Most of my blogs begin in date sequence and include this photo (usually with a caption like “Wolfy is on the move again!)
However, on this occasion I enter the blog on Day 3 of the tour (which actually started a week ago on the 9th April !). The reason I am writing this entry (E1) first is because it has been quite hectic since we left Glasgow and I have not yet found the time to blog!
We left Glasgow at 06:00 sharp on Thursday 9th April to visit our daughter in Manchester. This took just under 6 hours to cover 230 miles due to motorway delays (!). Anyway, after a lovely but brief ‘brunch’ that Olivia prepared for us we then set off for Ledbury in Herefordshire to visit Kate’s mum. Well, that 130 mile journey took over 4 hours due to motorways delays (!!).
After stopping the night with Nanny and ‘catching up’ we left on Friday morning to visit our son and daughter-in-law in Cardiff. We spent Friday through to Monday with them and on Saturday night Lewis and Kate treated us to a lovely meal in the ‘Walnut Tree Inn’ near Abergavenny. This is a Michelin starred restaurant that we used to go to when we lived in Monmouth. Lewis had arranged with restaurant for us to night stop in our vans in the restaurant car park (so we could all have a glass or two!)
The following morning we set off back to Cardiff via the ‘Blorenge’ mountain where we stopped for breakfast. It was here that we had an issue with the van (fuel injector warning light) however we managed to get back to Cardiff and on Monday morning arranged for the AA to attend.
On Monday morning the AA man arrived, discovered an error code in the Exhaust Gas Temperature Sensor, reset it and suggested we check in with Fiat on the way to Bristol (our next destination) he also noticed that our ‘service’ counter had not been reset!
Eventually we left Cardiff around midday and drove straight to Imperial Motors in Bristol (reason being we had the van serviced by Imperial Glasgow 2 weeks ago). After waiting for an hour for the ‘expert’ to return we were good to go, they ran a diagnostic check, found no faults, and reset the service counter (the reason being that if not reset we would have oil warnings in 3000 miles!)
After this we drove to our place in Bristol where we had a lot of tidying up to do in the garage. 3 hours later and we were done. We stayed the night outside the garage before setting off ‘proper’ on our ‘Italy trip’!
TUESDAY 14th APRIL
With all the weekend stuff behind us we were ready to go! Our plan was for a leisurely drive to Folkestone to catch the train to Calais. This turned out to be another epic journey as we found ourselves ‘parked’ on the M25 in traffic due to a car catching fire! We spent over an hour going nowhere and eventually we pulled off the motorway and diverted via Reigate eventually getting to the railway terminal just after 16:00. We drove straight in, onto a train after a 30 minute wait, next thing we know, 35 minutes later we’re in France! The train stopped, we drove off and almost immediately found ourselves driving on the motorway towards Calais…………just like that!……..Awesome!
A few miles later and we night stopped in the Aire at Oye Plage…. we were the only other van there….
WEDNESDAY 15th APRIL
We set off bright and early and a few miles down the road stopped in a ‘Super U’ supermarket for a few provisions and some diesel. This was a strategic stop as we only needed enough fuel to get to Luxembourg, so, 30 litres at 86 pence per litre (!) and we were away.
It all seemed so easy, the sun was out, the sky was blue, the roads were clear…………we stopped in a rest area to have our ‘French breakfast' of Coffee and fresh baguette (oh French bread, there’s nothing quite like it!) and continued our journey……….. and then……….. we got stuck in another traffic jam on the motorway South of Brussels (yes we’re in Belgium now!) that made the one on the M25 look like a traffic jam for beginners!!
After taking two (TWO!) hours to travel about 5 miles we left the motorway and continued for a while on A roads, re-joining the motorway about 10 mies further along. Then as we went through Luxembourg we filled up with Diesel (95 litres at 77 pence per litre !!). Finally after 300 miles and over 8 hours of driving we arrived in Metz. We had stopped here last year year, although the Aire was full this time so we parked amongst the cars in the general carpark which adjoins the Aire. A good meal washed down with a bottle of chilled Muscadet (only £2.38 haha) and we were asleep!
THURSDAY 16th APRIL
Which finally brings me to this point! It’s now 07:20 in the morning, I have just spent an hour and a half catching up on the blog, Katy is beginning to wake and we have another 300 miles or so ahead of us. So time for breakfast. Tara x
Hope your journey becomes more enjoyable Mumski xx
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