Bryn: So the 16th of July, our launch day, was full of mixed emotions. There were tears of happiness, excitement and sadness. The date had finally arrived for Gem and I to set sails and leave for the adventure of our lives! This has been years of dreaming and planning and we could hardly believe that it had finally arrived!
The day itself was full of madness! We still had to pack the Landy (again) up north in Donny, we then had Doncaster Free press arrive, all the family and friends were there with champagne, banks to call, bills to pay, insurances to cancel, a few more bits to buy, all of this PLUS WE STILL DIDN’T HAVE A CARNET! The carnet is the most important document we needed, without it we couldn’t do the trip. After many calls and messages to the RAC, we finally managed to get hold of them and organise the gold dust that is the carnet. It has been shipped to France and is waiting with my cousin.
Once we had said our good byes and thank you’s in Donny, Gem had to wipe away the tears and rehydrate
Thank you to everyone involved and thank you for all your help in making this trip possible for us!
Then we headed south to Hinckley/Burbage where my family and friends were waiting. During the 2 hour drive at 55 mph (which would normally take 1.25 hours) we managed to make a few more calls to sort out what needed sorting, did I mention we hadn’t booked the ferry yet? We met at the pub and had a much needed beer!
Yes, that is me on the phone during the photos organising the carnet, I had to take the call because it took days to get hold of them!!
My brother Corban and cousin Matt joined us from here and in convoy we headed for Dover. On the way we managed to book the ferry and sorted all other bills etc
We were now starting to relax a little, all prep had now been done, there is nothing else that we can do to prepare anymore, it was now about embracing the adventure! We got to Dover and our ferry had been delayed due to gale force winds and rough seas. The ferry ride was rough but we were now starting to feel excited and started to unwind, viva le France!
The first few days in France have been great!It’s been cool having Corban and Matt with us! Once we were off the ferry we finally found a campsite at about 2:30 am, it was the only one open at that time and when it came to paying, we understood why, 45 Euro’s per night! Yes, we had managed to find the only 5 star campsite in the area! Oh well, it was nice. The next day we headed about 100km’s South and found a cheaper site called “Le Val De Trie” in Moyenneville. We decided to chill here for the next few days whilst the boys were with us. We are currently sitting in the restaurant area of the site to do the update. The boys are about to head back to the UK, Gem and I are going to head 900kms South to see my cousin Julien and his wife Megan.
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