Last Stretch of Europe

6fartsinacart
Sep 14, 2017
3 min read

21 August 2017, Monday: I open my eyes thinking it should still be around 7am, but with a surprise realise that it is already 9am. As we’ve concluded our 4th city yesterday (4 days in a row), we don’t feel guilty to lie in a bit later. We manage to leave by 12pm and drive towards Coudekerque-Village (in France). On our way we stop at Oostende next to the sea for lunch. At 3.30pm we enter into France, which in our opinion is one of the more camper-friendly countries. We drive to the nearest Aire where we dispose of our waste. We arrive at our destination at 4pm, a huge park called Bois des Forts on the outskirts of Coudekerque-Village. Some of us go for a leisurely walk through the woods in the park while others start showering. Supper is one of Genève’s inventions consisting of a pan-fried tortilla wrap filled with cheese and salami/ham with or without shredded vegs, depending on your choice. After a relaxing evening we get in bed to have a snooze.

22 August 2017, Tuesday: What an amazing quiet spot for our second last night in Europe. We have communion and as there is no rush we mellow and end up chatting to our neighbours, a British couple, permanently living in their motor home. We leave around 12pm. En-route we stop at Lidl to spend our remaining Euros. Our aim today is to sleep as close as possible to the Euro-tunnel crossing (Calais). We pass through Gravelines where we lunch at our very first sleep-over spot when we started our tour of Europe on the 31st of October 2016. As Merzy’s water tank is almost empty we fill our 20 litre water can and dump all other waste. Dad wants Merzy to be as light as possible for the last stint home. As the park4night stop, where we were planning to sleep, has a height restriction barrier, we head slightly inland to Ardres where we park between two lakes. Mum and Dad go for a walk and after supper we move to a side street off the main road where we are once again blessed with a peaceful night.

23 August 2017, Wednesday: Our alarm wakes us at 7am and 8.30am we pull up at the Eurotunnel in the hope of catching an earlier train, but this is not possible. We board at 9.20am. We say farewell to France (and the continent) as the leShuttle leaves Calais and enter the tunnel at 9.50am. At 9.20am British time (the clocks move back an hour) we arrive in England. Our first port of call is Eastbourne where we want to greet Oom Rod and Aunty Doreen. They surprise us with a delicious meal before we get back on the road around 2pm. As it is a fair distance to drive Dad decides it is a motorway-day today. Without too much delay we arrive in Nailsea at 6.35pm to be welcomed by our second family. A lovely Indian meal awaits us and thereafter a warm cosy bed at 11pm.

Park4night stop at Maria-Hendrika Park