France & Spain October 2025 - The End

October 22nd

Today was Reggie's trip to the vet for his worming pill and passport signed up.

But first we had to get away from Veuzain sur Loire to head up towards Chartres and then Rouen.

The choice was to go to Blois and then north or diagonally north-west to Vendôme and onto the N10.

TomTom chose the Vendôme route. It was a little frustrating again as this section of the N10 chops and changes from single lane 80kph to the 90kph two lane "overtaking" sections that are so short it's still hard to overtake anything.

Still, we arrived in Buchy for the 4pm vet appointment at just after 2pm.  We parked in the Carrefour Market. It's not far to the vets from there.

We did a little shopping and then had lunch before a rest up. Then went to the vets at Seren'vet Veterinary Clinic. It's only around 100 metres.

Fifteen minutes and €36.80 later we were back at the van. I filled up with the last French diesel I would need before we got home.

We decided to go to the Camping-Car Park aire at Incheville for the night. I had toyed with going straight to Calais Camping-Car Park but Google Maps showed it was around 100 miles. 

With Storm Benjamin almost on us, it seemed two nights in the way of the storm would be a bit much in one place!

As it was, Incheville is not that far inland and the wind hit along with heavy rain. To be fair it has rained heavily at times since we crossed into France through the Somport Tunnel!!

Saint-Léon sure Vézère? Tick

Oradour-sur-Glane? Tick 

Veuzain-sur-Loire? Tick

So why would Incheville be any different?

The park up is near some lakes and is mostly flat and quiet. The wind got up and we spent some of the night listening to the wind and rain.

The stop wasn't too bad. The trees nearby are quite thin and so they bent with the wind rather than snapping and crashing down on the vans!

October 23rd

A not so long drive up to Calais. We didn't rush. When you touch into a Camping-Car Park aire you get either five hours, perfect for a rest or to use the service area, or twenty-four hours.  As we didn't have to leave Incheville until 5pm we didn't hurry ourselves. 

We did the services as we left and headed back to the A28 to Abbeville.  Rather than the boring D901 aka the old N1, we chose the A16 toll motorway. I try to avoid tolls but this one to Boulogne is a god send and delivers you from boredom and 50kph speed limits through villages!!!  At a cost!

We paid our annual visit to the Aire De La Baie De Somme on the A16. Storm Benjamin was still blowing a gale. Whilst I got us both a coffee in Starbucks (!), Claire made sandwiches.

Then it was back on the A16 north. At Isques there was an obligatory exit for HGV and motorcycles.  Between here and Boulogne is a notoriously windy viaduct way up high and they were making vehicles avoid it. We decided to go that way. We have previously experienced the side winds on the bike and it was dangerous!

In the end we arrived at the aire. Plenty of space and we ended up in pitch 92. There are 102 here.

Once setup we headed out for a walk to look for the beach . It's not that far and we emerged through an alley to see the closed carousel in front.

The storm had abated a little and DFDS were running so we guessed that Irish Ferries would be running the following day...

October 24th

Home day. We were up and planned to be away at 11am to get all the jobs done and get to the port in good time should there be any holdups through passports and customs...

Checking in with Irish was really simple. French passport was simple. Quick. Efficient.  No queue.

As usual. UK passports. Slow. Longer queues...

We were so early that we were at the head of the allotted lane to queue and so we were loaded quite quickly and sandwiched between two Polish trucks on the deck and not under the superstructure cover!

The MV Oscar Wilde is a former P&O vessel and the "pet den" is the old pet lounge. It's generally comfortable and the crossing passed quickly enough. Reggie was a little clingy wanting to sit on us, which is something he rarely does.

There's no "free" coffee on Irish as there is on P&O, although buying a coffee isn't too bad, at £3.50 a cup, when you consider that buying the crossing in Euros on the website was £20 cheaper than P&O....

The last 14 miles of the trip passed easily and we were soon on the drive. It's one of the reasons why we choose to travel from and back into Dover.  It's so close to where we live.

Another holiday over. Soon my attention must turn to the Summer Holiday 2026.