Well, that’s the summer of 2024 been and gone, and what a disappointment it was. Saying that we did have some days of warm weather, but it was never a “real” summer, not the kind of summer that we remember from previous years. It was a busy summer for us this year. Plenty of work with lots of friends and family coming to visit us on the Island. You all know who you are. It was lovely to see you all and we hope to see you again soon. Many thanks for making the effort to come and see us, it’s a long way and not the easiest place to get to, so thank you very much.
Now autumn is with us, on Thursday the temperature dropped to single figures, and you can smell the change in the air.
We have three weeks spare in September and thought that we would get away to France, now that all the families and kids have finished their holidays, the weather can still be warm and beautiful so why not? Hayley has done some prep and even booked a few sites for us to stay in advance. During our trip, we will be joined again by our good friend from the Island who spent some time with us on our last trip in May. She is going to be in France touring some of the finest chateaux, so we hope to be joining her soon.
13th September 2024 – Home to Calais. 182 miles
We are up early, ferries are booked, Jess is prepared so off we go. The Wightlink Ferry leaves on time, for a change.
Next the long drive from Portsmouth to Dover, which is uneventful until we get to Cobham services on the M25 going east. Del fancies a coffee from Greggs, which is nice, however, the car park is in gridlock. No one can get out due to the only road out of the service station being blocked as most people want to go west toward Heathrow into roadworks and a huge traffic jam. All the traffic is backed up to the service station, brilliant. We are trapped there for 45 minutes.
Finally, we are free from Cobham services and on our way. We make good progress and can get on an earlier ferry. Fabulous.
The weather is stunning. It’s bright, sunny, warm and calm as we slip away from Dover and into the English Channel, we can see France clearly in the distance. The boat is empty but very empty. It is a fabulous afternoon crossing.
Tonight we will stop at an aire in Calais, a massive aire capable of holding over 100 vans. It’s still quite full even though the holidays are over. It would appear that a lot of people have the same idea as us… We get parked up, plugged up and cleaned up and set off for a walk after hours of sitting.
It’s a lovely evening in Calais. We visited here in May and it took us by surprise. It gets a lot of bad press about immigrants, hoards of men roaming the streets etc, but the beachfront is very smart and tidy. We have a good long walk before turning back towards our mobile home, stopping to take in the sunset.
A very calm, relaxing and pleasant start to our trip.
Hello!
Hope you are enjoying the travels! Hope Jess is enjoying it also! 😃
Definitely a change in the weather! Hopefully you can both enjoy some of the last sun of summer!
Take care xx
Whoo Hoo.. Hiya D…. All good hear. The weather has changed here. We will not get a s much sunshine as we first hoped… Oh well, at least we are out and about on Jess.xxx
Bonjour, I love hearing about your adventures 😃 Have lovely and safe travels , I look forward to hearing more about them x
Hello Ann… Yes we are out and about again. We are just leaving Le Mans of the famous 24-hour race and on our way to Tours. A very beautiful city by all accounts. Hope you are well and see you soon.
Good to know you two are back on your travels. Love the photos.
Hope your weather is better than ours although this coming week is looking good.
Have a great time I will be waiting for your next post.
xx
Hello Marie. So nice to hear from you and also the great night out at the show. Sounds fab… See you soon…xxx
Great to hear that you are off on your travels again. Looking forward to following your progress over the next three weeks. Have a fantastic trip.
Hello to you both… So nice to hear from you. Hows the writing…?
Good morning too you both,
I am glad to hear that you are both taking some time out for a wee holiday in Jess, the photos are amazing, the one’s of the sunset are beautiful, and of course the one with my big brother looking very well, I hope to read more of the blogs as you travel around, take care to the both of you, happy and safe travels, speak to you both very soon, sending lots of love to you both, see soon.
Hello Hello Hello… Great to hear from you… See you very soon… xxx
Hi you two,
Strangely, we were just saying this morning that you will probably get away again soon.
Pleased to hear the weather is good, and should be until midweek at least. Looking forward to reading all about your adventures. Have a good trip!
Very good to hear from you. we passed your place a couple of weeks ago and the van was off the drive. Repairs or did you get away? We are looking forward to a three week trip away, getting in some practive for our 5 week winter trip… Hope you are both keeping well…
Hello you two,
Glad it all went well apart from the coffee stop!!
Sunset is looking great and I can’t wait to get away now, I just booked the golfing hotel & got school in south of France.
See you both soon.
K xx
Indeed matey… See you soon. We’ll have the coffe and croissants on ready!