From Dover to Dunkerque

Wednesday August 4th

Today I finally got to get to get back on the road and have some adventures. Mary and Alan had packed me on Tuesday night at Sevenoaks ready to drive down to Dover on Wednesday. After breakfast they did a final check of everything they thought they needed to take and headed off to fill me up with petrol. Then they asked the Tom Tom to take them Dover. As they were in plenty of time, they stopped off on the way to shop, which was very dangerous as Mary found TK Maxx and Alan found PC world, so they both came back with bags. Somehow the shop failed to remove the magnetic tag on a cardigan Mary had bought and it didn’t sound the alarm as she left the shop. She only discovered this while waiting in the queue for the boat. Fortunately it is not one with nasty dye in it, so they may be able to smash it. Otherwise they will have to wait till get back to England and ask to have it take off when presenting the receipt.

They made sure they back on the road in plenty of time to get in the queue for the boat. It was all very straight forward with a passport all you need. The tickets had been purchased on the internet while still in NZ and although they had a print out it was not required, the tickets were printed on the spot with the passport verification. Some vehicles are randomly chosen for a search, and I was one. It really ended up as a quick glance through the windows. I guess some people have to start taking stuff out of their vehicles.

It took ages to get the vehicles that had come across from Dunkerque on the previous crossing unloaded, and although loading was scheduled to begin at 1.15, it was nearer to 1.45 by the time we finally got on. Mary noted that she had parked me on Green Deck level 4 and took Ka Pai with her up to the decks and lounges.

Ka Pai Sees The White Cliffs of Dover

I went out onto the top outside deck of the boat to say goodbye to England for a few weeks. It was a very cloudy grey and it was trying hard to rain. I did see Dover Castle in the distance and the famous white cliffs. It wasn’t a pleasant day to be outside so Mary and Alan took me back inside. Mary realised that they had forgotten to buy a bulb kit for travelling on the continent. There are so many things that you legally have to have when you go abroad. Both front seat passengers need a fluro vest. Hemi had these already stowed away under the front seats. One of them has London Underground written in it. You also have to adapt your lights and Mary realised they hadn’t bought the stickers for that either so quickly bought some on the boat. They had the emergency triangle and the first aid kit.

The trip takes about 1 hours 45 minutes and before they knew it they were getting back in Hemi and driving off the boat. You don’t need to go through French customs when you leave the ship as that is dealt with as you get on the boat in England.

Hemi Drives in France

Mary has driven in France heaps of times but she still gets nervous when she first starts and likes to be told where to go especially at the roundabouts. Alan set the Tom Tom to take them to Arras, and it wanted to take us through Lille. They wanted to go along the coast back to Calais and down, and when they saw notices talking about diversions on the Lille motorway, they ignored the Tom Tom lady and followed the signs to Lille. She re-planned the route accordingly. Then it started to rain, really hard, and got really dark. Mary knew she would have to put my lights on but they hadn’t put the adaptors on. The rain was pelting down, and both of them would have got soaked if they had got out. As it was a dual carriageway, they put the lights on any way as it was the kind of weather you need to be seen in. It pretty much rained all the way. When there was a bit a break they pulled over and fitted my stickers, able to see where I had had them on before.

Mo and Lou had been on an earlier crossing and had gone on ahead to book into the campsite. They sent a text to say they were all set up and where to find them. It was just as well they had got there early as when we arrived the camp had the full sign up. Mary had tried to book it on the internet, but she got an email back, all in French saying they didn’t book 3 day stays but if you got there by 4pm you would get in. Apparently they had had no rain, but it started soon after we all arrived.

After getting some food and stocking up with a few drinks, they all jumped in me and spent the evening playing cards. No one is getting up early in the morning; the plan is to sleep in.