France 188 - Calais/The Calais Dragon/another infection/around Birmingham and eating at our service stations/The Hotel du Golf

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Goodmorning - It is early and I am lying in bed still feel rough from my recent infection . Another one . The third in three months . 2023 has not been a good one for health . Just small niggling infections, lots of coughing , sore throats and feeling under the weather . No swimming this week nor any walking . Hopefully the driver won't succomb to it this week or next or we could be in trouble .

Thursday - preparations under way. Clothes packed, unpacked, checked and packed again . Tablets and medicines all put in boxes . Large suitcases in the boot of the car with no name . Preparations are slow for me with the infection leaving me thoroughly under the weather . The mood for a holiday has gone on the back burner . Small suitcases sorted and will go in the car tomorrow. Food purchased. Coffee , long life milk and tea so that we can have more than one drink in the hotels on the way. Hopefully we won't get checked for contraband food in a car. Unlike the van we will not be pulled up to check if we have switched the gas off nor pulled in for further checks along the way. We will take our own cups with us so that don't have to drink out of plastic or paper cups . I will miss the cooking on board . It is much easier pulling up, putting the kettle on and sorting out your own meal . This trip even just down to the tunnel will be more of a challenge . The route is sorted . AA routes tell us it is quickest from here down the M6 toll. However it is a Saturday so the traffic ought to be lighter and not make it necessary to pay over £8 for the toll road . It is then quicker to go down the M1 and clockwise around London and the M25. That too should be easier to travel on Saturday rather than on a weekday. The Dartford toll checked . We have £10 on that so can sail through without worrying about having to pay. Two service stations picked out along the route . One just south of Birmingham . In time for breakfast . The second near Greys on the other side of London . Just in time for lunch which I intend to buy at the Waitrose in the first stop. It will be odd not making my own food on the way down. It will feel strange using the toilets in motorway services and mingling with others waiting for our coffees . It will feel very odd eating our sandwiches in the car with no name . And to make it even worse the reviews of the Hotel du Golf appear not good. Had we read them before we might have cancelled and booked somewhere else . I had chosen this one because it was handy for the tunnel so not far to drive , had plenty of parking and restaurants along the front . Best of all I could walk to the promenade and see the Calais Dragon . That might change if the Hotel du Golf is not quite up to standard .

Friday - one day to go. There should be excitement but the weather is dampening all enthusiasm combined with the lingering cold/flu/virus . Bits and bobs are taken to the car. We have checked out other hotels in the area just in case we need them. Oddly I feel less organised than normal. Not having everything to hand is proving a wierd feeling. We will forget something for sure .

Saturday - It is 3.15 and I find myself sitting on the promenade at Calais in a brasserie drinking a Merlot wine in the sunshine. The weather is much nicer than back home. We are watching the boats coming into the harbour . The last time we were here we sat on the harbour by the motorhomers pondering on the fact that it was a lovely place to park up a van and that we would be following suit in the next few months . The Calais Dragon was wandering up and down the promenade . That was the one thing I had wanted to see when we came to Calais . I was not too bothered about riding the dragon as we had been on the Elephant at Nantes and on the Minotaur in Toulouse . It was just lovely to see it in the flesh after reading about it so many times .

The Calais dragon is colossal. He is made of steel and carved wood. It is another construction by Francois Delarozier and is inspired by reptiles . As it promenaded up the main seaside street of Calais it spit out fire luckily up in the air or there could have been some incinerated dragon watchers. Smoke and water emitted from its mouth and out of thirty vents strategically placed around its body. Its eyes like all the other creatures made by the company moved , its eyelids opened and closed , its mouth opened wide showing its red tongue. It had fins of red which opened and flapped . It stood still for a while whilst riders disembarked and then laid down, stood up and set off at four kilometres an hour. Its thick canvas wings flapped . It was different to the Minotaur in colour and to the elephant . It was opal coloured and it shone in spring sunshine .Its wooden skin covered an area of six hundred square metres . Forty eight passengers can pay their money and climb on its back by means of a staircase built into its tail . On its back was a covered platform which offered according to the blurb a breathtaking view of Calais and the Cote d'Opale . .

The Dragon of Calais can be seen in its nave at all times, or while traveling on the Calais seafront. It is by embarking on board that the experience takes on its full dimension: climb along its tail and stroll on the covered panoramic platform integrated into its back. Discover a breathtaking view of Calais the beach and the Côte d'Opale. The journey on the dragon takes 45 minutes. We walked to the boutique where the dragon lives in an extremely large metal cage. To one side is the Iguana . He is quite small in comparison . Unlike Nantes and Toulouse there is no hall of machines just one iguana which can be reached via steps . At the top are controls and it is possible to play with the iguana moving his various parts . I was pleased we got to see the dragon . I had mixed feelings about not riding him . Perhaps another time .

Wind back the clock to 6.15. It is cold and morning is just breaking and we were leaving home . The journey took us through familiar countryside . Around Whitchurch and to Newport. Through Warwickshire and Northamptonshire and over the QE2 bridge . We had £10 left on the Dartford crossing so sailed over to Kent and our next stop fuel at the Tesco store near to Ashford. Lunch was taken in Junction 24 the usual stop for us when we had Gabby. We arrived at the train terminal around 3 hours early but managed to get on a crossing at 1.15 pm rather than 2.50pm . It was still a long wait one that could have been shortened had we paid another £82 . We rather wait a little longer than pay that much extra . The crossing was Ok apart from being stopped by french checks of the steering wheel and the car handles for drugs. A further delay having to take my glasses off for the french customs guy who decided he was not sure it was me on the passport . We ended up in the double decker part of the train. The entrance is tiny compared to the one used by large vehicles . The ramp made it difficult to judge where the front of the car was . Not a pleasant experience but in the end we got to Calais .

Our hotel had been a worry . In the end we did have to go next door to check in. We paid 10 euros each for breakfast in the morning . The room was fine but a little odd with artexed ceilings, a microwave, a cooker and a fridge . The bed was clean and comfortable . We had WiFi and a sea view . Parking was a nightmare . Cars came in and out and we worried about the car with no name . It felt odd having to keep going down to bring things up to the room . We ate at the restuarant next door which was a nightmare . It took a long time to get served and we almost walked out. Eventually we ordered a veal dish for Glenn and beef in beer casserole with ginger bread . They both came with salad and chips . Mine to be fair was probably more interesting than Glenns . I refused to leave a tip and gave the correct money . So annoyed I felt with the lack of service . Lets hope that our hotel tomorrow turns out to have a fayre than tonights . Not sure we are going to get a good nights sleep . Probably we will be worried about the car . Our next door neighbours are a family of around 20 mostly very noisy children . Twice already I have had to open the door and glare at them . They are out at the moment so we imagine in a while they will be back banging doors and shouting . The joys of hotels in France . Still it has been a good day seeing the dragon and hopefully that will make up for any noise they make .

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