It Could Be Worse

We’ve arrived! / Nous sommes arrivees!

The ferry was top notch; we had a welcome meal of fish and chips and that took up most of the journey. The campsite in Calais was a bit of a dump: lots of loud English peeps and not much privacy. The ladies’ loos were locked! Gorgeous weather though: went for a brief walk on the beach.

Fairly good night’s sleep and then croissants and baguette fresh from the boulangerie for breakfast. Then we were off…

We headed towards Paris; the journey took longer than we had anticipated and we saw lots of fields of sweetcorn (reminding us of our allotment). Absolutely beautiful weather though: clear blue skies and sunshine.

We stopped in Abbeville and sought out some lunch – baguette with pate and pork – delicious. Continuez tout droit!

We arrived in Paris at about half-past four and found the campsite without too much trouble. By the River Seine, it is large and we are quite far away from the entrance but we can see some lovely houseboats and we met our neighbours who are from New Zealand. Just some sleep needed.

A number of people have asked us about our planned route around Europe. It’s still a little bit up in the air, but at the time of writing the plan is as follows:

• France: Calais – Paris – Loire Valley – Lyon
• Switzerland:Lake Maggiore
• Italy:Lake Como – Bologna – Venice
• Austria: Salzburg or Graz – Vienna
• Slovakia: Bratislava
• Czech Republic: Prague
• Germany: Dresden – Osnabruck – Bonn
• Belgium: Bruges

Start: Bath
End: High Wycombe
Distance: 98 miles
Time: 2h10m

We left two cats and two parents (we’re not quite sure who’s looking after whom) at 5:50pm on Sunday and hopped in the van, steaming up Box Hill at 40mph. At one point Kathy got up to 65mph on the motorway; Tim, of course, didn’t stray above 60.

We arrived in High Wycombe after an uneventful journey to a wonderful meal of pie (mmm, pie), mash and veggies. Thank you Clive & Claudia!

Then it was off to bed, but not before Tim had (yet again) attempted to upgrade C&C’s computer to Windows 2000 Service Pack 4. He’s not giving those computers up lightly, you know.

This (see pic) is what we’re driving in: a 1985 Renault Trafic T1000 Richard Holdsworth campervan conversion with 37,000 miles on the clock. Yes, it’s old, but it’s been well looked-after!

If you would rather not receive our e-mail updates regarding our tour of Europe then let us know by e-mailing tim(at)timandkathy.co.uk or kathy(at)timandkathy.co.uk.

We’re counting the days and starting to panic ever so mildly at how much there is left to do: pack, tidy the house, finish writing instructions for those looking after the house and cats while we are away etc.

Tim gave me a real scare this morning when he passed out, this happened in March and he hit his head quite badly. Today he got up with really ad pain in his shoulder and thought it might be a trapped nerve. It was so scary, I had to get him onto the floor as I wasn’t sure he was breathing and then thank goodness he came round and I called for an ambulance. They did lots of tests at the hospital and think it was brought on by the pain (last time he had bad stomach ache).

So thank God he is okay and please pray for protection while we are away as I am a bit freaked out by it all!

Back to the trip. We picked up the camper van on Saturday and it is now sat outside the house just calling us to get on the road! Tim’s parents arrive on Sunday to look after everything for us and we travel to my parents as it is mum’s birthday on Bank Holiday Monday. Happy Birthday for Monday Mum!

Monday our ferry is at 4:15pm from Dover and we should arrive in Calais at 6:45pm and head to our first campsite of the trip. Which we have yet to book and maybe I should go and do that now……