It was Helen’s last day today but as her train to the airport at Goleniow, which serves as Szczecin’s airport wasn’t until 16:00 we had lots of time. Time for a bacon & egg breakfast  for one and time to do one load of laundry and finally time to say goodbye to the remaining rally members. Some had left us at Ueckermünde ( Odile and Dreamer) and some were leaving today (Misty) and a few more tomorrow. The weather was incredibly warm, it reached 34°C during the afternoon so we were seeking shade whenever we could. The forecast for the coming week was for temperatures to be in the mid to high 20’s, touching mid 30’s on some days. Warm clothing will not be a requirement, it seems!

We decided to have lunch in town, so at around 12:30 we set off, me carrying Helen’s rucksack and sweating copiously. It is about half a mile’s walk to the beginning of town, where there is a free passenger ferry plying across the canal. It is also free to Świnoujście-registered cars incidentally. We would be catching this ferry after lunch as the train station was on the opposite bank. Speaking of bank we had no Polish currency at all (zloty) so the first port of call was an ATM and we were told that ING didn’t have any fees so that is the bank we chose. We now had money for lunch and a great one was provided in a café in the nearby square – Helen & I had Greek salad and Julie a roll filled with a smoked fish paste. By the time we had finished lunch we reckoned we could make the 15:00 ferry crossing, figuring that we might as well get there early as Julie and I had an extra  job to do. On Thursday we will be picking up a hire car at the ferry terminal (the main ferry terminal about 600 yards from the town one) so we thought we’d get  down there to check things out with the Europcar staff to ensure that all was well. We therefore left Helen on the station’s platform, knowing we would be back in time to say goodbye.

The 600 yard walk proved to be a waste of time. When we got there we realized that Europcar only drop cars off there at the appointed time, they have no office, so fingers crossed for Thursday! Back to Helen then, who now had been joined by Tony & Marian Allwood (Wild Goose), who were also flying back to the UK for a couple of weeks. Realizing that Helen now had company, we felt we might  as well go back to the boat, as the return ferry was about to depart. After a hasty goodbye we made it to the ferry, just. I never like goodbyes, we’d enjoyed Helen’s company and we know she had had a good time mixing with the rally group, so we were pleased that it had gone so well.

On the way back we went via Lidl to buy something for a barbecue we planned on having  tomorrow night. This evening we’d booked a restaurant nearby, one recommended by Maciej and we reserved a table for 12, figuring that that many people would want to come. Indeed we got it just right, and the following boats came – Calypso, Hoppetosse, Paddington V and Arnica. It proved to be a very successful evening, everyone had a good meal, many of us having a Polish dish called Bigos – here is what the internet says :- Bigos, often translated into English as hunter's stew, is a Polish dish of chopped meat of various kinds stewed with sauerkraut and shredded fresh cabbage. The dish is also traditional for Belarusian, Ukrainian and Lithuanian cuisine.