Vive La France

Lovely meal last night and great to spend time with Katy and see her in her chef habitat. Headed back to Tonbridge hoping that a. No one had stolen the Duke, b, We hadn’t been fined for being a little long for the parking space, or c. Someone nicked our catalytic converter. Thankfully none of these things had happened but it did cross our minds how you realize when you leave it behind how everything you own on this side of the Atlantic is in that one vehicle. Trundled down the M20 to just outside Folkestone where we had discovered camper vans can stay overnight at the services before using the Eurotunnel or Le Shuttle as the French refer to it. Not the most glamorous camping spots with Diesel engines running around us on refrigerated vans and a massive long queue of cars at near midnight queueing for petrol at the pumps. Keep the windows and vents closed!
Experienced the Channel tunnel for the first time - this was the train just before we drove onto it. Smooth border checks this side and on the other side we literally drove straight off the train onto the autoroute. Driving from about 11 am with a couple of stops we managed 350 km and stopped in a little town called Marboué and parked in a basic overnight parking spot. Saw the magnificent view of Chartres Cathedral from miles out on the road but didn’t manage a decent photo. Cooked tournedos in a pepper sauce and haricots verts for dinner and then got to relax - should be down in the Southern parts of France tomorrow night and hoping for a little warmer weather. Loving being back in France and speaking to the locals - I’m a bit rusty but managed to have a couple of conversations.