Back On The Road Again

 

 

It’s been a while since Jane and I sang the above words as we set off on another adventure. It was somewhat of a tradition, that every time we drove off in the motor home, we sang those first few bars to that well known country song. Sad I know,  but…..

 

Anyway, today, Thursday September 22nd 2011, at precisely 07.35hrs, we left our driveway in Solihull, and headed for Folkestone, to get Le Shuttle to Calais, France.  As we started off along our little road, we both burst into song with the above song.

I would like to be able to say we had a smooth uneventful trip to Folkestone, but as usual, a small non-injury accident, at junction 13 of the M 25, caused a tail back to the M 40 junction, and it took us 1 1/2 hours to travel 3 junctions, about 8 miles.  Fortunately we gave ourselves plenty of time, and arrived at the terminal with 12 minutes to spare…..phew !!!!!

Waiting patiently for our turn to get on the train.

Looking at the empty lines, I don’t think Le Shuttle will be particularly busy today.

For anyone who has not been on shuttle train, its quite clever how they load. Our carriage, for tall vehicles and caravans, was on one level. You simply drive onto a ramp at the rear of a carriage and drive into the train.

Once parked, you relax, as the “Train takes the Strain” and delivers you 35 minutes later in France.

You then simply drive off and away. All the immigration and customs formalities are taken care of before boarding. 

Relaxing with a cup of coffee at our first one night stop, just north of Reims. The village is called Seraucourt-le-Grand, in the Picardy region.

The campsite we stopped at is right in the middle of the village, so no need to take the car to go and explore.

There is a British War Cemetery on the edge of the village . There are some 3000 grave stones in the cemetery, the vast majority have no name, just the inscription, “Unknown Soldier”. Of the ones that do have details, most were just youngsters, 18 to 22years old. What a complete waste of lives, but we just don’t seem to ever learn…….

This is just one of many cemeteries in France given to British and allied forces who gave their lives in the so called “Great War”.

 

 

 

So the end of our first day of being Back On The Road Again. I have to admit, sad as it was saying goodbye to our family and friends yesterday, and there is no doubt we will miss them, it does feel great to be “BACK ON THE ROAD AGAIN’.