South of France, we are on the way!
Updated: Sep 20, 2021
Due to ferry costs and timings we made the decision to catch the 23:40 ferry from Dover on Thursday 19th August 2021. We left North Devon at 15:30 in the afternoon to drive to Dover, we had given ourselves plenty of time knowing that the M25 could be difficult!
On the way we encountered an incredible rain storm that really made the wipers work, i was worried we might have a repeat of a previous journey when they fell off! If that happened on the A303 then our journey would be over. Happily the wipers survived and we made it to Dover without any further worries.
The French passport control was at the Port of Dover and we had our passports stamped for the first time for entry to Europe. We are allowed 90 days in 180 days and we lost a precious day at that moment in time. The stamp is dated 19/8/2021 yet we would not be arriving in France until 02:20 on the 20th August, i know it sounds petty but its the principal of being done out of a day! It probably needs more people to highlight this to get anything done to rectify this injustice!
We were crossing with Irish Ferries and the fare was only £77.00. I think there were only around 20 cars in total and not many passengers so we had an entire lounge of the Isle of Inishmore to ourselves and a pleasant sleep!
Arriving at Calais and we had to queue to leave the port, it seemed French customs were being very thorough and causing a tailback in their efforts, eventually our turn arrived and to our surprise the customs official smiled and waved us through! We left the port at 02:30 heading for Paris and the wonderful Boulevard Peripherique! so far the Black Beast was performing perfectly.................