Well, my obsessive observation of the coronavirus travel restrictions has borne fruit - except not perhaps the sort I want. Today it was announced with much clamour that the UK will add France onto the quarantine list from this Saturday.

No problem, I think, I'm not going anywhere near France. Well, hidden in the middle of the article is slipped in the fact that the Netherlands has also been added to the list. 

What does this mean? So some rather detailed research later, and it this may or may not be a problem. The quarantine list means that anyone returning from these countries to the UK needs to self-isolate at home for 14 days.  Interestingly, and contrary to all my assumptions, housemates that have not travelled do not need to self-isolate. This is critical: while I'm prepared to lounge at home after I return (indeed, will probably appreciate the rest), it would be very disruptive (and rather unfair) for Caroline to need to as well.

The more worrying thing is that it's possible that other countries restrict entry from the Netherlands as well - specifically Germany. Since I'll need to pass through Holland at some point to reach the North Sea ferries, this would be a bit of a problem. The haven't added any restrictions yet. It seems Germany has a well defined threshold of 50 infections per 100K people - the Netherlands is currently on 40.2.

If it doesn't rise any further we should be all right. If it does, I might need to reconsider my plans...