Day two - Birmingham to Gent, Belgium

Location: Gent, Belgium.
Total Miles: 417.8

I am writing this  blog in deepest darkest Belgium. Literally darkest as we have driven for a long way post ferry and got to a Holiday Inn, outside of which I am parked on the service road having send the parents inside to book a room.

But, as per usual, I am getting ahead of myself.

What a long and successful day. I was woken by my bladder at about 5.40 (my phone battery had died so no alarm call for me) so I rushed out and after a few stressful moments we were fully packed and I we were on the road by about 6.30am.

The sun rising to our left

The first stint of Thomas-driving was taken by my dad so I had the pleasure of my mum's company and it was so wonderful to be driving at that time through a lovely spring morning, watching the sun rise to our left as we processed along the inside lane of the motorway.

Long lorry overtaking us

We were pretty much the slowest vehicle again with some huge lorries overtaking us however we all commented just how relaxing it actually is to not be in a hurry, to be just chilling and to have everyone else whizzing past you.

The mid-sky rainbow

At one point my mum and I both saw, in the middle of the sky and not part of a normal looking rainbow, the colours of a rainbow. We tried to take a picture and the one above is what came out; the strange yellowness is because of the effects I have just used to bring the actual colours out; it was amazing and was there for quite a long time.

Cooking up a storm

Shortly after we arrived at Oxford Services and stopped there for breakfast; I was on cooking duties (of course) and duly provided a bacon and egg butty for each of us which were wolfed down double quick as we were hungry.

Happy campers in Julian with a cuppa

There was time for a cup of tea while we waited for the frying pan to cool enough to pack away and then it was time for the off again, this time my mum driving Thomas and Dad in with me.

I can see the sea!

We made really good time and after a couple more driver swap breaks (which I found very useful as I was able to stretch my legs, and put more fuel in Julian who is proving to be as thirsty as Thomas isn't; three tank fulls to only just over one for the 400 odd miles we have driven today!) we spotted the sea between the hills ahead and then Dover hove into view (yes, I know that joke would have worked if we were driving towards Brighton. Shut up!).

It did not take long to get to the ferry terminal and we were one of the first to arrive, with plenty of time. My dad tried to avoid one of the passport control points and had the jobsworth chasing after him shouting and then was directed to check in at the trucker point. Whoops. It was an easy mistake to make as they'd already checked them once!

Julian and Thomas waiting to board

We parked up at the front of the row for loading and sat down to wait.

Parents in a state of relaxation

As you can see my parents have their own way of waiting :)

Tasty tasty wrap

We also made some lunch which was really nice and involved wraps with cheese and ham between them, with a little mayo spread on for moisture, and some crisps, cherry tomatoes and chocolate bars. We finished off with some of my mothers' lovely fruit cake which she had baked for the trip.

I also allowed Sassy out to run around which was great as she was looking a little sulky again; after a few mins she returned to her usual happy self and even spread herself out on the floor to chill out at one point.

Not a very busy ferry

Not long after we had finished eating the marshalls came along and started loading us and we were lucky enough to be put right at the front inside the boat. Brilliant. We climbed the decks and after a couple of moves settled down for the short sea trip.

The gates of Dover harbour

It wasn't very long before the captain with a very thick french accent announced we were leaving and sure enough shortly after the harbour walls of Dover slipped past our window.

Waving goodbye to England

After a few minutes I popped outside to take on of the obligatory "leaving the UK" pictures. As it had been all day (and all yesterday) the sun was beating down and it was a glorious day. The wind had got up the closer we got to the coast, however, so I didn't stay outside to admire the view but went back to our seats where I sat and dozed for the entire trip (apart from a quick visit to the shop to pick up some GB plates as I had managed to mislay the ones I bought... whoops).

Grey and gloomy France

Not long after we noticed land and I went out to take a picture of France and, as you can see, the weather had changed. Gone were the beautiful blue skies and arrived were grey overcast and miserable horribleness; I thought the continent was supposed to be NICER than England weather wise...!

Leaving France

We were pretty quick getting off the ferry and then, before I had a chance to stop and put the GB plates on, we were on the motorway and scooting along at high speed (Well, 50mph but that's still pretty good).
Just before we left France I spotted a parking place in time to stop and pulled over and stuck GB plates on both Julian and the trailer (which had managed to lose the one stuck on in Dover) and then we were on our way again and, with much relief, out of France. The weather continued to be horrible, with really low cloud and intermittent rain. After two days of such gorgeous weather this really was a letdown.

My dad and I played a bit of a fun game along this drive, watching the nationalities of the trucks going past and seeing which ones were polite to use their indicators to say "thanks" after I flashed them back in front of me. We found that Germans are rude and Dutch people aren't. Fortunately British and Bulgarians didn't let us down and the Polish put in a good showing too.

Dinner at the service station in Gent

It started to get quite late and we still hadn't seen a single service station which had a hotel attached so we decided to stop at the next one with a restaurant, eat, and ask for assistance. It wasn't that much further that we found this and pulled in. After a brief detour including me driving the wrong way through the petrol station, we found somewhere to park up and went and ordered food. They may not have places to sleep but their food is excellent.

The lady who served us gave us directions but when we got out I checked my satnav and it did have "places of interest - hotels" for Europe so we found the Travel Lodge on there as well and now I am writing this, as I said earlier, sat outside in Julian (with Sassy hopping around having her evening run around) and getting very frustrated as the mobile internet dongle thing I bought is NOT WORKING!

I did, however, get to try out my mobile toilet and it worked well; no smell at all as of this moment in time and much relief from the bladder-pressure.

I am going to try a little longer to connect it and then I will give up and post this tomorrow, or when I arrive, or whatever. What a fail! I wanted to talk to people on whatsapp as well, and now I can't and I'm angry.

Hah. Stupid three claiming their roaming works grrrr.

Anyway, calm. I'll do my best to get this to you as soon as possible. If not, to sleep and away early in the morning as I don't think we should be parked where we are...

I managed to connect to the free internet on my parents hotel, but no luck with my mobile... oh well.. at least I can post this even if no whatsapp :)