REIMS: Another lovely town.
We hear the mighty DAF engine as she's chugging down the canal, the M.V. Vagabond has arrived, lines tied to bollards, it's time to relax. Stuart's comes in from the north, us from the south. It's been a long day for all of us it's time for an aperitif and a riperian meal and some other nice liquid refreshments.
That day Stuart had purchased from the Eclusier (lock master,) a lettuce and strawberries, (most have veggie gardens), and fabulous houses.
On leaving his boat he hands me the lettuce, I stow it in the fridge. Next morning I noticed that some little critters had been happily munching away all night on the leaves, I discover 1 x French Slug and 1 x Escargot. Hmm....Terry decided to put said slug into the long grass and I decide to give the Escargot to Stuart. We are all killing ourselves laughing as they had really done a number on the underside leaves, it really was a mess.
We wave Stuart goodbye coughing.
The DAF has just burped out some tear inducing fumes, but he is indicating (if you can read sign language) that he has already lost his Escargot that HE'D left on the table.
We think......, it has snuck off somewhere probably to his bed, to give birth to a million tiny snails, then take over the boat. Actually it sounds like a Hitchcock movie in waiting, he said he will probably have nightmares till it's found.....I'll keep you updated.....
Now we have to speed up, and get to GRAVELINES for our departure to the U.K. The ferry leaves from Calais. This is an Aire and of course on a canal, this area is a very old walled town, we stay here as it's not far from Dunkirk also. They have 6 meter tides, visually it's interesting to see the boats - now you see em - now you don't…. They also have some interesting statues!
We are in the line up at Calais Port and I still cannot believe there is NO security checks, No checking underneath, or inside H.H.
We could have 1,000 illegal refugees hiding inside ( Just a little exaggeration) but seriously all you need is your passports and H.H's boarding pass at least that is done now, I can make us a cup of tea and toast and wait to board. I remember a few years ago when we flew into Hobart from the Gold Coast we got fined $220 for having a lemon in our luggage! Here we are with a fridge full of vegetables and foodstuffs. Come on Tassie….. drag yourself into the 21st Century!
It's a daggy old day for the crossing, raining, so we can't see the white cliffs of Dover on arriving but here we are back in the U.K. With a little sign reminding us to drive on the left. Terry's version of this is just drive with the steering wheel in the ditch attitude, I'll just keep taking the B.P tabs I don't know how he copes with all the changes.
CANTERBURY: I just love this town.
We stay 2 days at the park & ride and then onto POOLE for our M.O.T. (Pink slip & rego), H.H's health check. Thanks be to God or whoever he got a good result with just a few minor nips, tucks and refills and thanks to whoever again we passed on the tyres. This will probably be next time if not before. .....ouch.....!!
POOLE: The town is fabulous, we are given a very small courtesy car, so off we go with Terry's legs up in his chest, and the peddles are so close for his big feet, but he does manage to find brakes when needed ( that's a bonus) anyway I digress!! He mastered it so we end up at the Harbourside. We wandered around and across the river spied "Sunseeker Yachts”.
Huge plastic (stink) boats worth a lot of pound sterling. We then had takeaway Cod & Chips (batter dripping in oil) and the seagulls had the leftover chips.
Walking back to the car we noticed the Life Boat Museum and went in, this particular one was involved in the Dunkirk WW 11 rescue of soldiers & civilians by 700 small ships and craft, an extraordinary feat.
We wish our dollar/ pound ratio was just a tad better cause it would mean we could stay longer but alas no go....Diesel fuel is a shocker of a price, $2.45 Oz... when you have to double the price of everything it hurts. But the weather was great, we were able to see lots of gorgeous villages and countryside and skinny roads!!
We drove past HASTINGS: If I remember there was a very fierce battle that occurred, not so long ago (1066) ....history, history everywhere you turn..
Now, we have to make our way back to Canterbury again, it has been so good to shop and be able to buy things and read the labels/contents without guessing, I have made a few bo bo's (some good - some not so). The canals here are so pretty, crystal clear waters. This originally was either a river/moat around this ancient walled town
Ok back to France we go, pass through customs, passports & boarding pass, still no security checks going the other way. Dover is in sunshine, seas are calm the ferry is running 80 minutes late, time for a cup of coffee. France is having monumental problems in Calais. After disembarking we notice a lot of Gendarmerie chasing a lot of Black refugees down the road and also into the bushes. They have put a vast amount of razor wire along the roads with still a lot of work to go.There is a tent city set up farther down the road in the bushland there's been a lot of fracas. We have been told that the Gendarmerie have been using fire houses to stop the organized riots & illegal boarding of the ships going to the U.K. It's pretty nasty for all concerned, these people are coming down through Italy to France. This is happening day and night. As I am writing this the dock workers are on strike, causing the semi trailers to slow down and stop. The refugees are lining the roads trying to jump on or under the trucks , they are fighting amongst themselves for position on the road, the people smugglers are having a field day. Australia isn’t the only place with refugee problems.
Well that's all folks - we are now on our way to Belgium & Holland etc...stay with us for our next blogger thing - there's always more to come.....lots of love to all, Susie, Terry & H.H. X X X
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