Holiday Inn Calais-Coquelles

... admit that not too many of my fellow countrymen would have even such an imperfect idea of what was going on in any other country of the world, so I had to grant them that at least. <br><br>Finally they moved on to the subject of California wines, of which the expert explained, we had almost none of the white variety, only red. Some of them are pretty good; he went on, (although they&#8217;re really just varieties of French wines&#8230;).<br><br>Then they moved closer to home ...

... Dan and Charles. It's a beautiful little town and one I was keen to show Kim. It is has high walls that runs 3km around it (perfect for our run morning run the next day!) and is situated atop a hill, so very picturesque.<br><br>PS. Le Coq Hardi is the local brand of beer

... br>The parade through Calais followed, with all the vehicles making as much noise as possible. The navigators were all frantically trying to work out where to go.<br>Unfortunately, we followed a group along the motorway, missing the correct exit. That was a mistake which we decided not to repeat again - we needed to have confidence in our own skills.<br><br>We ...

... to walk out, and me throwing up right outside!!! Not happy Ooops...<br><br>That was last night,<br><br>Today we will drive 580 + miles in our spongebob squarepants painted Volvo, to Sarnen in Switzerland. Our challenge for today is 'Picture Treasure Hunt' of 1 hot air balloon, 4 cop cars, 1 Mustang, 1 Ferrari 430 with one team member in the picture, 1 flag etc. <br><br>We got 6 out of the 8 &#8211; a fun days drive!!

... due to a couple of little incidents on the way. We had a new inverter delivered yesterday morning as the original failed on Friday so I attempted to install that this morning but ran out of time. We were making good time to Dover but we needed to fill up the gas before we left the country as we had no time to get a French adaptor. The pump we found filled ...

... downstairs, excited to visit Sangatte and see the beach, and the tire was inexplicably flat. So, like ya do, I got down on my haunches and started with the jack and the tire iron. John decided to call Peugeot Assistance (shout-out to those guys, they're freaking life savers) because he was angry at this point, and by the time the guy got to us, I had the spare on. He shooed me away and started tightening the screws and putting the rim back on. At ...

... and go down for a wine-tasting. Unerringly, I have chosen probably the most expensive wines to try - a friendly young man takes me through a half dozen of their vintages, and the wines vary from around 60 to well over 100 euros a bottle. I thank him warmly, climb the steps up to street level without a wobble, then go and buy a Jeroboam (1.5 litres) of 2001 vintage. The day becomes a bit of a blur of driving and wine-tasting (yes, I spit it out, but not always) and I visit ...

... my sudden and inexplicable Catholicism was interesting. I told her that I respect the significance of the rituals of catholicism, (plus, wiccan pray and light candles, too). On the way back to the bus I took my time and tried to buy some turkish delight for Jesus but the guy running the stand was so slow that I was worried about making the rest of the group late so I gave up. But, as we walked back to the bus, I noticed that there was no one ahead or ...

... my first transfer went all right, but the second one in France was a bit weird. Apparently, I'm a pot-smoking vagrant, because once the train was en route, three freakin French immigration officials searched interrogated me on my where abouts, and of course the second they heard Amsterdam, they demanded that they search my backpack. They also asked multiple times if I had been in the coffee shops, I said no, which was a white lie ...

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' !!!<br><br>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!!! <br>