Wed/Thurs 2/3 Jan - Navenby to Pont de L'Arche via Citie Europe

Calais to Pont de L'Arche - 146 miles

Another cold night but nice clear morning and after a relaxed morning we left around 12.30 heading for Folkestone with plenty of time. Traffic a lot heavier but nothing much in the way of delays and we stopped at Birchanger Services for lunch before tackling the M25 and Dartford Crossing. Still very busy we cleared that okay only to run into a stopped queue on the M20, nothing the other way either. Our new posh satnav said a delay of 4 and a half minutes and unexpectedly the traffic started again almost on time; absolutely no idea of what the problem was!

We had intended on stopping at Tesco near Ashford to refuel and pick up a few items of shopping we were short of but the vagaries of the traffic made us reluctant to delay so we carried on to the Eurotunnel Terminal where we were allocated our booked train although the place was very quiet. Got some cash ready for Morocco and a new map book and they were calling our train, somewhat early, so we headed in and were put on an earlier departure which itself was all but empty!

Raining in France, we headed to Citie Europe and the motorhome parking, which was as far as we had planned to go tonight. A late meal then again an earlyish night, going to sleep to the sound of rain drumming on the roof – surprisingly soporific!

Thursday was clear and just drying out but we did encounter showers later. A somewhat messy start although we had little to actually do (not yet in the swing of things!) except refuel which we did along the way at Auchan near Boulogne-sur-Mer. Rather glad we did wait as it was quite a bit cheaper than the UK.

Deciding on our usual route south, D roads to Abbeville the motorway to Rouen, we reflected that using the D roads was a bit of a waste as with all the stopping & starting it would probably be cheaper to pay the tolls – it would certainly be faster now that there is a blanket 80 kph speed limit on single carriageway roads.

A stop just short of Rouen for lunch the successfully routed our way through on busy roads, taking our regular route. Although we had maps and netbook at the ready we know this way well enough to realise that we weren't going to get very far today so when we reached Pont de L'Arche we decided to pack it in and head onto the (free at this time of year) aire. It was a little earlier than we usually stop but we could see there was plenty of room and anyway Terry had had enough driving for today.

Still not very warm and the forecast, although dry, indicates it's not going to warm up until at least Sunday. So we'll make an effort into pushing on a bit.

We'll post maps and pictures when we have them.


WE STAYED AT

Pont de L'Arche aire de camping cars. £5 April to September, free other times. WC, waste water disposal, fresh water (pay) was turned off for winter. Riverside but central to town centre, bars, restaurants, boulangerie etc. also vet .