Thursday 25th June 1998
Chris, Sarah and the tent (aka "aircraft hanger") left Chesham at about 4pm and made their way down to Dover without incident. However, this was to be the last time that the phrase "without incident" could be applied to Chris for the remaining duration of this report . . .
They took the Seacat from Dover to Ostende; it promptly broke down on them, and they eventually limped into Ostende on one engine, an hour and half later than scheduled. They then made their way to the hotel that was to be their home for the night, checked in, unpacked and went out to get a bite to eat.
They found the town full of English football "fans" who were also staying overnight in Ostende before heading on to Lens in France for the England/Colombia World Cup football match the next day. The "fans" started off just enjoying themselves, but no sooner had Chris and Sarah found a little cafe than things took a turn for the worse.
Within minutes everything was out of control, with the football fans running riot through the streets of Ostende, grabbing tables and chairs and hurling them through every available window. As the riot approached, the proprietor of Chris and Sarah's cafe started to close all the windows, thinking this was the safest thing to do, but was eventually persuaded by Chris that the windows would only not get broken if there was no glass available to be broken, i.e. if they were all open.
A few minutes later the riot swept down the street where Chris and Sarah were finishing off their meal, only to be met at the other end of the street by the Ostende town police. A Keystone Kops escapade then ensued as the police and the rioters chased each other back and forth three or four times along this one street before eventually disappearing into another part of town.
Chris and Sara then went back to their hotel, where Chris climbed out of the window, up the fire escape and onto the roof of the hotel to watch the continuing fracas, and in particular the hotel opposite being busted by riot police with "lots of dogs, lots of vans and lots and lots of people with large boots". An English accent was definitely not the thing to have that night, as every Englishman within range was being dragged out of his hotel and literally "fed to the dogs".
Eventually, tiredness got the better of them, and they retired to bed absolutely shattered.