Back to France

I set off from Nottingham at 2010 on Wednesday and arrived at Dover at 0010. I parked next to the beach and after setting the alarm of 3 times, I got an hour of teeth chattering cold sleep. I drove to the port and waited at the front of the second line of cars for the ferry to finish unloading. Somehow I cut in front of the other line and ended up first on, which wasn’t a problem, but I didn’t really want to be first off as it’s easier following someone for a while when you start on the wrong side of the road.

I stood on deck at 0400 as we cast off and stayed until we passed the harbour wall then went inside to get warm. I don’t think I’ve ever been on a warm ferry so I shouldn’t have been surprised to be cold for the whole trip, even with my hat & fleece on. As we arrived at Dunkerque at 0700 French time, I went back to the car and quickly programmed the route from here to port st Louis into my laptop.

As I expected, I was first off, but the roads were quite good with just loads of roundabouts for the first bit. I drove for about 10 miles before becoming suspicious of the route and also needing the toilet as the one nearest me on the ferry was out of order. Between Nottingham and Dover the computer had told me the wrong direction a couple of times, but as I knew the way, I had just ignored it and pressed “recalculate route” and it found it’s way again. After 10 minutes in a laybye, the route seemed good and I set off again.

Not long after at the first toll road, signs for Reims 300km came up so I turned the laptop off and plugged in the coolbox (the fuse blew with both in) and drove on through the rain. I stopped for petrol and followed the signs for Lyon 600km! With 300 miles on the clock, the sun came out and the sunglasses went on. I thought that was the end of the cold weather. At about 1300ish I started to nod off so I pulled into a laybye and had one of my 6 pre-made sausage sandwiches and a pork pie and went to sleep for an hour. I didn’t know who or where I was for a minute when I woke up as there was thick snow everywhere - so much for the sun.

I was disappointed that I wouldn’t make it to Lyon before the rush hour, but filled up again and carried on. The scenery was better now so it was easier to stay awake as I got nearer to the Rhone valley and every time I crossed a canal , I’d try not to veer all over the road while looking along it to see if I recognised it. A few were familiar, but the only definite one was the marina in Reims that I drove straight past. At Lyon, I ignored the laptop, which had me heading for the centre, but I risked following the Marseille signs, and when I finally managed to get the mouse & the arrow & the re-calculate route button to line up a few miles later (difficult while driving bumper to bumper left handed & on the wrong side of the road), it seemed ok.

It was nice following the river Rhone and seeing some of the places we sailed past, but I was starting to feel really tired again and tried to concentrate on the last few hundred miles as it got dark. I hadn’t done my headlights as I thought I would be stopping at night time, but I seemed to be the one being dazzled by everyone else so I carried on.

Switching onto a new toll road, I missed a turning and ended up paying to get off, then driving around a town and getting back on again. This was the last one and only a short one, as I only got charged 1.5 euros.

The last section near Avignon and Arles wasn’t too good as I thought the computer was sending me around the long way, but I was too tired to stop, so just followed it. I arrived at Port st Louis, and took another 20mins to get to the boat yard as I didn’t have the exact address and couldn’t get my bearings in the dark (and with just 2 hours sleep in 24). Luckily just as I found it, the electric gates were opening as someone was leaving, so I slipped in at 1950 - 908miles - 23hours 40 minutes. The Carina was really nice to drive and was the best £205 I’ve ever invested in a car.

We left the boat totally clean, but with the windows slightly open to keep it smelling fresh. Everything now has a layer of thick black steelworks soot over it. I spent another cold night on the sofa as I was too tired to do the electric, but spent yesterday cleaning all day. The cream carpets are all a shade darker and even the engine is covered. Finally last night I got to sleep in a bed and didn’t get out until 1030 this morning.

Got the boom and mainsail back up today, and the rest of the day trying to work out how to fit the solar panels - but failed - at least I got a bit of a tan - try again tomorrow.

Leaving Do

Cheers lads, for my most extreme leaving do to date - luckily this one will be the last as I lost my shoes last night?