France 58 - Day 2 no power to the tunnel and a long walk we didnt do

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Day 2 and Suzy and the gang woke up early. The pidgeons had kept us awake through the early hours of the morning cooing and billing. Sion wanted to shoot them but we thought better of it.

The first job of the day was the breakfast routine. Coffee with nothing else for me and croissants, marmalade and tea for Glenn. I then headed off to the ablutions block. A neat and tidy although old fashioned little building with ample shower, toilet and wash basin cubicles. The floor was covered with Ruabon heather brown tiles slightly unfashionable now, the walls a 70’s/80’s style peach tile. The cubicles were large with plenty of room for clothes and towels to be hung on hooks. And a seat to ponder the world going by. Water hot and plenty of it.

The M42 was fairly quiet with some work being undertaken to upgrade it to managed motorway status something I don’t readily understand. We travelled through Warwickshire passed the turnings for Warwick itself and on to Oxfordshire quickly followed by Buckinghamshire where we stopped at Beaconsfield Services for breakfast.

On the way we pondered the new driving fines for using mobile phones, tailgating and hogging the middle lanes. It seems the current fine for using your mobile whilst driving has had little effect on some drivers who still drive with one hand on the wheel and the other holding the mobile phone. Perhaps the new fine would make a difference. And then there is lane hogging. It seemed to be a mixture of young girl drivers or old women who hogged the lanes and drove for miles in the middle lane. Tailgating well how do you police that one. One minute fine the next someone moves over the lanes in front of you and you are tailgating. This kept us busy putting the world to rights until we reached the motorway service station.

There was plenty of parking to the front and side with designated large spots for caravans and motorhomes. What amazes me is the need for car drivers to park up in the larger spots and ignore their own plots. Are they not able to read or don’t they just care? The second I think.

In the car park were a group of “foreign motorhomers” or as we call them travellers. Parked up they looked as if they had been there weeks as they had strewn rubbish and their belongings all around their vans. Dirty children played in the dirt around their cars. There was a small yapping dog running around the car park harassing all the cars. Sion thoughts were all around how he wished a lorry would run the dog over. He is a naughty sheep sometimes.

Breakfast was a bacon batch. When I asked for one I was asked if I would like sausage on it. No thankyou . The bacon butty is fine, just that and a cappacino and an espresso. How about eggs on it. No thanks but I will have a few mushrooms. It seemed that you could have four items and we had only asked for two. Eventually they accepted we did not want the other two items and we paid our bill of £14.50, used the very clean toilets and went back to the Suzy. There were a good choice of other outlets M & S always good for a sandwich and a cream cake, Noodles to Go, and others I cannot remember but catering for all tastes.

Feeling fully satiated we set off for the rigours of the M25 London Orbital Road which is always a nightmare whatever time of day you arrive. The traffic was busy but not nose to tail as it was on the other side of the road. Ever onwards past Heathrow Airport and on to Kent. This road again being treated to road works which were causing mayhem. We arrived at Eurotunnel at 11.50, checked in and were offered an earlier train at 1.20 instead of 2.20. Partial result as we still had an hour to waste.

We walked around for a bit, sat around and eventually got the call to embark. Our gas was checked by two security guards as we left our parking space. A first as they are normally checked further up the queue. Straight through passport control with just a wave of our red British passports and into the queue for the train. Not much of a wait – 10 mins at most and then we were off. But only as far as the train. Normally it goes on time.. You know there is something wrong when five minutes passes and the train still sits in the station and by 10 mins panic has set in. And then came the announcement. There was no power in the tunnel, the problem was being looked at and they offered their apologies but were not sure when they would get the train running. After 10 mins a guy came round to explain there was still a problem and they were working on it – more apologies. Eventually after 50 mins of sitting in a hot motorhome we set off for France. Partway through the journey Andy one of the “guards” came round and we sat talking to him about France and his job. He works 8 and a half hours a day four days on and four days off and he was now into working overtime as his shift should have finished. He was a lovely guy who helped us pass the 35mins journey in a really pleasant way. The couple behind us spent the entire journey on a mobile phone, sleeping and reading celebrity gossip magazine Hello.

We drove off the train into a mixed French weather day. The roundabouts were yet again an interesting diversion to driving. One with a full cottage garden another with ladybirds resplendent in red and black and a third with a cart full of flowers. Arriving in Eguisen Plage at La Falaise Campsite close to Bologne. A hilly campsite on the edge of town. The receptionist was pleasant and we were given plot 40, a door key to open the barrier and two tokens for the showers. We parked up next to a German couple and their dog. We spent a lovely half hour discussing their and our own travel plans. This was an ACSI site and were charged 16 euro 90 cents to stay. There were some downsides to the campsite. The first it was a long walk downhill to the town and the beach. Fine on the way down but horrendous on the way back. There were no shops handy and the showers were noisy and cold. They were functional white tiled – nothing fancy. The washing up area was outside. A change from last night when I washed up under cover. We tried to go for a walk to some WW2 bunkers but there was a large security fence all round the site and it was impossible to get to the path behind it. The lower part of the site was full of statics.



Perhaps it was England we could see in the distance – no wonder William the Conqueror coveted it. We had wanted to have our first meal on French soil but it was not to be. At least though we were in La Belle France, WiFi was working courtesy of our Toggle SIM card as there was none available on the site. I did however wonder if with hindsight the aire down the road might have been a better and cheaper option for the night. It would have cost less, we could have walked into town as it was right close to the beach.

All in all though a good site and one we perhaps would use again if our paths took us this way in the future. Tomorrow the road to Le Mans.

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Comments

[traveltalesofawoollymammoth]

How Many Breakfasts does a Sheep Need!!!
I am so jealous you are having breakfasts everywhere, I'm lucky if I get one a day! Love Woolly xx