The France & Spain Tour 2011 - Day 1

Where to begin ? Well Day 1 would seem to be a good start.

We set off from Leeds at some unearthly hour on Saturday August 20th and made the long drive down to the south east coast with frequent stops for rest breaks and you know what breaks. We still got to Dover with well over an hour to spare and had the luxury of having time for a meal before entering the ferry port area.

After clearing passport control we moved on to the ticketing checkpoint..........

Once in the boarding line, Stephen took the chance to attach the deflectors onto the car's headlights so we could drive on the right at night without blinding oncoming cars.

A couple of lines across from us was a cute little 'teardrop' camper and I took the opportunity to take a panorama shot which looks a bit distorted as it's meant for landscapes and not close up objects.

Soon we were heading up the ramp and into the bowels of the SeaFrance ferry for the 75 minute crossing to Calais.

Once settled on board, I went out onto the deck to watch our departure and see the famous white cliffs fading into the distance as we set off for foreign shores.

With no formalities to slow us down at Calais, we were on our way to our first bed & breakfast, Aux Trois Maillets about 60 miles from the ferry port. Not having been to France many times before, I couldn't help but take my first photo through the windscreen - despite it only being of a road sign. Over the next 2 weeks I'd be taking many more in-car photos but rest assured, they'd all be much more interesting than this one ! Early days.

I'd seen the b&b so many times on Street View in the period leading up to our departure that it was kind of weird to see it in real life. We were greeted by owners Ysabelle and Jean-Michel who showed us around their lovely house in Angres.

Aux Trois Maillets was a delightful b&b and best of all, being off the main tourist route from Calais, was, at 55 euros for the 3 of us, dirt cheap !

We literally tossed our cases in the room and set off into town for our evening meal. It was a small town without much choice but we just needed fuel so didn't mind a less than stellar meal. Afterwards we walked around the local streets and came to a roundabout which featured a replica of Louis Bleriot's channel crossing plane with a sign on a rock that never really explained the reasons behind it all. I've tried to find out why it was there but without any success.

And after we returned to the b&b, that was it for Day 1 of our France-Spain Tour 2011.

The gang was abroad again with plenty of adventures ahead.

To be continued.........

Bonsoir, Hola and Hello.

3 people, 14 days, 2,807 miles, 3 countries, 6 bed and breakfasts, 1 hotel and numerous insect bites later, we are home. Phew.

We've had a fabulous trip with life long memories of stunning scenery, wonderful people, sobering locations and just great times.

But for now, only having been back 15 minutes, it's time to chill and rest my old bones which have been up and down more steps in the last 2 weeks than in the previous 2 years.

Am I looking forward to my own bed ? Hell yes.

More as and when...........

A Quick Update From Your Travelling Reporter !

Yes it's me, already.

We've FINALLY found wifi that works and as we've had to suffer wifi-less-ness for almost a week, we're jolly upset that we've been so out of contact with the world. We've had no telle either so we've REALLY been out of touch with things. I didn't even know that Leeds had played last Tuesday and hurrah.....they won. See, it's vital events like that we've missed !

We picked B&B's in France that had wifi but when push came to data shove, we could never get connected. The French are a devious lot, me thinks.

Anyway, I think it's always good to say one is blogging from some exotic location and in this case, I am. From a hotel in the centre of Barcelona no less. We arrived here about an hour ago and having settled in, are about to head out to explore the city. We stopped off at my ex-ASDA friend's restaurant about 90 miles north of the city and were royally treated to a 3 course meal and Pasko, the aforementioned friend, wouldn't take a cent for it. Thank you to him and his lovely wife, Marie and his cute-as-a-button daughter, Alexia. I may have got the spelling wrong and if so, sorry Alexia. But you're still cute !

Right I said this would be quick and it will be. I just picked out a few 'snaps' of our travels so far to give you a flavour of the wonderful time we're having. Honestly, if you've never been to Provence, you MUST go. Am I glad that digital photography was invented or I'd have been returning to the UK with a bucket full of films to be processed. Ahhhh Truprint, where are you now ??

Provence is a photographer's dream and we only just scratched its surface, so to speak. Every village, hillside or on the plain, was another jewel in the crown. I've taken about 900 photos and video clips and we've not had a week yet. So be warned, there will be blog posts about it all from now till Christmas !

We crossed into Spain this morning and are here in Barcelona for 3 nights. The wifi is full strength so no worries there and so I'll get a chance to read some of the 200+ emails that arrived in my inbox just now !

Well here are the photos and bye for now...............





















































To be continued............