France 83 - we're all going on a summer holiday ..............no more working for a week or two


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Europe » France » Nord-Pas de Calais » Boiry Notre Dame
April 13th 2015
Published: April 22nd 2015
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D Day minus 3 - three more sleeps. I sound like a child waiting for a holiday or for my birthday or Christmas. And of course Sion keeps asking "Are we there yet?" He looks forward to sharing his adventure of travelling across Europe with his best friend Woolly Mammoth who currently is in Spain . In search of latrines, a fancy roof or two, manholes and pistachio nuts he has his little book handy and his pencil at the ready. And his head has swollen out of all proportion now he has joined the Hall of Fame. He won't fit in the motorhome if he carries on.

Suzy has had a spit and a polish and looks ready for trip . Will it be Iberia or will it be Italy and Croatia? The weather is still mixed so the decision has not quite been made but it looks as if things are tipping in the favour of Italy. And so it is that we set off on our summer holiday. Sadly Cliffs 60's record is not quite correct as it is just Spring and not Summer and we are away for 28 days rather than just a week or two.

The day before the night before we left home was dedicated to the usual last minute preparations Fixing vignettes to Suzy’s windscreen, putting our clothes in , the laptop, electrical gadgets, passports and Suzy’s bag of documents and finally the last few days of work. To be fair my thoughts had not been entirely on work.

The night before the big day arrived as usual found us with the butterflies in our stomachs. Butterflies that felt like a herd of elephants dancing a jig. Had we packed everything? Well no we had not . When we set up for the first night in France I realised that I had left both pairs of trainers at home so am left with one uncomfortable pair of leather shoes which make my toes sore . This must be the first time that I have forgotten something so important .

We did not sleep well. We never do. We toss and turn all night waiting for the alarm to go off. Lying in the darkness waiting for the big day to arrive. Waiting for the alarm to go off.

Being two weeks earlier than normal it was still dark when the alarm pinged itself into life. In the darkness not one soul was awake apart from us. We breakfasted, we put the last few things into Suzy and got ready for the off when first light broke.

We said farewell to Derbyshire and headed off for the M1 which as always was busy. Roadworks littered mile after mile as the central barriers were being replaced. Work was scheduled to be completed by Summer 2015. Who are they kidding? We criss crossed Derbyshire into Nottinghamshire and back again , crossing the Trent and Erewash rivers. Into Leicestershire and ever southward. Our journey thwarted at times as we crawled along due to accidents along the way. Mangled cars with mangled bonnets. But Suzy ate the miles through Leicestershire, over the Dartford Crossing where we used our Dart Tag for the first time. In the past we have paid at the peage but this year a system has been set up where you drive through, your registration is recognised and unless you have pre-paid you have until midnight the next day to pay the charge or be fined.

Field after field of agricultural land, oilseed rape yellow in colour lined the motorway having escaped from cultivation, primroses and cowslips pretty in the motorway slip roads. We stopped for bacon sandwiches and tea at South Mimms services.

For once we were not offered an earlier crossing on the Tunnel and had to sit until our proper boarding time at 12.50. Boarding went as always perfectly and we flew through the tunnel and arrived at Calais Clocks put forward an hour, the doors opened and the first few cars left. Then to our horror we were stuck. A van driven by a Slovakian driver had broken down and was blocking our escape. We had to sit for a while until a breakdown truck entered the train and removed the offending white van from the train.

Our second surprise leaving the train was the number of immigrants lining the roads leading to the train. Armed police moved amongst the dirty dishevelled bunch of immigrants. They were trying to sneak a ride to Britain either inside or underneath cars and motorhomes. A rude awaking to see what was actually happening in France.

We drove past the allotments where the gardeners were beginning to cultivate their plots. Straw laid down for the strawberries. Farmers in their fields putting down fertiliser or ploughing arrow straight furrows.

We arrived at our pretty overnight stop Camping Le Haute Paille which was in the middle of nowhere. The grounds were imacculate with cherry trees in blossom, chicken roaming the grassy pitches and reception was closed. We fell into conversation with another English couple who had just arrived and they told us to park up and come back at 5 to pay which we did. All the pitches were grass but luckily there had been no rain so they were rock solid. There was an outdoor swimming pool sadly closed until June and a restaurant on site – closed til June. At 5 I popped over to see Madame to pay, the boulanger van called round between 8.30 and 9 in the morning if we wanted bread and the cost 16 euros as it was an ACSI site .

We had a fantastic nights sleep in complete silence apart from the bull finches, the yellow finches and the blackbirds. Us , two tuggers who struggled to park their van, a handful of Dutch vans and a couple of Brits. WiFi was free but too slow to work but we did manage to watch British TV and the political debate between the Labour leader Ed Milliband, the Green woman whose name escapes me, Leanne Plaid Cymru, Nigel Farage UKIP and Nichola SNP. Our PM Cam did not chose to join them as they discussed immigration and Ed called Nigel a racist, the Greens came up with various wacky ideas, Trident was bounced in and out of favour and housing shortages were done to death. At the end the SNP. Plaid and the Greens said they would not get into bed with the Tories, Ed refused to join with any other them and we are no nearer knowing if we will get yet another hung parliament. All good fun and games and I am glad we are out of the country .

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29th April 2015

You sum it up very well! 'I am glad we are out of the country' Enjoy your hols! I shall enjoy travelling with you.......
1st May 2015

Sardinia and sicily
Look forward to reading about your visit to Sicily.We were never going to go but oddly we have now added it to the must do places. We are currently sitting in a camperstop on our own in a farm in the middle of nowhere and they are cooking us spag bol for tea and we are drinking chianti wine . Sod the politics and the elections keep me here :)

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