On the Road Again!

The things that were outstanding on the trip after the decision to put it on back 4 weeks. The two nights at Oyambre after we dock. Irish Ferries return ferry journey. The AHC date change. The first two are sorted. I needed to call them, yes, I had to speak to another person! That was done today. Admin fees and changes to the pitch rates and ferry fares mean another £40 has evaporated. The AHC remains the problem. Everything is done online to order one and their website says that as a small vet's they handle these things, including replying to emails, are part of their jobs and they action them in the order they arrive. So that's the one we are waiting to sort out.

After we decided (and might yet un-decide) about a second European trip (formerly EU26), I thought that maybe we could extend the dates of SP26. I logged into my Irish Ferries account and clicked on manage the booking. It didn't work on my phone and so I tried again on the laptop. Again it didn't work. I have emailed them to see what is possible.

For the summer holiday we gave already booked the outward ferry with Brittany Ferries from Plymouth to Santander.  In addition, I have booked a couple of nights in campsite along the coast from the port.  Only for a couple of days to get over the long ferry across the Bay of Biscay. There's still a lot of planning ahead on where to go. Stay in Northern Spain and hoover up the sights there. Maybe cross into Portugal. I know I should embrace the real "van lifer" experience and decide where to go from one day to the next. "Leaving only footprints" etc. But I am one of life's planners. We always have to look ahead to sort out Reggie's worming pill. We have used two vets' practices regularly before. This year though Reggie will need his rabies jab updated. It's due in June and so we need it done before returning to the UK.   I will probably look at the vet in Denderleeuw again. We had him booked in this year, but the terrible weather, several "na...

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 C...

Day 1.  After some time of avoiding Le Shuttle, we booked again, the first time in Malibu Molly! It's always a toss of the coin whether we go by Le Shuttle or the ferry from Dover. Since we've had Reggie for eleven years we have opted to use the tunnel more, simply when in the car it was easier and the price was comparable with the ferries. Since Covid though, Le Shuttle (train!) prices have climbed and climbed and not kept pace with earnings nor with the ferries. As a Club Le Shuttle member every so often I get offers to save some rather decent percentages off the fare. This year the booking offer would only cover the outward journey to France and though still more than the ferry for the same date it wasn't the usual £100 plus difference. So I booked the outward only.  The return leg would have been around £150 more than either of the Calais to Dover ferries, including access to the pet lounges! I wasn't going to book a return until we were over there to keep our optio...

Once I had rested after my 14 hours sojourn between triage and major investigations, I started to work through the list of bookings I had already made for this trip. Le Shuttle was the easiest and could be done online. That they stiffed us for £36 to change from one low season date to another low season date says more about their business than anything. No humans involved and I did all the work for them. The two Camping-Car Park bookings were easily enough cancelled, although it needed a WhatsApp chat to get it done as it can't be done through the newly updated app on the phone. It needed a Messenger message to their Facebook social media team to get the WhatsApp link.  The cost of the two aires was credited back to my account in minutes. The other campsite bookings took a little longer.  The site in Belgium that I booked through the Caravan Club had been paid in full. Firstly a deposit in January and then the full payment in April.  I am to receive two payments that amou...

Ferry Maybe I should have done this before but I have booked the return crossing for the end of our holiday. I did a price comparison check on the three of the four channel crossing operators from our area.  I discounted DFDS (Calais or Dunkerque) as they don't have anywhere for the dog to go other than in the van for the entire crossing. Further afield is DFDS from Dieppe to Newhaven.  Newhaven is along the A259 almost door to door. One road! That route also doesn't have a dog lounge and the crossing is around 4 hours. So from the three I have booked Irish Ferries. Why?  It's the cheapest.  I paid in euros and it came out at £132.10 when it landed in my Halifax account. This is for the van, us and Reggie with access to the "pet den".   Last year when I returned on the bike from the MotoGP at Assen their ferry "Oscar Wilde" was very clean and was much cheaper than P&O and the Shuttle. By comparison. For ...

This was the day I had to return home and leave Neill and Phil to continue their trip to see more of the Lancaster Memorial sites and eventually end up at the Sachsenring for the German MotoGP next weekend. We left together at around 9.20am. We had breakfasted and packed up. I needed Neill's screwdriver to unlock the box. Everything I would need would go in the panniers and the main luggage trapped until I got home. Leaving Emmen I had to stop at several red lights and they disappeared. In the end I found myself directed by the TomTom to the southbound A28. I had simply pressed "Home" to select the route... It showed 555kms to go from the hotel. Of course, it started to rain. Along with a large group of French bikers I stopped under a bridge and put on waterproof gear. It rained heavily for about 40 miles. I stopped once for the gold dust infused unleaded 95, or so it seems at €2.299 a litre! Plus a second to remove waterproofs and have a coffee. The Irish Fer...

Just an update. My return trip on July 1st will be on Irish Ferries. I have never used them before. I have enquired and mostly have stuck with what I know in the short crossing from Dover to Calais or even Dunkerque. So that's P&O or DFDS. For this trip I did the usual visit to all three ferry companies and Le Shuttle. Irish came out way cheaper at £32.63.  Why ferry and not the faster crossing with Le Shuttle? On this trip I will have ridden about 360 miles and the chance to have somewhere to have a rest and a coffee would be great. The Le Shuttle option is sitting on the deck or the ground waiting to board.  I have been using Le Shuttle for the best part of 25 years. I would estimate that something like 10% have been delayed at one end or the other. Once for 5 hours in Calais in the winter. Luckily in the car. Plus have sat in the dark in the tunnel on two occasions, with no information from train staff. Another reason for the shortness of the trip is due to "Grimm Up No...

Booked the ferries. Or rather the crossings. Out on Le Shuttle with Neill and Phil on 27th June at 0820.  We need to be there an hour before but personally I think 90 minutes would be better! We have to get through French passport control to get our Schengen border stamps. Returning 5 days later on the Irish Ferries route from Calais at 1750. It's quite late but I  want to give myself plenty of time to get back to Calais from Assen in one hit and then get through the marvellous disaster known at the UK Passport control. Not to mention the French clowns stamping my Schengen exit! All the holdups courtesy of those that voted leave in 2016 and the useless politicians on both sides that created this mess.

It's quite a while since we went to Assen for the MotoGP at Assen. Since then the main race day has fallen inline with all the others and is now Sunday. Tradition means nothing when TV money is there. TV is the dictator in all sports it seems. The last time we were here was in 2018 when British Superbike (BSB) had their overseas round. We had a great time. Claire and I went in the car and Neill on his bike. This year we will all be on the bikes and I will be with Neill and Phil, both on their BMW's and I guess I will be on the V-Strom. I am only doing the Dutch MotoGP part of the trip. Neill and Phil are going on to the Sachsenring for the German MotoGP the weekend after. In between leaving up and their return there will be some sightseeing and Dambusters crash sites. I am just looking at the routes Neill has planned. I should be able to get my trip inside the Le Shuttle's 5-day ticket.  There are two days in the plans before we get to the hotel before the GP. W...