Au Brazza Calais

... For dinner I initially asked for a hamburger, but was told they were sold out, so I went for a Cheval (horse) Steak instead. It tasted similar to beef, though it had a different after taste...but it wasn't a fillet, instead it was like a burger patty...so whether I ended up with Cheval or Beef I don't know! Either way it was a good meal. We had a few drinks then turned in for the night, as we had to meet up at about 9am for the first day of the rally.

... and the view beyond the walls. There were parks, sports facilities and monuments all along the outside of the wall and a gorgeous walking path for joggers and dog walkers on the inside of the wall. We eventually came to the Castle fortress which had since been modified into a museum which was unfortunately closed on Tuesdays. One interesting thing in the city center was an art project. It was about how nature will ...

... ribs) where there was a rather amusing urinal (see picture).

We left Calais and headed for a campsite which wasn’t the greatest and didn’t have very nice bathroom facilities but at least it was a gorgeous night. We spent an hour or so with our heads sticking out of the van and enjoying the stars. Love those nights! The next day we made our way to Boulogne to see the sights (see next ...

With the time difference we arrived in Boulonge at 2:30 and headed south to the village of Montreuil-Sur-Mer. Sur Mer means on the sea, but deceptively this place is more than 15 miles inland. That's ok though I had been here each year while in London on a boys booze cruise ...

Those of the doubting thomas's variety would not beleive that the dynamic trio have made it to the first port of call, literally.
We have entered the port of Dover and are well and truly on our way. However, it has not been without incident!!
!!! ! We finally left B\stoke at 8.50pm and promptly sat on the M3 for the next two hours, only to come back into
B\stoke cos we missed it so much. A few back road ...

We set off to France today for a new period in our life in Europe.
Work still chugs on, but with only 12 shifts in 42, we have plenty of time to ourselves.
We decided those "spare" 30 days should be spent in Europe.

I'll skip over the months of research and prep work and bring us up to today where we are now on the 4pm ferry instead of the 2pm ...

... lots of miles still to do, the temperature is increasing, the motorways are very light on traffic and I manage to put a lot of miles away. I start to see signs for Calais, Ok it's over 300km away but I grit my teeth and start to wonder if I can make it to Calais tonight, as darkness sets in the temperature drops below zero and I start to fantasise about getting home to my own bed. I get to a point about 100km from Calais where I ...

... Tower rises above all other monuments of Paris, welcoming us to the city of light. We drive directly to our dinner before checking into the hotel. Afterwards we go the hotel in La Defense, which is essentially a town connected to Paris that has been built for the purpose of trade. There are skyscrapers and hotels and that's about it. We are hoping to check in quickly, drop our bags in our rooms, then run back out to Montemartre to see the Basilica of the ...

... ferry booking we had and our late arrival time in France. 2) The need to have a hotel stop due to the above. 3) The need to save on toll charges to pay for the hotel above. 4) The opportunity to get a cheaper fuel top up in Luxembourg The plan was to check into a prebooked Ibis Hotel before 22:00 just south of the Luxemburg boarder

... farm. One (big) church towns. Off to the west, I could see blue sky, the first since Monday, it was nice to feel the sun again. My blue lobster agreed. The intersection between N8 and E40 (to Calais) was convoluted. They are rebuilding the intersection with a large roundabout and information center. In the mean time, the whole area of torn up and the sighs pointing to E40 where point in the wrong way or across blocked off lanes. It was horrible. I did get lost. I have been ...