Change of Tack

Yesterday was pretty much 250 miles of motorway but it was taking its 'toll' (on our bank account), so today we opted for a change of tack and stayed off the peage. We mustered a mere 180 miles to a quiet little village called Rom, just south of Poitiers.

Our view for most of today!

It's been foggy and very cold, staying at minus 5c until we got south of The Loire where it eventually crept to to a tropical minus 1c! As we sit snuggly in the van we hear the occasional noise of ice dropping from things like the mirrors, aerial etc.

We arrived at Rom in time to have a little walk around in daylight and visited the war graves of 30 British SAS soldiers who were murdered in 1944 in a nearby wood.

Tomorrow we are back on the toll roads to hopefully make the 300 mile 'dash' to Pamplona, Spain. Ooops nearly forgot, talking about 'dashing', when in Le Mans we got on part of the 24 hour race circuit and hit a very respectable 50mph along the Mulsanne Straight! :-D

It's Chilly Up North

We started and ended the day at -4c but it made for a beautiful 250 mile drive south to Fresnay sur Sarthe (just north of Le Mans). With no wind and only a slight increase in temperature throughout the day, the heavy frost made even motorway driving picturesque when the sun made an appearance. The Silverscreens and central heating are both on overtime to ensure we remain nice and snug inside.

Depending on the fogginess of the weather tomorrow we may make it to the outskirts of Bordeaux for New Years Eve.

Fresnay sur Sarthe

Le Grand Depart et Arrivee

Photo: Our little camper being dwarfed by a proper motorhome!

Having checked that our gas was turned off for the Eurotunnel, the young lady official said "Do you know where you're going"? "Of course" I replied, "Andalucia". I think she meant how to get back in the queue! Oh how we all laughed!

We arrived in a frosty Calais at 8.50pm local time, quite white and -3c, a 4 mile drive to our favourite (coz it's by far the cheapest) petrol station - Auchan, £1 a litre, then a further few miles to a well known free aire at Wissant. Clear skies, starry night, the gas heating is well and truly now ON!

Welcome to Day 1 of Our Grand Tour

You know it's going to be a long day behind the wheel, when you're on the motorway with the handbrake ON and the engine OFF! One thing we really won't miss in England is the traffic jams, we really are the best at traffic congestion. 

On the plus side, at least we're on the road and after 10 hours we are 375 miles nearer Andalucia, albeit only in deepest Suffolk, having a well deserved night with Richard and Claire. 

All things being equal (whatever that means) we'll be in France tomorrow night (Thursday) and more interesting stuff will follow. :-)