A different tunnel experience

Saturday 14th July

Today was the last full day of our time in France and we travelled to Calais in preparation for catching the Eurotunnel in the morning. It was very quiet on the roads for the first half of the trip as we used the lesser roads to travel to near Arras, and from there picked up the motorway for the last 150k to Calais. Traffic was quite heavy on the motorway - it is French National day (we know it as Bastille day); was everyone headed to the beach for the weekend? We arrived in Calais around 3, got the washing up to date, very late lunch, and late dinner, then an early night. There was a lot of noise in the street till around 2am, and fireworks at midnight.

The tower on the Town Hall in Calais.

The watch tower in Calais. Possibly dates back to 810,
 but first documented in 1302.

Kids and dogs - both loved jumping on the spouting water.

Sunday 15th July

An early-ish start this morning so we made sure we weren't late for the train. We arrived with plenty of time and there were no issues with boarding at all, though the French border post did not stamp our passports.

An interesting experience - it's a double decker train, 2 tiers of cars. We were loaded on to the top level, then you just sit in your car for the 30 minutes it takes to go under the channel - or you get out and stand around as some did. We took the opportunity for a short nap.

This Eurotunnel business is huge - a few trains every hour.
We weren't entirely sure of the process of loading
but we just followed along the car in front
and we were on our way.

Drive on at the back, and off at the front.

Odette drove us under the English Channel.

She likes a train ride.

Off the train and you are straight away on the motorway. We travelled 150k on the motorway before we got a look at any of the English countryside, and even then it was only for a short time that we could see anything.

Took a break after a couple of hours and had lunch at one of the service centres on the motorway. We had to have a cornish pastie now we are in England.

Back in the car and another 200k on the motorway to our first stop of Stoke on Trent - no particular reason for being here, it is just about getting to Scotland the quickest way. Along the way we came across a major traffic incident with investigators on the road and police chopper in the nearby paddock - fortunately it was on the opposite side; the traffic was backed up for over 5k.

We have gone a little upmarket in terms of hotels. This one, we have a big room, aircon, a big tv, and it has an indoor pool and we've had a swim (yes, in England, a swim) and a spa. Very comfortable.