Volcano in the ship cinema then sat around. Barry tried to buy some lunch but didn’t have enough cash, so he just left his tray then grumbled a bit. Ferry journey wasn’t too bad. Sat at Le Harve terminal waiting for a bus to the station. Now sitting on the train waiting to go to Paris via Rouen, then have to find somewhere to sleep.

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Am now at a Youth Hostel in Paris, having gone all the way across Paris by metro. It cost 100F for the room inc. breakfast. Needed the shower, which was really good & powerful. Sharing with an Austian guy who is OK. Having dodgy conversations in between writing this. Everyone speaks English far better than I speak anything else. It’ll be good to sleep somewhere that isn’t moving. Saw the Arc de Triomphe which looked OK.

Just arrived in Ireland. Straight off the ferry onto the train to Waterford. Not planned at all. We don’t know what we’re doing but it doesn’t really matter. Had a total of 2 hours sleep on the ferry but don’t feel too bad – it’s like when we went to France on the bus. Had a walk around the deck in the night – full moon.

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Have looked around the semi-industrial city of Waterford. It was weird – half British half continental. Sat in a cafe and generally walked around. Waiting at the station to go back to Rosslare, then across to France, an 18 hour boat journey.

The Excellent Grand Tour of Europe, August 1990

Rang Barry, picked him up in Peter’s van and drove to the Cotswolds. Slept in Sandra’s house in her lounge. Left after breakfast, which was too late as it took ages to drive west through Wales to Fishguard. Arrived two hours late for the ferry, so plan to catch the 0315. Went round crappy Fishguard for a while and are now sitting down a lane having some tea. Peter is dropping us off at 2300 at the port, so will get some sleep there before leaving for Ireland.

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Sitting at Fishguard ferry terminal. Have around 3 hours to waste before we depart. Might go to sleep for a while but the room has just been invaded by loads of loud Americans. I think Barry might have overpacked but that’s his problem – I did warn him before Peter dropped us off. Watched Back to the Future Part III to pass the time this eve.

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Barry, my travel companion