NikkiandGreg

To day is gonna be pretty full on as we have a full 8 hours of driving ahead of us. We don’t leave too early so that we can have a bit of a catch up on sleep and then we head off. The first few hours are fine and we listen to some radio on the way, as Belgium radio stations are really good. They play a really mixed selection of music from the 80’s and 90’s, and Greg gets mega excited in particular when TQ- Westside comes on the radio, saying it reminds him of his teenage years. We know all the words and suddenly realize we are getting old when we know all the other songs that come on too. The next few hours are a bit more ‘hairem scarem’ as Greg would ... read more

After 20 minutes of packing the car, taking everything out again and then repacking it in order to fit all our suitcases, cooking equipment, and Christmas pressies in, we finally manage to set off for about 10.30am. We have a long drive ahead of us today, all the way from Glasgow down to Hull, in the snow (at least it’s good practice for wee Charlie). The sat nav says it should take about 4 – 4 ½ hours, but as it’s been snowing heavily and we don’t know what the roads will be like down in England, we give ourselves an extra 2 hours just in case. I’ve bagsied the UK part of the driving, as the last time I drove on the right hand side of the road it ended with a tyre being skelped ... read more

Day 4 – Millau Our free parking stops at 9am this morning so we have another extremely early start (well by our standards anyway). We are away by half 9, which is actually just as well as it says it takes 8 hours to get to Millau! There was me thinking it would be a casual 3-4 hour drive. The drive is pretty non eventful, just really tiring and by the time we drive into Millau at 7.30pm we are knackered. Millau is a pretty little town in the heart of the mountains but it is quiet as it is outwith the tourist season, so we talk a stroll to find a restaurant that is open. We stumble upon a place and have some duck followed by a crepe with chocolate (you just have to while ... read more

Managed to drag ourselves out of bed at an unsightly hour again (by unsightly i mean 8am, a normal time of day for most people, but not a DJ and nightclub manager). We pack up and head off towards the ferry port, which we manage to find it surprisingly easily, and when we get to the check in gate there are no queues and it is really quiet. Turns out the reason it is so quiet as we have tried to check into the cruise ship port instead of our Dunkirque ferry port. We ask the guard nicely if we can go on a cruise seeing as we are here now, but he just laughs at us before directing us back round to the right entrance. Customs at the border are more straightforward than i thought ... read more

Day 10 Back to Christchurch today! We’ve already done most of the cheap options available in Christchurch, so it would have been good if we could have skipped it but never mind. We arrive in the afternoon and after getting some supplies in, we head over to the local museum. Not usually our cup of tea, but our bus driver told us it is meant to be really good, and it’s FREE. The museum is actually really good and there are lots of things to see. Greg is delighted when he comes across a speedway section edicated to the Kiwi speedway rider Ivan Mauger. They have a gold plated speedway bike and everything. We manage to while away an hour or so and then back to the hostel again. Greg makes us some delicious dinner- he’s ... read more