Breathing in the Free Aire, Wissant, Northern France
Zagan the motorhome is feeling relaxed. He’s back in France, the land where the lifestyle associated with motorhomes (or camping cars as they’re known here) is considered quite normal and accepted. There are parking areas almost everywhere (the Camperstop book
Zagan in the aire at Wissant
The pub we slept at a couple of nights ago treated us well. As we woke up the sun cut through the cloud and lit up the side of Zagan and the field of sheep behind us. Our basil plant, ‘Basil’, made an appearance on the van’s steps for a bit of photosynthesis as we eye-balled birds of prey circling above. The Britstops pub owner appeared in his dressing gown to let his wee puppy out, having entertained us offloading all his scrap onto a bonfire the night before. Ju and I sat around, read and talked about the plan for departure day. The ferry wasn’t until 7:15pm, no rush.
Life in Zagan.
A bunch of administrative stuff needed sorting out, which thankfully Ju has the organisation and motivation to do; including buying some more top-ups for our Three internet SIM. Oh, a quick update on that: our mobile Internet system is working a treat. We’re using a Three SIM in it, which has picked up speedy 3G and 4G connections as we’ve moved across the UK (except at Roger’s place, but that was seriously remote). Here in France (admittedly we’ve only been here one day) I just checked the box to turn on roaming and voilà, it’s got a 3G Orange signal and simply works. At £15 for 3GB a month, including roaming in a fair few European countries, the system is looking fab. Only one problem so far: it works too well. At a campsite in Glasgow with free WiFi our laptop dropped off the campsite network and reconnected to the MiFi one, while we were uploading a big old fat video to YouTube. The MiFi speed was so good we didn’t immediately notice and used a chunk of our monthly allowance by accident. We’re switching the MiFi off now when we’re not using it!
Anyway, British foodstuffs needed to be procured. We’ll be out of the UK for a couple of months, and Ju’s Ribena stash might not last. We cruised the M40 (at 50mph of course) and hit a Lidl on the way. No Ribena in there. Panic broke out in Team Zagan but fortunately a side excursion to Farm Foods returned the expedition group to calm. I’d nipped over there while Ju paid in Lidl. She was surprised to find Zagan’s numberplate had been snapped (along with everyone else shopping there) as we entered the car park, meaning she had to remember it to avoid a parking fine. Us Brits are going a bit bonkers with this camera stuff!
Back on the M40, pootling along down to the M25 which serves as a Great Reminder to me as to why we’re doing all of this stuff. Wall to wall traffic, lanes upon lanes of cars, vans and trucks all seemingly trying to drive through one another. I tried my best to keep out of the way, even speeding up to 55mph to slot in with the slower lorries.
Down at Dover we made a cheeky attempt to get on the earlier ferry. It was full, so we left the port and made a cheekier attempt to get up to the white cliffs. A National Trust site, a sign outside requested £6 for motorhomes to park, which we’d rather spend on food or something useful, so the cliffs stayed uninspected and we headed for Marine Parade.
Parking at Marine Parade Dover. Overnight parking is, incredibly, tolerated as you’re right up against the sea on a quiet road.
Come 6pm with excitement building, back into the port we went, avoiding the customary customs check again and heading into Lane 11 ready for the DFDS ferry to arrive and gracefully carry us across the channel to Calais. Once loaded onto the ferry, Charlie was left in Zagan with a ‘ferry bone’ (leftover lamb bone from dinner the other night) to occupy him, while we headed out on deck to watch the loading and unloading show – this place is one massively impressive machine.
Yeah baby! It really sank in when the ferry cranked up its engines!
Out the other side, driving in pitch dark onto the unlit motorway out of Calais I was as nervous as the first time I did this. Trying to work out which lane to be in, to avoid the Polish and Latvian lorries hammering past us and looking for exits, the general feeling was next time we’ll cough up the extra for an earlier ferry and arrive in daylight! There was little sign of the recent migrant problems as we passed through. The motorhome aire near the port was still fully populated with fellow vanners. In fact all we noticed was the huge double-fence topped with barbed wire running for what seemed miles alongside the motorway out of the port. Ah, and a few police vans with flashing blues parked up off to one side in the dark near the channel tunnel entrance.
The relief at pouring ourselves into the aire here was considerable. Out came my single bottle of Spitfire Ale, and Ju quaffed a glass of Port before we headed for bed. Silence. Calm. Accepted. It feels so bloody nice to be back in mainland Europe in our van. I feel Free! Woo hoo!!! Time for breakfast and a walk to the beach.
Our 2005 France Map with previous routes drawn out
Cheers, Jay
Welcome to My Island, safe travels and keep the posts coming, and remember the good old SAS motto “Check test, Check test, Check test” :-)
Bill Weir
Wah Hey – you made it. Brilliant. Soak it all up and enjoy.
Charlie already looks like he’s settled back into it – it’s a dog’s life.
I note the book – you already are!!
Hi,
Following you new travels with great interest, waiting for ours to start next year. Are you intending to give GPS coordinates for all your stops as you have previously. I just noticed that there weren’t any for Wissant.
Tim
Hi Tim, whoops! Yes, we normally add them, just forgot, will add ’em in now. Thanks for pointing it out Tim, cheers, Jay
Great!!! We will be right behind you !! Just waiting our new VW T5 being fitted up to a campervan!! We are booked on the Rosslare(IE)-Cherbourg ferry for Oct 25.
Looked at the doing your route but my own memories and frustrations of the M40, M25, not too sure of what to expect in Calais and finally the cost ( the cost of ferries from Ireland to UK mainland are not justified!!).
In this trip (6 weeks) will be heading to Luxembourg (old stopping ground), the Ardennes, the Flanders (genealogy search) and all old friends on the way!
Love your blogs!
Very exciting times for both of you. Looking forward to reading your blog once again.
Happy & safe travelling. :) :)
Welcome to the Continent, or to Europe as lots of Brits say … Glad you had a good crossing. Now Life begins!! Enjoy. Eager to read where you’ll be going!
Hi J & J,
great to see the start of another tour , and in the new ‘van of course. we like the addition of the table by the front chairs, very handy. trying to read the titles of your travel books but the eyes are not what they used to be, any assistance will be appreciated guys. we wish you a safe and rewarding road for your trip. we are waiting the delivery of our new ‘van, an adria coral,a little longer than our current boy but with a much more suitable lay-out. should be here by the end of the month but that is a French delivery date of course. the cats are primed for the off as well. no real plan but wish to be in albufeira for Christmas/new year. cheers for now, glenys and fred chase, gers, SW france.
Hi Fred and Glenys! Sounds like you’ve a cracking time ahead! Both the books we’ve written (to date, need to get finger out and write some more) are about going to Morocco. Let me know if you fancy the idea, or just reading about what it’s like in a van over there, and I’ll send you guys more details? Cheers, Jay
Welcome back, hope you brought brown sauce & marmite! Very much looking forward to your travel tales.
Hello j and j, congrats on making it to the continent, both looking happy, keep the excellent blogs coming I like reading them before work to keep me thinking and dreaming all day. Best wishes Matt
brilliant lovelies, loving the faces on that pic – priceless x