We had arranged to meet Colin and Tina at Folkstone then travel together thereafter. This involved a 10.30 departure from Navenby which, probably due to an early call from Jamie, actually happened! Unfortunately the weather, though okay at the start of our journey, deteriorated and we suffered strong headwinds and heavy rain almost all the way to Folkstone. So in trying to keep our speed up to be reasonably on time, the fuel consumption was horrendous and we eventually ran out some 30 miles short, with just enough to creep off the motorway and find a fuel station.
We had hoped we might get an earlier departure than our booking and did in the end save about 40 mins but this was at the expense of no lunch and a deal of stress and fatigue, not helped by the atrocious driving conditions. However Eurotunnel was its usual efficient self and we had a chance to relax a little during the crossing, having met up with Colin and Tina at the Stop24 Services a little before the tunnel terminal.
As always it was straight round to Auchan for fuel then we decided to treat ourselves to a meal at Flunch, where we were joined by around 30 heavily armed gendarmes - obviously part of the security in place around the tunnel - who had just come off shift. Both vans were totally surrounded by police vans; no problem with security here!
After a pleasant meal we proceeded to our planned night stop at the Aire de Camping Cars at Wissant, just 20 mins south where we parked up then planned the next few days over a nice cuppa.
The "holiday" begins.
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