On the Road Again!

It was around 2pm when we got to Cayeux-sur-Mer and the Camping-Car Park aire. We had a coffee and then togged up to walk along the seafront to the town centre. It's not far and we saw people had begun to dismantle the beach huts that line the boardwalk along the seafront. We stopped for a crepe before walking back. Then had a quiet night. Watched a few YouTubes.

We were up bright (or not!!) early to get ready for the exhausting 8 mile drive from home to Eurotunnel.  Five twenty a.m. is way to early to be up and loading the final things into the van for a "no later than 6.15am" departure.  Our Shuttle train was due to depart at 7.46pm. To ensure we were there in time for check-in that closes an hour before departure, we were away dead on 6.15am. With a short queue for the check-ins we were parked up in the "long vehicle" by the closing time for our train. Check-in was more exciting due to the number of Ferrari and Lambo supercars queuing to get through. The noise.... We had coffee with us from the Tassimo in the kitchen, but bought some croissants. It was relatively painless getting through the two border and passport controls. They barely looked at Claire's Irish passport. Mine got a little more scrutiny. Eventually we loaded the train. It left a scandalous 2 minutes late!! Once on the French side we were soon on the A1...

The first post of the trip. Start mileage. We filled the diesel last weekend before the prices shot up this week. It's crazy that locally diesel is today £2.019 a litre. It was £1.959 on Sunday.  I stuck the magneic UK plate on the back doors along with the Remembrance plates. Whilst we are away i expect we'll visit some D-Day sites.

It's been a frustrating time.  I can't ever put them in my ears in the morning and expect them not to fail  Today the left managed less than an hour before it gave up. Before that the battery level was 80%. The right, which by some miracle also connected to the app showed 80%. I thought I'd try again at 5.05pm. Nothing. The right gives three peeps on the battery check. Neither will connect to the app.

Once i had committed us to a longer trip away to the far south of Spain in February and March, went to see if I could find the channel crossing fares. Another Motorhome Fun member posted that discounted fares for over-60's were available on the DFDS sailing from Newhaven to Dieppe. Previously you had to call 📞  to get it. I checked and got a single fare of £85 for the van and two people. Once i found the right page (!) that automatically takes off the 20% discount, the fare comes down to £72.20 each way! So I booked it. So far I have just paid the deposit with another payment in late January.

So was my medical treatment in the hospital free as we thought on the day when I was didchrged? Was it covered by the GHIC? NO! The GHIC covered the time put in by the doctors and nurses. But not the MRI and blood tests.  I got a bill for what works out at £215! Was it covered by travel insurance? YES & NO! It was covered but with the excess and exclusions if I had claimed I would have only managed to recoup around £25. It wasn't worth it. Check before you go to a French hospital for treatment.