JayesJaunts

Got up early and had breakfast while it was raining. Our route out of Brussels also looked doubtful as the local main roads were being closed for a half marathon around Brussels. Having packed the car between rain showers and said our goodbyes to Tom, Marta, Hannah and Dinah we decided to make an early start for the Eurotunnel. As we set out, the road we wanted was closed in parts but we were able to make progress in slip roads alongside the main road we needed. In some parts we were unable to access the tunnels through Brussels city centre but managed to make progress on the surface tracking the route of the tunnels. Eventually, we left the half marathon route behind and made good progress out of Brussels onto the A10 motorway. Considering it ... read more

We set off in the sunshine after a reasonable last night in the Premiere Classe hotel. These budget hotels have been quite good for the type of journey we were doing but their WiFi connection was so bad, we had to resort to uploading the photos for the blog via the mobile phone connection a few times. The route from Troyes was almost due north for a good stretch and we were expecting to drive through heavy rain for most of the day, given the weather forecasts we had seen. In actual fact, the roads were dry and clear and we made good progress, stopping near Reims for the first refreshment break. We also needed fuel for the last time in France and resorted to motorway service station prices for the first time this trip. We ... read more

It was our intention to make an early start this morning as we had a long drive to do and wanted to spend some time at the Viaduct Millau. As it worked out, neither of us woke before 8am so it was nearly 9am before we managed to hit the road. We are now the proud owners of an electric kettle so we are able to have cups of tea (with English tea bags) whenever we stop off for the night and can make a flask of tea to take with us on our travels. A nice cup of tea is definitely what you need before a trip like this. Neal started off this morning driving down the motorway to Brive and then we started on the smaller D roads that would take us across the ... read more

Had an interesting night’s sleep a hundred yards from the main road in a Premier Classe Hotel, rumoured to be an ex prison, (might need to re-think the budget hotels!) but it was warm and dry and had secure parking and WiFi. Decided to forego the vending machine breakfast and head off to the next stop on the road. We decided not to do Bayeux as the museum wouldn’t be open on a Bank Holiday (it was the Bank Holiday for Pentecost in France) but headed instead for Mont-St-Michel to compare it to the Cornish equivalent. It seemed to be almost directly on our route but was actually an hour’s detour once we got off the main road onto minor country roads. This gave us chance to test the Porsche handling and, I am glad to ... read more

Plans Neal recently purchased a Porsche 911 and wanted to take it for a good trip as up to now he has only really used it for the occasional commute to work and visits to friends and family. So the plan is to take it for a spin on a week-long tour around France. The car is a 2001 Porsche 911 Carrera (a 3.6l, rear-wheel drive, manual 996 for those who care about these sorts of things) and is a real racer. We have had to promise not to try to see what its top speed is on this trip. It has only just left the garage where it was being repaired on Saturday but we hope this means it is in good condition now and we get us around the route. Getting ready As we ... read more