Yesterday we travelled round the M25 in torrential rain, to the Drum Inn campsite, one junction short of the Channel Tunnel. Pretty much all petrol stations even on the M25 services seemed to be out of diesel so we were pleased we were able to top up yesterday. An afternoon of route planning and an early night ready for our crossing in this morning.
As usual for us, we were up super early, excited to make our Tunnel crossing. We walked the dogs by head torch and arrived at the tunnel at 6.30am for our 8.20am crossing to give ourselves time to suss out the formalities and perhaps another cuppa. However, the process went so smoothly that at pet check in we we asked if we wanted the 7.20 departure so off we went. Unfortunately the gas now off, no cuppa en route in the tunnel. However, there was hardly time before we saw daylight again on the other side and were disembarking.
A short hop along the coast to our first overnight stop in France, which has been planned since last summer for the trip we would have made last September. So it felt familiar driving in along the city ramparts having plotted the route on google maps before. Finally a cup of tea before heading in through the tower in the ramparts to the lovely town square for some lunch. I had been practicing my French ordering of a cup of tea, but when we arrived we realised everyone else was on bière. So why not?! A lovely bière in the sunshine with a delicious bruschetta for Kev (vegan is not surprising not much of an option on the menu here).
We had a nice wander around in the sun, loving the independent shops and fabulous looking delicatessens, patisseries, fromageries etc etc. Bergue is a beautiful walled town with a central square overlooked by the bell tower which is a UNESCO world heritage site. However, we had timed our arrival in the midst of the sacred 2 hour French lunchtime and little was open. So we decided to head back for our own, to explore again later this afternoon.
In for a Penney 