We made it. We are in France. Thank the lord! I knew we were coming, but I guess I always thought it just wouldn’t come, as if I’d forever be saying “We’re going away in 6 months, 5 months, 4 months” etc but we’re officially here now!
Since Monday, every day has been really quiet hectic. We were absolutely non stop on Monday, getting our safe fitted (thanks Glenn), going into Southampton and Eastleigh to buy lots of bit’s that we’d either forgotten or just left to the last minute, packing and saying our goodbyes - it was just manic from sun rise until we’d finished watching Max and Paddy’s Road to Nowhere at about 2am on Tuesday morning. What a fantastic way to end the day, and a perfect way to mark the beginning of our trip.
We were up on Tuesday at 5.45am and drove up to Mikes Granddad’s where Eric was parked, filled up with water, loaded everything up and we were on the road before 7am to get to Dover for our 12.05 sailing with Sea France (£36 for two and a motor home! Cheap as chips.) We arrived very early at around 10am as traffic was non existent in most parts and we were put on the earlier sailing of 11.05. We weren’t first in the queue but we were put on the ferry first, which made us feel quite smug, and of course that meant we were first off when we reached Calais - which made us feel even more smug.
We arrived in Calais and it only took us a few minutes to get off the ship and out onto the main roads. By this point we have not had to show our Passports once, not even to the French authorities! We hope this care free attitude applies to all our border crossings, although we don’t expect it.
Driving on the right hand side of the road took around 13 seconds to get used to, it’s really easy. It seems that everyone and everything is so much more laid back than England and we’re were still only in the port of Calais. We headed down the D940 along the coast line and we were heading towards Berck-sur-Mer where we knew there was an Aire de Service, thanks to our ‘Camperstop Guide Book‘, and also thanks to two gentlemen on the MotorhomeFun website, whose usernames escape me at present, but we thank you for your advice all the same.
We passed so many places for Motor homes were parked in the first 50miles along the D940 and it gave us great hope for the rest of our trip. In England parking anywhere in any vehicle is practically prohibited, but it seems here that Motor homes are welcomed and encouraged.
We didn’t find the Aire in Berck-sur-Mer. This may have been because I had been driving for so long and didn’t get much sleep last night, and Mike was quite ill so needed to sleep, so we were hardly at our most observant by this time. However, we did find a large car park in the town of Berck where 7 other motor homes were parked, there was no electricity or water or and services at all, but we were safe in the knowledge that we were not alone. We settled down and got an early night.
We awoke early Wednesday morning and had breakfast before walking around town and stumbled across a market place selling all sorts of fruits, cheeses and bon-bons! We are on a very tight budget, so needless spending is off the agenda - but we did get a free tester of French cheese so we were already 1 piece of cheese up.
That’s probably worth about 10p. Good news.After spending the day in Berck we took the short drive to nearby Le Crotoy, again down the D940 and after about 30 minutes of going back and forth trying to find the Aire, we stopped and asked a chap outside his house for directions. He didn’t speak English but he told us left, and it was literally two minutes from where we were. Our first Aire! Hoorah! (Pictured left) It was actually a quite joyous moment, we’d found an Aire and nobody can tell us to move on! Parking costs 5 Euros for 24hours and for 2 Euros we got 55 minutes of electricity and 10 minutes of drinking water.
When filling up with water, we were using two 1.5litre bottles, and we thought that was alright. We attracted quite a crowd though, and someone quickly came over to lend us their large watering can! And two minutes after that a different man gave us his hose to use, we couldn’t believe peoples friendliness, we were pleasantly surprised. We’re the only English here, but I don’t think people are holding that against us.
We’re now going to head to the beach as it seems that we’re about 2 minutes walk from it, but we’re not quite sure. It’s 19.50 and it’s still lovely and warm, not a cloud in the sky.
I could get used to this Motorhoming lark.
(Below: Another view of our Aire in Le Crotoy)
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