The tour is on!

 Yep, you read it right, Agy has left the little island; visited the big island and is on the road again!!

We left our little island on a different ferry route than usual (mainly because for the first time Wightlink was cheapest) and headed to see friends on the way to a family gathering. It’s always wonderful to see people, but when you live on an island ( yes I know the UK is all an island - but ours is extra little) and travel has been restricted, you don’t see friends as often, so we take any opportunity we can to stop off or divert to see friends on our travels. We first met these friends at Easter around 2008 (I think) when we turned up at St Andrews Methodist church  in Swindon for the first time, hoping to find an Easter morning service we would enjoy, and possibly a church we wanted to attend. And we did! We soon became friends with David and Anne, so it was a joy to stop off and catch up. Although Ian is still reeling from the unexpected heat of the curry from the local curry house. Apologies for his loud expletive folks, hope they will allow you back!

From there we headed to meet my family where we were able to finally celebrate a delayed 90th birthday for dad and wonderful engagement for my niece. I love it when we gather new members in the family, and this one has some fabulous additions - Well picked E!

Next stop Folkestone to wait for our channel crossing. We booked into a campsite and as we

had a day to spare decided to visit Dover castle. We had a great day out, but I am very thankful we are members of English Heritage. If you are in the area and a member it’s worth a visit, but I certainly wouldn’t pay the entry fee. Somehow English Heritage manage to take historic buildings and make them seem dull, when in fact they have amazing history and stories to be told, they just don’t bring them to life. However, it’s an impressive site, has spectacular views, and got us out for the day.

Before we knew it we were avoiding the dreadful mess on the M20 and checking into the tunnel. We’d heard that earlier in the week  some had taken 2 hours to get thorough check in, passport control and customs, missing their booked trains and arriving late in France. We really didn’t want to risk that  as we wanted to get some miles under our belt across the channel before it got dark, so headed off early. Finding no queue! In fact almost nobody around and were soon boarding a train 2 hrs earlier than we’d booked. Success!

When you check in the main question we were asked was “is your gas off”, clearly most campervans have gas bottles on board for cooking and heating and fire in the tunnel is not good, so every van is checked, someone actually  twists the tap on the gas bottles to be extra sure, and this probably took longer than both passport controls, the police check and customs. Possibly because the man in question was keen on discussing Agy’s tyres. He very much approved! 

Having never been across the Tunnel by car or van before we’d watched plenty of YouTube videos of what to expect, but it really was simple, you drive onto the train, settle down, crack open the flask and have a coffee while you wizz under the sea! It’s brilliant!

Emerging into the afternoon sun in France, we headed south and aimed for an Aire just north of Paris. Aire’s are amazing places, and are really common in Europe having differing names in different countries, but in France they are Aires and most villages and towns have them. They are designated places where motorhomes and campervans can stay the night. They sometimes have water, electric hook up and a toilet, but often they don’t. Some are free, some have a small charge, but the hope is you will spend money in the local village, bringing a boost to places you wouldn’t otherwise ever visit. And that’s exactly what we did, we stopped at Pont-Sainte-Maxence in a free Aire, next to the river.  

 We ate in a little bistro, visited the supermarket where we spotted some unusual crisp flavours, slept well and set off early the next day. It was perfect.

As you may know (if you know us), I’m not that keen on driving, it isn’t about Agy, I just don’t like driving, but Ian had driven for hours the day before and isn’t really a morning person, so I said I would drive the morning stint. Turns out, the morning stint means the Paris ring road at rush hour, thankfully we made it in one piece. Good job I learnt to drive in Central London and traffic jams of 4 lanes don’t phase me. There are no photos of this incredible achievement as Ian was busy snoozing and navigating and I was driving, but believe me, it was a crazy 3 hours in heavy rain to add to the joy..

Thankfully a service station appeared as the roads cleared and we headed to the motorway toll roads and Ian took over. I think we work best when Ian drives and I negotiate  how the toll booth works.

Once free of Paris we pointed Agy south and hardly saw anyone on the road, it was incredible. You never see the roads so empty in the UK, miles and miles of empty roads, beautifully kept (ok we were on the toll road for speed and ease). There are several routes south but we decided we’d really like to see the Millau bridge and drive over it, so took a slightly longer one to do that. 

When we watched the Top Gear team cross it, it seemed longer, if I’m honest it wasn’t as impressive as the Dartford or Humber bridges, never mind the Severn bridge, and maybe we needed to head down into the valley rather than drive over it, so we could see it in all its glory, but we have seen it, and probably won’t go that way again.

After a full days driving, Ian doing the vast majority, we found another Aire in La Cavalerie, battled with the barrier/payment system whilst more than a bit hangry, but after a phone call to the Camping Car helpdesk, we were in! The village once again welcomed visitors and we had an amazing dinner in a local hotel, practising our French, that surprisingly, (since I was terrible at it in school) seemed to be understood.

  

After another brilliant night's sleep we set off again, past vineyards, up and over some of the Central Massive mountain range (somehow in my exhaustion the day before I thought we crossed the Pyrenees)  and on more empty roads we travelled down huge mountain roads with spectacular views and had a quick stop for lunch.

Then we crossed into Spain. We’d done it, safe and sound and Agy had been like a dream all the way. It’s like she is made for big journeys. Let the Sangria flow, and the sunshine glow.