Bonjour de France!
Written around 6am on 28th July 2011
I think I probably kept these travel plans a little quieter than the ones from last year, but that's mostly because I am useless and also because... well, I'm useless!
So what am I doing in France? My friend James and I are spending the next month driving around the place with very little in the way of fixed plans. So who knows? But that's part of the fun: watch this space!
Sadly though, this trip is not in the campervan, Lily, as originally planned as her engine died about a month ago and even if I had her fixed in time I don't think I would have been confident running a freshly rebuilt engine in on quite such an epic journey! So our transport comes in the form of a mighty Ford Focus estate. James' mighty Ford Focus estate, to be precise!
This has been semi-planned for a good few months now but as is my attitude to most things in life - "don't worry, we'll just see what happens!" - not much in the way of actual planning went ahead...
So last night at 11:30pm James arrived on our doorstep and I gave my family a big, goodbye-and-see-you-in-around-a-month squeeze and with that our adventure began!
The drive to Dover was a breeze and we made it with plenty of time to spare. Being over-cautious about timings seemed to be going rather well!
So up to the ferry, uh, place (port?) we appeared, without a reservation, which I neglected to do the previous night in another over-cautious move. You know, just in case...
...turns out that's not always such a bright idea! An online price of £39 pre-booking was turned down in favour of turning up and paying the begrudgingly handsome sum of £112.50! Oops, my bad.
We counted and coughed up our pennies to hand over the the far-too-cheerful-before-5am P&O ferries chap and in exchange we were given a whole two pieces of paper: something to hang on the rear-view mirror of the mighty motor and an easy to lose slip with a barcode on, which at this moment in time I have no idea the purpose.
And that brings us to now. I am sat on the top deck of the ferry - Deck 9 to be exact (!!) - with my buddy James, tip-tapping out this post. James is a little tired and I am simply bouncing off the walls in excitement but sure to hit The Wall soon enough.
Well, I best wrap this up for now and get a baked bean and hash brown breakfast down me!
* * *
Written around 4pm on 30th July 2011
Woah, this has all gone a bit fast! Currently chilling in a caravan awning in L'Argentière-la-Bessée with a couple of very lovely families (companions of James) who have been spectacularly welcoming and brilliant!
For instance: yesterday I got back in to kayaking in a big way... I actually capsized! I have had a terrible fear of going upside down in a boat - especially whilst wearing a spraydeck - since I had a pretty horrific experience in my former paddling days. So not only did i capsize, I capsized a lot! This was in a practice pool just off the moving water where I was accompanied by 4 other kayakers who showed me the ropes and ensured that I was safe. I learned a hell of a lot in just a few hours. Enough, in fact, to go and play on the moving water for real - that was my first time and it won't be my last while I'm here!
What else? Well, today we went canyoning, which is freaking awesome! For those of you like me, who had never heard of canyoning until now, think of it like this: put on a wetsuit, shoes and a helmet and go find a canyon with a river running through and go nuts! We climbed, bumped and floated our way downhill for a good few miles encountering jumping pools and other various fun obstacles along the way. There was another first today too actually... abseiling. Holy crap that's scary. Can't say I want to repeat that in a hurry, but we'll see. I have never been a good one for heights, even less so when there are ropes involved. Pretty irrational, huh?
What about before we got to our campsite: lots of driving. I think we have covered about 1300 miles already! We went through Belgium and even to Luxembourg where we spent a good half day. Luxembourg is apparently the country with the worlds highest GDP so as you can imagine, it is a bit special. Whilst soaking up the sites (and playing on the pirate ship play park) we also meandered over to some hot air balloons. These balloons turned out to be giant adverts tethered to the ground that lead us straight to a road cycling race. 85 laps of a street course in the south of Luxembourg city! We were told that this was part of Le Tour de France by a local and we believed it: there certainly was a lot of signage indicating that it was. But seeing as that particular spectacle finished a week ago, I doubt it. Either way, a great way to spend an afternoon!
I guess I should wrap up for now, I have finished nibbling breadsticks and hummus and I feel like I might just go lounge in the 26 degree sunshine that we are currently having to suffer though ;)
Speak soon and all the best,
George
