France Part 1 - The Arrival

Here we go with our French adventure, and it is only day three of the holiday, as I am starting from when we left home, not arriving in France, so bear with me; it’s day one in France, and here I am once again sitting in Mary McHarg, on a campsite near the small town of Camiers, about 10/11 miles south of Boulogne-Sur-Mer, where we stopped after visiting my great uncle's war grave from WW1. Poor man, travelling all the way from Canada to fight in a war, and he didn’t even last a year.

It was sad, and to see all the graves was very touching, as the remembrance is something very close to my heart. However, it wasn’t the saddest part; that was seeing the graves of the unknown soldiers, buried with no name but ‘known unto God’ on their gravestones – we owe them so much, and lest we forget. What they saw, how they lived in the trenches, and what they went through, or not, as the case may be, like my great uncle, to give us the freedom we have, shows how brave these men were!

As sad as it was, we move on; after all, that is what their sacrifice was for, so we could live our lives as normal. I’ve decided to keep a bit of a diary, come informative road trip to see if I can help anyone; remember, helping one person can only be good. So here I am giving it a go, and it's my first real attempt at travel blogs – Robbie Roams certainly won’t have anything to worry about, that’s for sure.

We have planned our first two weeks, from Calais all the way around the north and west coast down to Nantes and then into the Loire Valley for three nights. After that, we shall see. We have apps, the internet, maps, Robbie's French guide, and a bit of hope and luck; in other words, we’re ‘winging it!'

But let’s go back to the beginning and us using the 'BritStop' app for our first stop after leaving our friends' house in Stamford, where we stopped for the night. This app is mainly for pubs that allow you to park your travelling vehicle in their car park, usually for free, but ask that you spend money in their establishment, usually a meal, which you will probably need anyway if you’re staying away, but simply ask the question when you phone up to check availability.Boulogne-sur-Mer,

I always mention good companies or establishments and will continue to do so, and so on this occasion we stopped at The Coastguard Pub at St. Margaret's Bay, near Dover. What a great place, nice to sit in, great food (hunters chicken with loaded fries mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm) and great service! We had to be up at 5:50 to make sure we had enough time; after all, there are two hungry dogs needing feeding and a quick walk! But only a twenty-minute drive to the dock!

We set off from Dover on the 7:50am crossing to give us a decent amount of time on the first day, and we ended up being the second vehicle off the ship, straight out onto the roads without a check from anyone. What was strange is that I had to show my passport to a French checkpoint when I was still in England at Dover, but not anything in France. But then after entering Dover there were many French radio stations available, and when we parked at the pub, my phone went to French time, I got a message from my provider saying 'Welcome to France,’ and I picked up more French TV channels than English. Kinda strange in my world!

We used Irish Ferries, and it was the first time I had been on a cross-channel ferry since I was about 23 years old. The best thing was definitely the ‘dog pen,' a very comfortable lounge just for dog owners with their own little exercise area out on the deck, where we spent some time there, including with a seagull taking bread out of my hand. PH

I drove on the right for two years whilst stationed at RAF Gutersloh, in Germany, so driving on the right has never bothered me; in fact, the only time I have ever driven on the wrong side of the road was in the UK, when I came home on leave during that tour – so off we went. However, what I have done for this trip is I have laminated a small printed section measuring about 30mm x 30mm and it simply says ‘DRIVE ON THE RIGHT’ with a directional arrow included.

Just in case - we all need reminders

I have stuck this onto my windshield, about halfway down on the right-hand side, just as a reminder, but making sure it doesn’t obscure my vision; after all, it is small enough not to, but anything to help. However, it also has a quick reminder that roads prefixed with an ‘A’ in France are toll roads. We are avoiding these not so much because of the added price to the holiday but to see more of the rural countryside. It’s a bit like coming to Shropshire and driving down the M54. Sure, you’ll see sites, but it’s not as nice, and who wants to drive down motorways?

And yes, it’s strange; even with experience of driving on the right, it’s easy enough in mainstream traffic as you just follow the crowd without being too complacent, of course. It’s when you join a quiet road from anywhere, a side street, a garage, or a supermarket. If the road has no cars on it, even with a sign in your window, your instinct is naturally to go onto the left; it takes concentration.

But we had a nice, quiet drive through some lovely countryside, and here we are at our campsite for the night. A lovely meal of chicken and salad tasted so different; the vegetables tasted so much nicer and fresher, and they were bought from a mainstream supermarket, not a trader or farmers' stall. There will be an ongoing post about what the French do better than us and vice versa, so I’ll start with the vegetable selection from their supermarkets – delicious. Dare I say ‘deliciouser.’

The campsite was chosen, as it wasn’t too far from Calais and the war grave, but in all honesty, it’s not up to much, and here are some photos to prove it. Sandy and dirty pitches are definitely not good in the rain; it is by far the worst campsite we have stayed on in our two years of motor homing. A couple of friends of ours have said that the Europeans are so much better set up to deal with us motor homers and caravaners; well, on day one I’m saying they’re not. And I was advised to bring grip boards to put under the wheels in case we got stuck, which I actually forgot, and on a site like this, I can see why they could be needed!

Are some sites cheaper than the UK? Yes. Are there more of them, including their 'aires,' simply a cheap option often offering a free parking area for travellers just like a car park with water, waste disposal, and sometimes electricity at a charge? Possibly yes, but to get one like we did with facilities initially doesn’t look any better or any cheaper. I suppose, like everything, it depends on what you want. We shall see.

I'll finish this post with the language barrier. I can still speak a smattering of French from my school days. Now if you’ve read ‘my story,' you will know I have a problem with my memory, to the extent I forget people and their names just after meeting them, but I can ask for a table for two and menus in French, which I learnt at school some fifty years ago, and so to play safe and make an effort, I use an app, and before I try to speak with anyone, anywhere, I translate the following from English to French:’ I am sorry; I do not speak good French and have to use an app on my phone to translate. Is this, ok?’

While I can speak a bit of French, I can’t understand as much, but I am also comfortable reading it, so an app is ideal to start a conversation.

I managed to order some meat and provisions with my own knowledge of the language and with the app, but I used it as soon as I got to the campsite, with my preset message. Before I got halfway through, the lady told me everything was okay; she spoke English, and this is what I find to be important: if you make the effort, they will appreciate it and will be happy to speak in English if they can.

We experienced the same when we went to a small village near Lourdes some twenty years ago, and without any translation apps or books, four of us went into a restaurant, and in my worst French, I asked for a table for four people with menus. And because they could see I was maybe struggling a little, well, quite a bit, they started speaking in English to us, and I am sure most countries are the same! Maybe please make the effort even if it’s an app. We can’t all speak all languages.

On that note and a bit lighthearted, many years ago, four of us went on a cruise, and the stay was in Majorca during either the Euros or the World Cup of football. The holiday rep had gratefully managed to get a side room in the hotel with a TV for some of us Brits (it was obviously England playing,) and we sat down ready to watch the match.

The rep was apologetic and told us that because of our location, the commentary would be in Spanish, which was fine by us as long as we could watch the game; who cared – England or not? Except for one guy who asked if the rep could get BBC and English commentary. The rep politely pointed out that we were in Spain, and that wasn’t possible. The next question beggared belief and in all seriousness the same guy asked, ‘any chance you can get ITV then.’ And that was it; most of us just couldn’t help but laugh. When I turned round to look at the chap, he genuinely couldn’t understand what was wrong. And to me that epitomises some of us abroad when we expect everyone to understand us!

By the way, I’m miles behind, and as I post this, we are on day 6 - but I will catch up!

Merci d’avoir lu

DJ

lightheartedly,