Here is a very late recollection of our 8 day road trip through Europe visiting 13 countries back in 2016.
Day 1…Thursday 9th June
After a hard part week at work I was hoping for a lie in. No such luck. 7am came round and there I was, wide awake. You’d think I’d have jumped out of bed, I mean it was the day we were going on holiday, however, the prospect of packing for not just one, but two holidays, did not fill me with joy. As I write this I sound insane!! Two holidays!! Stop being an ungrateful cow and go and pack! So I did. See, I was lucky enough to have about two and a half weeks off work. Week one was to be spent gallivanting round Europe with Nathan and week two was a relaxing week in the Dominican Republic with mum.
Once packed, Nathan picked me up, treated me to a cheeky KFC and then we went to his to finalize everything to make sure we had all the legal stuff in the car such as:
- Warning triangle
- GB sticker (Nathan has GB on his plates)
- Headlamp beam converters
- High vis (good job we work in dotcom)
- First Aid kit
- Foil blanket
- Breathalyser twin pack
- Spare bulb set
- Guidance leaflet
Good job there was no weight limit on the car haha! All sorted now, we began the three hour drive to Newhaven where we would get the 11pm DFDS ferry across to Dieppe. It was £42 ferry so by far the cheapest option to start this adventure. Being the avid planner I am, we had a very intense plan to follow in order to maximise our time and see as much as possible. Dinner was eaten in the Brewers Fayre pub across the road from the ferry terminal followed by a trip to the Sainsbury’s next door because I for some reason, had packed no underwear. None whatsoever. Only thing I can think of was that I had packed it all in the case for holiday two. Whoops.
Once on the ferry we had to exit the car and we sat in the lounge and tried to get a bit of sleep. It wasn’t easy…
Day 2…Friday 10th June
Sleeping on a ferry really wasn’t easy. I must have only got about an hour and currently can barely keep my eyes open. Nathan managed to sleep a bit more but I did keep waking him up because I couldn’t get comfortable. Whoops. It was also incredibly warm so I kept getting hot and sticky yet when we arrived in Dieppe at 5am, it was bloody freezing. Whilst waiting to disembark the ferry we managed to book ourselves into a cabin on the return journey, which would hopefully give us about four hours sleep. I mean the itinerary had given us zero lie ins as there is way too much to see and do during our time in Europe.
Once in the car and out of customs, we headed to our first destination. The magnificent Mont St Michel, three hours west of Dieppe. We pretty much followed the coastline and it was well signposted the closer we got.
Nevertheless, we continued as we were going in the general right direction for the rest of our adventure. I drove for about two hours but the motorways were sooooo long that I had to pull over and let Nathan drive for fear of crashing. We located a Maccyd’s for dinner (really experiencing French culture we were) which had a drive through so we didn’t have to waste time going in. Wrong! They didn’t understand us so we had to park up and go in to use the machines. I blame Nathan for being fussy not wanting mayo.
Until next time…