In England
We're in England.
We drove up to Boulogne, leaving Pessac at about 9:50 and stopping every two hours like they say you ought. The first aire de service was a gem. Shady picnic tables. Nesting boxes for the hoopoe and the owl. Wild flowers and calm. The second was a horrid treeless shop and caff thing. Nasty. The third I don't remember at all !
Basically now you pass from motorway to motorway, taking basically the A10 then the A28 until you reach Rouen. Then you are drawn inexorably into the city centre and traffic jams. It took us almost two hours just to cross Rouen because of roadworks, contraflows, accidents; the lot. It was good to see the sea and Boulogne afterwards.
At the B&B hotel we checked into our usual four-bed room with mezzanine over the bathroom. We didn't book breakfast, 24 euros for bread and jam for four seemed steep, so instead in the morning we scuttled off to the local Auchan to buy chocolatines and briochettes, fruit juice and ice tea. 6 euros in total and we feasted like kings. Well, like homeless kings on the road.
At 10:10 we rolled up at the ferry-port. 10:15 we started to load. 10:5à we were underway. LDLines were efficient and the boat was comfortable.
Then to Burgess Hill in West Sussex where we installed everyone at Pat's sister's house then I zoomed off to Camberwell Grove to speak at Grove Chapel.
"Oh that's London, have you thought of taking the train ?" said my brother-in-law, darkly...
I hadn't and didn't. Instead I took the A23 straight up - 35 miles, 1 hour 50 minutes and there I was outside the church.
The meeting seemed OK, though I would have been more dynamic and I would have forgotten less if I had had a rest day after the drive !
Yesterday was a Hodgson family barbecue, so cousins gathered from all around. Gwilym and Catrin are very family-minded !
We're on the road. Internet access will be sporadic, so please forgive delays in reading and replying to emails, etc.
Today we head West, then North.
We drove up to Boulogne, leaving Pessac at about 9:50 and stopping every two hours like they say you ought. The first aire de service was a gem. Shady picnic tables. Nesting boxes for the hoopoe and the owl. Wild flowers and calm. The second was a horrid treeless shop and caff thing. Nasty. The third I don't remember at all !
Basically now you pass from motorway to motorway, taking basically the A10 then the A28 until you reach Rouen. Then you are drawn inexorably into the city centre and traffic jams. It took us almost two hours just to cross Rouen because of roadworks, contraflows, accidents; the lot. It was good to see the sea and Boulogne afterwards.
At the B&B hotel we checked into our usual four-bed room with mezzanine over the bathroom. We didn't book breakfast, 24 euros for bread and jam for four seemed steep, so instead in the morning we scuttled off to the local Auchan to buy chocolatines and briochettes, fruit juice and ice tea. 6 euros in total and we feasted like kings. Well, like homeless kings on the road.
At 10:10 we rolled up at the ferry-port. 10:15 we started to load. 10:5à we were underway. LDLines were efficient and the boat was comfortable.
Then to Burgess Hill in West Sussex where we installed everyone at Pat's sister's house then I zoomed off to Camberwell Grove to speak at Grove Chapel.
"Oh that's London, have you thought of taking the train ?" said my brother-in-law, darkly...
I hadn't and didn't. Instead I took the A23 straight up - 35 miles, 1 hour 50 minutes and there I was outside the church.
The meeting seemed OK, though I would have been more dynamic and I would have forgotten less if I had had a rest day after the drive !
Yesterday was a Hodgson family barbecue, so cousins gathered from all around. Gwilym and Catrin are very family-minded !
We're on the road. Internet access will be sporadic, so please forgive delays in reading and replying to emails, etc.
Today we head West, then North.
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