And We're Off!

We picked up our new 'home' on Thursday afternoon and drove from Manchester to Newhaven on Saturday night in preparation for the early morning ferry.
It's not the best start, driving your shiny new motorhome through the night all that way, with tired eyes and fraying nerves. Sue was not happy that I insisted on doing the driving. Looking back, it wasn't a good idea but, to be honest, I wasn't ready to hand over the driving just yet, I hardly trusted myself to drive it, let alone anyone else!

Des' Res'

Four coffee stops and many hours later, we arrived at Newhaven with about an hour to spare. We were both exhausted and I went for a lie down on our new french bed.

Newhaven Ferry Port. Lovely, what we saw of it!

The van moving, no, being driven, brought me round and I looked up to see Sue driving towards the ferry ramp. I had a little smile and felt very proud of her. I shouldn't have worried, she wasn't fazed at all at the prospect of driving our precious vehicle.

We boarded the ferry for France on Sunday morning..... We were about as ill prepared as you could get....

We'd done some homework, of course but, the biggest part of learning is, knowing what you need to know. People can answer your questions but you have to know the right questions to ask. Not easy.  We were going to learn on the job, as it were, and I couldn't wait to get started.

The 'plan' had been to get to France then drive for a couple of hours to an Aires or site and get a good nights sleep before heading South. Our first mistake was driving through the night to get the ferry at Newhaven, not the best of starts, and anyway, the ferry was moving off, there would be no turning back now....