Across the Channel
Tuesday 19th September 2017
The Old Dover Street P&R at Canterbury was fine overnight although you need to shut out the light from the sodium car park lighting. The main car park starts to get busy quite early and I guess that it is used by a fair few commuters given the good value parking charges.
Adjacent to the P&R is a bridleway that leads up to and through some fields. This was really convenient for walking our two Dalmatians and for us is another plus point for the P&R.
Dogs walked, breakfast cleared away, and parking paid for, it was time to head down to the Eurotunnel. Not familiar with the area we expected to end up on the A2 or A28 but decided to trust in the satnav (I’m always a bit nervous about doing this) and it found us a great route down the B2068. This is a brilliant road, most of it straight as die and it brings you out on the M20 just one short junction from the Eurotunnel exit (11A).
For those not familiar with the Eurotunnel we have found it a slick operation which makes for a speedy and hassle-free channel crossing. Checked-in we parked up to wait for our call and starched our legs in the direction of the terminal for a quick coffee.
The crossing itself is a fairly quick and smooth journey and nothing like some of the crossings I remember of various ferries with heaving seas, boat, and passengers. Arrival in France is again slick, drive off the train, out of the terminal, and we’re on our way. This time we are heading east along the A16 from Calais to Dunkerque and to the border of Belgium for our first stop at Maubeuge.
We were a little bit nervous about the satnav again. I had meticulously planned our route down through France and into Italy where we planned to have our first stop of a few days. We try and avoid motorways and particularly toll roads in France. We have always found the French roads very good and the non-motorway roads usually excellent. OK, so it takes a bit longer, but we are on holiday and enjoy taking in the French countryside and traditional villages. It is also considerably cheaper. Our satnav however has other ideas and it doesn’t seem to matter what we do to avoid motorways it always seems to find a way of trying to get us back on them. It is with dread therefore that we read the ‘re-calculating route’ message.
Anyway, today the satnav was reasonably well behaved.
We were heading for the municipal Camping Municipal du Clair De Lune which is listed in all the major guides. The campsite itself is nice and pleasant although at the end of the season some of the pitches were looking a little tired but it’s what we come to expect travelling at this time of the season. Some of the lower pitches were quite soft in places but we chose a pitch at the far end of the site which is a little higher and the pitch was fine. The reception staff were friendly and their dog Gizmo was a friendly little chap too.
There is some noise from the N2 which the campsite adjoins and it was probably not helped on our stay that the morning appeared to be bin collection day. The position of the campsite does not lend itself to good walking and all we found was the main road down into town and a few side roads. For an overnight stop it was fine though.
We didn’t get to look at too much in the town but there is obviously a lot of history and it probably deserved a longer stay and a more thorough exploration of the old fortifications and museum.
