We left home early, having the long UK segment of our journey to finish on the same day. A cold and frosty start, and as it turned out, the whole of the UK was gripped by ice all the way to the south coast.

One of the hard things about living in the UK is that unless you choose to live near the south coast you always have the long journey to the coast.

A lot of preparation had gone into this road trip, the motorhome was completely packed and ready to go, all we needed was to have breakfast, complete the usual tasks that have to be done before leaving the house - make sure all the rubbish is put out, security precautions all activated, water turned off, final walk around looking for anything we have forgotten . . .

Finally it's time, a bitterly cold morning, 18 March 2018, a solid icicle extends all the way from the Hymer's gas flue outlet to the ground, it breaks as Gill lowers the steps and opens the habitation door. Nothing for it now, off we go. A short drive to fill up with LPG (refillable gas tanks), then onto the M6 heading south. Only 12 litres, I expected a lot more, but now we have two full tanks, and no doubt we are going to need them if the temperature at home is maintained across the UK and France. I drive the first 2 hours, we swap drivers, minimum stopping time by taking a flask of coffee. In view of the conditions we take the M6 Toll road, even with the discount it's expensive. The service area is gripped in ice, no attempt has been made to clear it, don't these people listen to the weather forecasts?

We press of south, eventually reaching Folkstone after more changes of driver. The whole of the UK is locked in ice and snow, we feel somewhat apprehensive. We have plenty of time to spare, 213 miles covered in just under 8 hours, so it's almost 1730. Google maps shows us a nearby Indian restaurant so we head off there for a meal. Our Le Shuttle crossing is not until after 2100, and we're hopeful of getting on an earlier crossing. The meal is Nepalese, we both enjoy it.

Very quick entry to the tunnel holding area, automated by registration number recognition. We wait - will the automated system offer us the earlier crossing?  No, so we wait for our booked train. We speculate about why there are some many cars towing trailers with another car on them. Finally boarding and after a short delay we're into the tunnel. Clocks forward one hour and switch the GPS speedometer to kph as soon as we arrive, then the short drive to the aire. 10 euro for the overnight stay, more motorhomes here than we expected. Windy and freezing temperature, so it's hot water bottles and into bed as quickly as possible.

A successful day one, the unavoidable trek from home to the south coast that comes before most European trips, over for this trip. Sleep overcomes us just after midnight local time.

Summary of trip