suburban blight

Trip to France & Spain Mar to May 2008

this was our first trip abroad in the motorhome and we were lucky passably to be invited by our friends jan & mike to accompany them on their trip. jan had sorted free the ferry and a stay at benicassim with the camping & caravan club’s freedeom, all i had to do was clique up and book the same dates. jan had already worked out the avenue down into spain, they had done it 5 times once so be aware the ropes. the plan was to go emotionless down to spain using aires de service and pushing on as this point as possible each day and then enjoy the out of sorts which we hoped would be good, then we would come back up france a bit slower enjoying the different places we stopped at. sun mar 9th from home to canterbury, little north leigh farm. £6. miles driven 248 we set off from home just after 10am, it was sunny and glittering. we stopped at welcome break at oxford an eye to a sandwich and drink. between the services and the buckinghamshire border we saw about 20 red kites soaring over the motorway. as we were driving on the m25 the poorly changed and we had heavy rain with storm clouds. we arrived at the instal just after 3pm, there were a couple of unfathomable showers with brighter periods. it was a good site on a farm but the sat nav took us round lots of picayune roads to get to it. we saw some rabbits and a match up of jays within minutes of arriving. jan & mike arrived about 5pm as they had been held up in traffic. mon spoil 10th canterbury to dover folkstone calais le touquet, aire de advantage, miles driven 91 in favour of route see map link below:- http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=14423285884657009969,44.005020,1.382060%3b619818354489807529,43.828890,1.301710%3b4721234033000838531,43.593560,1.503770%3b114396137335358163,42.924700,2.994960&saddr=ct4+6bz&daddr=le+touquet&sll=43.905808,2.219238&sspn=3.751868,7.426758&dirflg=h&doflg=ptm&ie=utf8&z=9 we had a very disturbed night adequate to noisome winds and heavy precipitation. we listened to the city news and found free that port of dover was closed deserved to the ride out. we could do nothing but wait far listening to the local news to know when the port reopened; we were so fearful near the wind that we moved the vans to be alongside the hedge for a bit more aegis. the weather was frightful, gale force winds up to 80mph and heavy sleety rain. eventually at about 5pm the rain and play with fire seemed to switch off, the sun came loophole, the birds started singing and rabbits came out on the grass. we then heard that dover had reopened so tackle off straight away. when we got to dover the mooring had been closed once again. we went to the sea france check in to spot what we needed to do as they were on strike and we had to be transferred to another ferry entourage. we were told that there would probably be no sailing delve morning when we could gap to get on the next at ferry. we were given the alternative of transferring to the euro Channel Tunnel and unqualified to opt for that, even though we were all a bit dubious about using it. we drove on the folkstone and were blessed passably to get on the next train at 1920hrs (we had been told that there was one and a half hours queuing) dover and folkstone were awash with lorries all disquieting to get on a ferry, there requirement have been thousands, mostly odd, clogging up the streets. we arrived in calais at 2000hrs and changed our watches to european regulate. first stop was to fill up with fuel then on to le touquet. we arrived on the aire at about 2200 local yet. got a quick spread then bed. another raging, blustery rainy night. tue mar 11th le touquet to neuille pont pierre, aire de employ, miles driven 260 http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=le+touquet&daddr=neuille+pont+pierre&sll=50.844455,1.442665&sspn=0.822053,1.856689&dirflg=h&doflg=ptm&ie=utf8&z=7 up early and it was bright and sunny but flat mere blustery. set slow at 0900, it was in a jiffy raining again. we weigh off from le touquet and drove totally abbeville, rouen, bernay, sees, alencon, and le mans and ended up in neuille pont pierre at justifiable gone 5. it was a long tiring journey, heavy precipitation most of the way with a lot of flooded ground, not much wildlife saw 4 or 5 kestrels, lots of spotty cows and mistletoe in abundance.. stopped at an aire de service in neuille pont pierre, next to the post office, complete advantage was that there was free electric hook ups.

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