Cottage Hotel Calais

We awoke to the noise of trucks and early morning deliveries..Took Lucy for walk and packed van ready to hit the road again..Start? Yes!!

Breakfast at the Happy Chef opposite the Marina in Dover was very welcomed, and to be recommended. We will be checking out Uncle Sam's next time we pass through. Now down to the Ferry port for check in..

Ooh la la......

So this is where it all started. We all gathered in the Restaurant, with our vehicles lined up outside.
The teams were all given two eggs to keep safe for the week, and a set of challenges including a bingo card to collect photos of things we might see on the way.

The Road book was handed out, along with the t shirts, and we all lined up for team photos ...

... they served FLAPS lol what the hell......yet again another laughing fit after the joke made about meat and beavers, it hurt to laugh), anyway the waitress thought he was about to throw up in the menu.

Our friend that came on the rally with us, Irish Tash, was left with the bill of 73Euro. When she went to pay, she was told by the manager that she had to pay another 5 euro due to our behaviour causing 2 ...

We got to the campsite at about 9:30.

Then the party games began. We played putting up tents in the dark, cooking for 8 in the dark (which turned out delicious cheers logistics team), unpacking kit, blowing up airbeds - with no alcohol consummed.

Then suddenly there were some squeals ...

Spend a long day travelling and our campsite provides overnight accommodation ahead of our crossing tomorrow. The weather is really blustery, wild winds interspersed with showers. We arrive to late to use the onsite swimming pool but have a lovely French meal in a restaurant right next to ...

... point, my hands are greasy and bleeding and his look like a baby's behind. Then he charges us. We called Peugeot to raise hell, but as you'll soon find out, I guess he deserved the cash. Anyway, onto the beach. To try and make ourselves less furious, we picked up a twelve pack of Stella (which is incredibly cheap here... only 4 Euro for the 12... I know, right?) and booked it out to Sangatte. We figured we'd camp there for the day/night because ...

... number of other villages nearby and buy a very good bottle of dessert wine called Muscat de Beaume de Venise. So now it's party time and I head for the tiny village of Lucinges near Geneva. Lucinges doesn't actually appear on my French map so I stop in at a petrol station and browse through a local map and try and memorise enough of the directions to find it, which fortunately I do. Ana has recently moved to Lucinges (from Leysin in Switzerland) to live with her partner ...

... us. Uh-oh. So we walked a little faster to the bus to find we were the last ones back. This was weird because I could have sworn that Mattais was behind us for most of the trip. But, no one seemed upset so no harm no foul, I guess. Canterbury was fun especially considering I was able to finally find stamps and some cheapie little souveniors and a couple of neat postcards. After finally reaching the bus, we climbed aboard and started off for Dover. I took ...

... because I went into one because I heard they had free WiFi; they didn't, so I left. You can guess that they didn't really believe me. Damn French. Well, I arrived in Calais with only a few ruffled feathers. The first TI I visited was utterly useless, and I was about to give up, when I ate a damn good pannini, and decided to try going on a random excursion, looking for a place to stay. This turned out to be longest damn random ...

We soon climbed out of the tunnel and raced towards the train's first stop at Lille. The land was flat, bathed in sunshine and looking decidedly and strangely 'foreign' !!!

We were served with a late lunch during this section of the ride. Well cooked and well served! Also with a nice glass of champagne!!!