And so, we’re off ......

Up at 5am bleary eyed and without sustinence, we arrive at the tunnel in good time. Quick check at the British and the French passport control and we are guided to the single story train to Calais. By the time we chatted about our route into France and the Aires we may, or may not stay at, we were in Calais. The only difference to the UK was, we drive on the right hand side of the road whoopee. The weather was cold but no rain. Realised we hadn’t put our headlight deflectors on so need to rectify that soon. The van is very cosy and incredibly easy to manage and a fixed bed is a wonderful thing! Tom has settled into his routine extremely well considering he lost his lifelong chum such a short time ago. We followed the A16 out of Calais as we wanted to make our way to Le Touquet and along the coast road, so picked up the D940 and intended to follow it all the way to Le Tréport. However, as with all these things, the weeks and months of planning finally caught up with us and we decided to stop sooner and found a lovely Aires in the beautiful coastal area of St Valery du Somme. Superb walk along the waterside and lovely meal in a Bistrot in the town and boy did we enjoy it.

Walked home in the quiet and deserted streets to our Aire. Water and electricity connection here, no showers or other amenities. You collect a barcoded ticked to get in the park and pay as you exit. €12 per night. Lush. An early night is anticipated.