I spent all day planning, preparing, throwing more things
into the van I probably wouldn’t need. I kept trying to sleep throughout the day in preparation for the big journey ahead but my mind would not shut down. I felt excited until torrential rain hit and the
passenger door and two rear windows were leaking and flooding the van. I had to
throw the tarpaulin over and use some silicone to seal the leaks. Finally 10pm
came and I was trucking straight down to Dover to catch the 4.20 am ferry to
Calais.
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| Keeping the van watertight whilst I work on sealing the leaks, 3 hours before I’m due to leave! |
I hardly noticed the journey as the adrenaline began; I was
so focused on the road ahead I could not wait to get to the ferry. Whilst on
the M25 the rain started hammering down, at first I was concerned about
the water pouring in again then the driver’s side wiper shot off over the back
of the van leaving me with almost no vision for a good 20 miles as I prayed
for motorway services. I pulled in to find the awning strapped to the roof rack caught the wiper!
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| Wahey, we made it onto the Ferry! Approaching a very wet Calais imagining the adventures ahead. |
It's a weird sensation driving on the right hand side of
the road but I got used to it quickly whilst on the AutoRoute. When I entered Reims it was a whole different story navigating through towns so I just followed what the cars in front did. The first Motorhome stop over did
not seem to exist, I searched down the streets and I felt like I was in the
right area but I couldn’t find it anywhere. I decided to pull
over and search for my next option which was a campsite I had found whilst doing some research before the journey. I soon found out that didn’t seem to exist either. My mind was so focused as the thought of even more driving was the last thing I wanted to do!
I used the satnav's near-by function which suggested Camping de Val de Vesle. I was pretty unimpressed as I was almost
at the campsite and all around me was farm land for miles. But lo and behold, the satnav directed me to
the small site tucked behind a farm. It was an excellent campsite and
reasonable price at €12 including electric. Everything was going so well but the weather didn’t agree as it was thunder
and lightning all day, turned out to be a good excuse to catch up on sleep and watch
films.
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| Frisky in her natural habitat (Ignore the pink curtains!) |
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