Newcastle Upon Tyne to Ancona
April 18th 2016 -Newcastle Upon Tyne to Peterborough
So.... it's April 18th and we're off! A new life awaits in Kefalonia - we just have to get there. It's only a 1573 mile trip. What can be hard about that? Well.... we're about to find out.
Stage 1 was the journey from Newcastle Upon Tyne to Peterborough.That took off 207 miles. I know it's only a fraction of the whole mileage. We stopped off at the Dog in a Doublet hotel, only because it sounded rather appropriate.
April 19th 2016- Peterborough to Wisques (France)
Stage 2 of the journey was from Peterborough to Wisques in France via the Eurotunnel. We'd never been through the Eurotunnel before. It was amazing. I thought it would be hectic but there were hardly any vehicles waiting to go through. It's a 40 minute trip, but only 20 minutes are underground. We flashed our passports at Passport control and asked if he wanted to see the Pet passports as well. He said "Just on your way back into England".
"I don't think so" I said. We're not coming back! That sounded good I have to say. He seemed a bit shocked so we explained the situation and he wished us the best of luck.
Waiting to go through the Eurotunnel at Folkestone 
Stopped off at La Sapiniere just outside of Calais. Beautiful hotel and the grounds are lovely. The weather is sunny and warm. Just perfect.
I've managed to use some of my "O"level French in the restaurant. It's amazing how you can get by
with "Bonjour", "Merci", and "Tres Bon" together with nods of the head and smiling.When we were walking the dogs in the grounds of the hotel, the manageress motioned to us through the window of the restaurant to say she would reserve a table for dinner for us. We turned up for dinner, dogs in the room, and she was horrified that we hadn't brought them to the table! We had to about turn and go and fetch them. She made such a fuss over them which was really nice.
The next morning however, we sat at the wrong table (how dare we!), I ate a Frenchman's soft boiled egg by mistake (don't ask!) and both dogs pee'd on the pillar right outside the main entrance of the hotel just as a group of business men arrived for a conference. Time to escape.......
La Sapiniere in Wisque
Stage 1 & 2 DONE!!
Glad to see you are on your way. How was the final packing and did you find it difficult saying your good byes to family & friends. Good luck with stage 3 of the trip. Weather in Kefalonia is sunny. :-)
ReplyDeleteHi Jayne - Sorry it's taken a while to reply but the WiFi situation has been terrible in most hotels we have stayed at! The packing went OK - but must admit to stuffing odds and ends into the camper van at the last minute! Saying goodbye is always hard but I kept saying to everyone that we're only in Greece not the other side of the world. The world is a much smaller place these days! Thanks for the good wishes. I'm blogging from Patras, so Kefalonia tomorrow!
DeleteHi Sharon. I have just noticed your reply and if all has gone well you will have arrived in Kefalonia. Looking forward to reading how the house is and the start of your new adventure.
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