We set off at 3.45am in the dark and the rain and made good time on the drive to Dover for our ferry to Calais. Unfortunately on arrival we learned that the 7.30 ferry, booked only 24hours before, was 'now in a refit' and we were now on an 8.00am ferry to Dunkirk. So despite efforts to make good progress we would now be half an hour later leaving, take longer to get to France and arrive 20 miles further north than we had expected. It was not until 11.30 that we were in France, in the rain (but unlike Bonnie Tyler, not lost) and started on the 700 mile journey south. Now think what you like about our cousins across the water and the fact that they drive on a different (wrong) side of the road, when those roads are as empty and clear of traffic as theirs are a Brit can forgive the French almost anything. Driving, at least in the early stages, was a pleasure.
It was a long and largely uneventful journey south, past Calais and Abbeville, through Rouen (our only hiccup as the main road was closed and we had to pick our way through the city) and then past Le Mans. The weather cleared and then became dismal again and as it got dark we really appreciated how lighting and cat's eyes back home make driving easier on unlit and rain sodden roads. The French equivalent of our Highways Agency must have electric bills a fraction of their British counterparts.
Despite the challenges of foul weather and darkness we arrived at the small village of Aire Sur L'Adour near Mont Marcen after 11 hours of almost non stop driving through France. This was our stop for the night; John and Margaret, parents of our friend Mark, had agreed to put us up and in return we had given Mark a lift this far. A big thanks to them for staying up to meet and feed us and for providing us with beds for the night. Tomorrow we must decide just how far we can push into Spain and whether we will try and make up the lost time but for now it is time to get our heads down.
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