On Monday morning last, we were due to leave home for our journey through France to Spain. Accommodation was all booked, everything organised, the only thing we were worried about was how well The Cyprus 3 would behave on the trip.
They proved to be the least of our problems!
We had planned to leave at 10.00 a.m. We got away only 45 mins late due to certain issues with the amount of stuff I was trying to load into the new 510litre roof box which we had purchased in order that the dogs could have the whole interior of the car.
Who new that 510litres was so small?
Thanks to the miracle that is vacuum packing bags we managed to condense the, possibly, 1000 litres of items I was loading into half the space. Believe the adverts, these things are miraculous http://www.lakeland.co.uk/p24142/Lakeland-Vacuum-Totes
We then had a little issue with locking the thing. Resolved on the phone by the very nice people at The Roofbox Company .
Bad language, and tempers forgotten (sort of) we were off!
So, ON THE ROAD BABY!!!!!
Until about 5 miles before The Dartford Crossing when the M25 ground to a crawl and remained that way for 45 mins until we got to the toll.
Back on it!! Arrived at the Eurotunnel at about 2.10 bought ticket but they couldn’t get us on a train until 3.20. No probs. Had a coffee walked the dogs queued for the train.
Excellent!! 4th vehicle loaded after 3 coaches which meant 4th off at the other end.
En France, the doors opened the coaches drove off, except for the coach in front of us………. which broke down or, tombé en panne!!
Zut Alors!!
Loaded in a metal cylinder, daylight only one vehicle away, it is very frustrating when that vehicle is a 49-seater coach with a seized gear-box.
Lady Luck smiled upon us all at that point, they were on the final attempt at resetting the gear-box prior to calling a tow truck when, hoorah, it worked!
I could feel the cumulative sigh of relief from the entire trainload of cars, coaches, vans, trucks and all their passengers rushing up the carriages behind us, and with that garlicky wind in our sails we launched ourselves onto the French motorway system.
I LOVE French motorways, they’re empty of traffic, they’re well maintained, lots of rest stops and service stations, I could drive for days on them. Lucky, as that’s just what we were going to be doing.
Our stop the first night was booked for Le Manoir des Impressionistes in Honfleur.
We’ve stayed there several times before. It’s run by a lovely if slightly dotty English lady named Brigit who we love dearly, and her sons who are half French. Her husband died suddenly and unexpectedly a few years ago.
My plan for the journey was that Buster would sleep in the room with us as usual, and Toby, Molly and Bella would sleep in the car.
I’d prebooked a room on the ground floor so we could park the car outside the window and we’d hear if The Cyprus 3 started to create a noise, but Brigit insisted that the “doggies” could all sleep in the room with us and we were to treat the place as if it were our own home.
The Doggies liked that idea and although they’d only just been allowed upstairs at home for the previous 2 weeks they romped into the room and onto the bed and assumed positions of leisure that made me think I’d probably get a better night’s sleep if I curled up in the back of the car.
I’d come with a contingency plan just in case we had to bring the dogs into the bedroom, and brought a large white sheet with me to put over the bed and the lovely bedcovers that the French usually provide, thereby at least mitigating some of the decoration by mud that they seem to carry with them wherever they go. Removing dogs, I rapidly covered up the white bedcover before it was too late.
Leaving them in the room while we went for dinner was a complete write-off as they just scratched at the door so we put them back in the car while we had a peaceful meal and a bottle of wine.
We all slept well, Mike took them out for a quick walk in the morning, everyone was off the lead except for Bella, he put them back in the car while we had breakfast, then we took them to the beach! So far as we know, The Cyprus 3 hadn’t seen a beach before.
Bella, Molly, Toby on the beach at Honfleur
Toby, Molly, Bella on the beach at Honfleur
Oh they loved it! Bella had to remain on the extending lead as, even though there are not usually sheep on a beach, she didn’t know that and there was no telling whether she might just charge off into the distance looking for some.
The absolute joyous time they were having brought tears to my eyes. Buster was thundering about like a puppy, Toby found the wettest part of the sand so he could get it all over himself, Miss Moll just waddled along by our sides and Bella hurtled too and fro on her lead. Then they saw the sea!
Glee abounded. It was a bit scary and had to be barked at, but it was also quite a lot of fun especially for Toby who just loves to get wet.
Buster on the beach at Honfleur
The tide was coming in so we couldn’t linger too long. Back at the hotel, Brigit was dying to show me the new Spa Centre they’ve just finished. It’s been put into a very old building at the bottom of the garden. which was derelict last time we were there. They’ve made a lovely job of it and next time we stay I’m going to try to make time to have a treatment down there.
We said our goodbyes, loaded dogs into the car, luggage onto the top, and we were off.
I put our next destination into the SatNav. 5 driving hours to our next destination…….or was it??
Continued in part 2….
High-Fiving Palm Trees 
great blog 🙂 really had me chuckling, you should put it into a book!
Worse than children but they seem a lot of fun. Glad they have settled and you are all enjoying the experience. Hope you are having a good time and Mike is resting. Take care and enjoy. Shirley xxxx