Dover to Calais to Bruges

November 24th - 26th 2012
At long last we have made the crossing over to France in a motor home that so far appears to be working well.  We took the early ferry to Calais and then drove straight down to Bruges arriving at lunchtime.  With only a little trouble we found the 'aire' a special parking area specific for motor homes which provided us with overnight parking, water, electricity and waste disposal at minimal cost.  The site was along side the river and only a 5 minute walk into the medieval centre of this beautiful city. it was perfect for us and fortunately we arrived in time not to have to worry about finding a parking place but had we left it later we may have struggled as all the spots were full by the evening.  Why do we not have this type of facility in the UK?  It cannot cost much to provide and I am sure must bring in additional income into the town. 

Church tower at sunset

Night time in Brugges

 

The ice rink

Mike and I spent two days in Bruges. This gave us sufficient time to wander around the old town and admire the various buildings.  It also gave us time to sample the chocolates, waffles and of course the Belgian beers before we left.  Although still early in the season the town was well decorated with Christmas lights and there was a good atmosphere around the ice rink that had been created to coincide with the Christmas markets.  These we found disappointingly limited but there were so many shops around maybe there was no need for market stalls.

We woke on our second day to find that the rain had cleared and although very windy it was a lovely sunny morning.  We decided to cycle around the outskirts of the town, following the canals.  Cycling is such a great way to see a city.  We passed some lovely views, windmills, bridges and more old buildings.  Look at the photo of the lace work that has been incorporated into the chain link fencing that surrounded one of the windmills - such detail.

lace work on chain link fencing

A gate house

After cycling for a couple of hours or so we made our way back to Buster for a soup and pate ('Belgian coarse', of course) lunch and a short rest.  We then went back into town on foot to buy some Belgian chocolates.  This was not easy as there was so much choice with prices going up to 30 euros a kilo in some shops.  But we found some that we liked and we are now limiting ourselves to one a day.  Well, you can have too much of a good thing.  We had also decided that we needed a beer so we went to a bar we had seen the previous day that was advertising over 1000 different brews - again too much choice.  We went for a cherry flavoured version and a 'leffe type' beer.  Both were good but we were sitting in an outside bar terrace and we were getting cold so we went home to finish off with a bottle of Hoergaarden with a pasta supper.  It seemed a very apt way to spend our final hours in this part of Belgium.  Tomorrow we move onto Brussels.

Picking up Buster

November 19th 2012

On Sunday 18th November we left my Mum's house where she has kindly been putting us up for the past few weeks.  Unfortunately I think our bad luck has now rubbed off onto her as her heating boiler has packed up and been condemned by British Gas.  She has been left without any heating and only an immersion heater for hot water.  Hopefully it will all be sorted out for her soon but we did feel a little guilty leaving her despite her threats not to darken her door at least until Christmas.

We drove up to Newark in beautiful sunshine.  Our task today was to take everything out of our old vehicle and put into the new one.  Although the two vehicles are very similar in size the storage space on the new van is not as good and so Mike and I spent a few hours juggling everything around.  However by  suppertime we had most things in place and Mike had worked out all the gas, electrical and water systems and so we were able to cook our first meal in the new van. Mike christened the van by spilling his glass of wine but as there was more in the bottle it was not the disaster it could have been.

Our first night was disturbed by the constant roar of traffic on the nearby A1 but the bed was very comfortable and despite low temperatures outside we felt very snug.  Monday morning we had the official hand over when we had to hand over our keys for Hymie.  I felt rather sad as I had got attached to this van but she had failed to deliver the service we required so she had to go.  We had also identified a couple of minor (we hope) snags in the new van which are being rectified as I write and then it is down to Cathy's to hand over the Renault and then on to Wales to give the van a good test before we go abroad and to say a final farewell (again) to Richard and Louise. Mike having already said goodbye (again) to his kids at the weekend. We then plan to get to Dover for the 24th November.

Hymie swapped for Buster

Interior of Buster

Friday 9th November

Galley area in Buster

The sorry saga of our van continues.  As reported previously we were not able to pick up the van on our return from France.  In fact another electrical problem was found requiring yet another part from Europe.  We had had enough.  We contacted the people we purchased the van from to arrange a meeting with the sales director, service manger and customer service to discuss our van.  Mike was very clear that the van, despite all their efforts was still not ready and that this was seriously disrupting our travel plans; something had to be done.  The upshot was that they took the Hymer back we purchased a Burstner Solano in place of her.  Some of you may wonder why we did not do this weeks ago but it has been a difficult decision, partly because each time something has gone wrong it has been thought it has been fixed and it has only been on the next journey we have found out that there is still a problem.  Secondly and more importantly we took a long time, almost 6 months, to find a van that we thought would suit our travel requirements.  We had made modifications to it and it was set up for our journey.  Changing the vehicle would not be easy and we would probably have to make changes to it and of course, we had no guarantees that any new vehicle would be problem free.  Anyway with much deliberation we have now chosen Buster the Burstner.  It has a different living set up to Hymie but I am sure it will work for us.  Buster is two years younger and has less miles on the clock.  Buster is a manual drive so at least we wont have the problems we have had with an automatic gear box and lets hope there aren't any other problems.  We are getting the solar panels and other bits and pieces put on this week and hope to pick up the van at the weekend.  We then plan to give the vehicle a couple of good runs in this country before heading out.

A working holiday Oct 30th - 4th Nov

  
October 30th to November 4th
Our friends, Mark and Julie bought a small mud-built farmhouse 6-7 years ago that they have been slowly converting into holiday accommodation.  It is situated in Brittany just out side the town of Plumiere. Our original plan had been to see them within the first months of our travels coinciding with the half term holiday so that we could take Millie.  Of curse, we had no van to travel in and Millie didn't want to come as she was going to miss Halloween and firework festivities with her school friends.  Mike and I, still kicking our heels back in England, decided to fly over to see and help them in their final (well nearly) push to get their home ready.  We flew from East Midlands to Dinard airport with Ryan Air.  For all the bad publicity Ryan Air get we found the flight very efficient.  Providing you read Ryan Air's small print and make sure you have your boarding cards printed on one side of A4 paper and that your luggage meets their exact size requirements you really can keep the costs down.  Our flight was on time and with no 'checked' luggage we were off the plane and out of the airport within 10 minutes.  However Julie and Mark who were picking us up had met a 'deviation' and had got completely lost in the small roads of rural France and were an hour late picking us up.  But never mind.  It was good to see them and we drove into St Malo for supper.  St. Malo is a wonderful walled town despite being a major ferry port.  We visited the supermarche first to pick up food and drink supplies for the week.  (best buy 3 bottles of decent wine for just over 5 euros) and then went into the centre of the old town for mussels and frites finishing with the Bretagne specialty of crepes et beurre. 


We arrived at the house in the dark (awaiting electrical second fix), Mark arranged the lights and Julie lit the woodstove and we explored the house.  Downstairs was one large room divided by the stairs into kitchen and living area.  The house was beatuifully decorated in pale grey, with panelling around the walls and exposed beams.  Upstairs there were two good sized bedrooms and the bathroom.

The following day the weather was good so we decided to work outside.  The men did external painting and Julie and I started to clear the land of large boulders that had been revealed when the   area had been flattened ready for the lawn. (Note who was doing the heavy work!) I was also concerned about the mess on the back border of their land where they had had had a hedge removed and dumped.  My concern was that as there was so much soil in with the remains of the hedge it was beginning to resprout.  I think had it been left it would have started to regrow and cause a bigger problem in the spring.  Julie and I decided to tackle this area and soon we had a good bonfire going and we spent the rest of an exhausting day dragging out parts of the hedge and feeding the fire.  The bonfire went on to last the whole time we were in France.  The following days were spent indoors painting skirting, doors, bannisters etc and whilst the painting was not completed before we left, Julie and Mark were very pleased with what had been acheived by the four of us.

On our last night with them we drove to Josselin.  This town was beautiful, a large chateau high in the town over looking a large river.  We had a supper in a small French restaurant and it was a lovely treat after we had all worked so hard.  Saturday morning we were up early as Julie and Mark had to be in St Malo to get their ferry back home.  Our return flight was not until Sunday so they dropped us off in St. Malo and we spent the whole day walking and exploring the town thoroughly.  Thank goodness the weather was dry and sunny. We reached our hotel at about 4pm and fell on the bed and slept for an hour giving our aching legs a chance to recover.  There was no restaurant in the hotel and so in the evening we walked into the commercial centre and had a pizza and glass of beer.  Sunday we had to check out at 11 am, but our flight was not until 8pm, so we left our bags and went to explore another part of Bretagne.  Looking at the map we saw we could pick up the Brittany Coastal Path by walking through Saint Severan.  Again the weather was kind to us and although it was blustery it was sunny.  We walked for a couple of hours through a beautiful park, picking up the coastal route and then stopped at a beach-side cafe for a drink.  Continuing our walking we saw various 'places of interest' as well as beautiful coastal views. Our next stop was the boulangerie where I successful ordered sandwiches in French, we ate these in a bus shelter as a sudden shower arrived and the park did not seem such a good idea.  The shower was relatively short-lived so we were able to work our way back to the hotel without getting wet.

A taxi took us to Dinard for the flight home.  Again another efficient flight home but there was one thing that perplexed us whilst we were waiting for our plane to arrive.  Sitting in the departure lounge we saw a large plane from Azerbaijan land.  Dinard is such a small airport, why on earth would a plane from that part of the world land here?  We never found out, the only people who got off were the pilots, I don't think it had any passengers. After 30 minutes on the runway it was moved off to another part of the airport and we never saw it again.

Oh and the van?  Roger had phoned to say that he needed a few more days to check the vehicle over so we would not be able to pick it up on our return.  C'est la vie!