And we're off!

Here we are, the adventure has started and already we have some stories to tell…

But first of all as promised, here is our version of the “Grande Vadrouille”, photo taken in Voiron a few days before we left. 


Departure finally happened on the 31st of July at exactly 4:41pm after a 4-day final sprint where we asked ourselves a zillion questions: Should we take this? Where are we going to put it ? It could be nice if we had that. We should really clean up the house before we leave…” But we eventually managed to take off !

So we headed North crossing through France and after driving about 600km we felt some vibrations that were getting stronger and stronger. We stopped twice to take a look without seeing where they were coming from until, as we had stopped for the day, Jérôme noticed that one of our back tires was torn and about ready to completely come apart. 

So all stop !! We needed to replace it before we could go any further. Luckily, we were in an area where it was possible to take care of it the following day. So, to get over it all and to respect local tradition we had a very healthy dinner of fries and beer at a local "baraque à frites" (fries stand) called “Banana Frites”. And it did the job, the fries were really good and very comforting!

So we spent the next day in the very scenic shopping area of Douai while we waited as they equipped our van with brand new shoes. Because, after looking at it all more closely we decided it would be good to change all 4 tires. As we were there anyway… And we did somewhat blame ourselves because we hadn’t checked the tires before leaving although I’m not certain we would have seen anything had we did. In the end we were VERY, VERY lucky the tire didn’t blow up as we were going 120km/h on the highway and our budget took a big hit on the 2nd day of the trip... But as things are never all bad I had the chance to be invited by my man at the very gastronomic restaurant « Chez Flunch », it rained all day and it’s not like we had lost one day of a 2-week holiday.

We finally got back on the road driving towards the coast and made a stopover in the very charming town of Bergues (well-known because of another French blockbuster « Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis ») where we can definitely say they have some humor. 

Here Pablo Picasso has never been

We spent a lovely last night on French soil before we boarded the ferry in Dunkerque towards Dover. 24h later than planned, but that’s life...


So we are now in Britain getting used to driving on the left while going through the busy London area and made our 1st stop in the very pretty village of Blisworth near Northampton.

The next day we had originally planned to continue on to Scotland but this time it’s Mother Nature who decided otherwise. Storm Floris was going to come through the North of Britain bringing some very strong winds so we did drive North as much as we could but staying out of the worst to be safe and went as far as Scarborough on the East Coast of England where, as you can see we had a great overnight spot overlooking the North Sea. Exactly the kind of place we like to find.


So Scotland here we come! Well maybe eventually… 

To see the map and more photos: La Grande Vadrouille - sodeslau


 


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