Day 17 (Saturday)It was time to leave Germany. We headed west again, cutting into the north eastern corner of France, just below Luxembourg. The whole trip had been timed exactly to be here at this point on the planet on this day.
At just before mid-day we arrived at my Friend Thierry's house, ready for the preparations for his big 50th birthday party.
Thierry had selected a suitable shady parking place for us and scheduled appropriate weather for the celebration (warning, some trees were harmed during the reversing of this camper, overt eyes if offended):
We caught up with the great man himself and assisted in the testing of the barrel of beer he had procured:
The celebratory pig was put in place, supervised by Thierry's Spanish neighbor Jose. Roasting began at 12:00 and finished at 21:00.
We adjourned for a BBQ lunch of some local sausages on Thierry's patio.
More friends arrived and fine adjustment was made to the "Champagne soup":
The disco began, interrupted briefly by the presentation of Thierry's collective birthday present - we had all contributed some money to get him an electric mountain bike. I tried it - it was one heck of a piece of kit.
Day 18 (Sunday)The celebrations got into full swing and finally birthday cake was cut and consumed around 01:00 on Sunday morning.
I retired to the camper at 03:00 (knowing I had a long drive tomorrow). Sally was in a chatty mood so I left her with Thierry and friends. Eventually she woke me at 08:00 asking if I would like a coffee, as by now she had just finished drinking (and run out of people to talk to as the final attendees were fading fast).
A quick breakfast in the camper, followed by a longer one of croissants and coffee supplied by Thierry.
Everyone had had a great time thanks to Thierry and his girlfriend Laurence. It was difficult to leave, and as ever Thierry pushed for us to stay later, maybe to go home tomorrow, etc. But we needed to make a move.
We headed west towards the French channel ports. Sally slept in the passenger seat, but had to be woken every so often to pay the tolls, since our truck is right-hand-drive and the toll booths are set-up for left-hand-drive vehicles.
The plan was to stay in north west France that night and get a train to the UK the following morning. That meant finding another camping spot. We tried a couple of 'aires' around St. Omer. The first turned out to be next to a big camp ground and was where local teenagers played football. The second looked perfect, a quiet spot by a canal. But it was full, not helped by someone who appeared to have set-up full camp there (against the rules) with awning out, chairs, tables, etc. We turned around - Sally had spotted a sign for a campground at the last roundabout. It was on the grounds of a small chateau. The guy on reception was fantastic and offered us a good discount rate because of the camping association we are a member of. In return we ate in their restaurant that evening.
Day 19 (Monday)We get up at a leisurely time and head to the tunnel. I add the campground as a waypoint on the GPS - we'll use this one again. We also take the cross-country route to the tunnel rather than the autoroute, allowing us to fill the diesel tank at a supermarket filling station - $1.76 / litre instead of $2.22 / litre back home.
At the check-in to the channel tunnel our license plate is again automatically recognised, though at this time of the day they seem to be running fewer trains, to it doesn't give us any option to get on an earlier one. Still, it isn't long to wait, and soon we are back on the British motorway network heading home.
At home the grass is long, the stack of mail is high and the cats are glad to see us. Plus it is nice to have a few nights sleeping in our king-size bed, at least before I need to get on a plane again and sleep in a hotel.
It has been a great experience.
I phoned Sally last night - she said I was right about a couple of things - the garage had to replace a universal joint in the drive shaft and a wheel bearing. I'd been noticing these things for quite a while, but they had got worse over the last 3500km. Just wear and tear from many on-road and off-road trips with a fully-laden truck camper, so nothing to complain about.
I sit finishing this from the British Airways lounge in Cape Town airport. Tomorrow I should be home in the British summer and away from the torrential rain of the South African winter.
Happy travels everyone.
Steve.
