Loading the Hymer B544
UK motorway traffic
Nepalese meal in Folkestone
Arriving aire de camping cars Gravelot
Home to Calais via Eurotunnel by motorhome
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Day one of our motorhome trek through France, September 2019. Outward journey from home to Calais. This is always the great problem of living so far north in the UK, you have to make the journey south on the M6, around London and to Folkstone - if you are crossing via Eurotunnel. We like the tunnel. For a motorhome it's no more expensive than a ferry from Dover to Calais but the thing that make it so attractive for us is the effortless entry and boarding process. If only the airports could handle flights as well as Eurotunnel handles trains we might, but only might, go back to flying. Being realistic, that is not going to happen as long as airline passengers are willing to put up with being treated how they are. Customers do have real power, as I have said before, we could put any of the supermarkets out of business in a short time, just stop buying from them. If nobody flew airports would be changing, but as long as they don't have to, they never will. End of airport rant!
It's over 320 miles from home to Eurotunnel in Folkstone, we allow a full day for that, packing the Hymer in advance so that we have the bare minimum of things to put in before leaving. All the checks such as tyre pressures, fuel etc have been done, plus a thorough cleaning inside and outside. We are up early and anxious to be on the road, it's unusual if there are no delays so we want to be off.
Normally we drive alternately, and keep going as much as possible. We take a flask of coffee so that our morning break can be as short as possible.
On this trip we drank our coffee at Stafford services, reached Warwick services by lunchtime, stopping there for a quick lunch before pressing on to Folkstone, arriving in about 7 3/4 hours including stops. Average speed 45 miles an hour. We had a meal at The Lemon Leaf (Nepalese Restaurant), it's a good stopping point as it's only a short distance from Eurotunnel. The food is very good and reasonably priced.
Then it's off to Eurotunnel, and check in, very easy, the camera reads your registration number and you confirm details on the screen and the barrier goes up, no human intervention. Passport control was quick and we were in the holding are in minutes waiting for boarding. Onto the train easily then just 35 minutes to Calais sat in your own vehicle. Unloading was quick too as there were not many high vehicles on our crossing and we are at the front of the train.
Our route from the terminal took us past the large Auchan supermarket, so we called off with the intention of doing our shopping but had only 10 minutes before closing time as 2100, so bought very little before heading for the aire de camping cars at Grevelot. Ten euro for 24 hours, not cheap, but so convenient. Automated entry and lots of space on almost level tarmac, disposal facilities but no toilets or showers unless you go on the camping site next door. We think that's a waste of money as we want to be up and away in the morning.
We settle down for the first night in France thinking about the days to come. In the past we used to spend hours planning our journeys, we're a lot more relaxed about where we're going to stay next and what route we will take.
Summary of motorhome journey
Total miles |
mpg | average speed mph |
hours driven |
335.6 | 28.5 | 45 | 7:21 |
Totals for this journey |
|||
335.6 | 28.5 | 45 | 7:21 |
aire de camping cars Gravelot