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House of The Unleven Bread 😂

Luckily there was another campsite 🏕️ just up the road – “Camping Les Alouettes & Les Images” so we trundled there.

Although the office door had a sign saying “Open every day between 10am & midday then 2pm to 7pm” – and it was 10:20am – you guessed it – it was locked & not a soul around…

I rang the mobile number that it said to ring but it went to voicemail & my rusty French wasn’t good enough to understand the rather short but quickly spoken message so I grabbed Dave’s phone & pulled up the “Google Translate” app, re-rang & held the phones close together to translate (thinking I was a genius 🌟)

However below is what it came up with 😂

(And if my sister is reading this – it was like “House of The Unleven Bread” !!! – her experience of Google Translate of a Latin Mass on Christmas Day during Lockdown)


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No Room At The Inn…

What a hero – Dave managed to drive ALL the way to the selected campsite just outside Lille and we fell into bed about 1:45am 😴 

During my phone call  to the campsite the previous evening, the guy said he would open the gates at 7am so we set the alarm for 6:55am (!!!) but as there was no sight of him (& we were shattered) we dropped off to sleep again until 10am.

The gates still weren’t open and rather worryingly Dave spotted a “Fermé” sign (CLOSED for those of you who daydreamed during French at school !!!)

So I rang the campsite again – to find out that the guy HAD opened the campsite at 7am – but he was in Dunkirk 😐

Don’t ASK me how or why but the number that I rang from the website in Lille connected me to a website in Dunkirk 🤷‍♀️

ANYWAY, suddenly the gates opened & a French guy emerged – who spoke English –  and he informed me that it was an “exceptional” year in that the site was only open to Frenchies this year…

And he informed us that it WAS a naturist site so we probably dodged a bullet there anyway !!! 😳😅

 

 

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On-Board ⛴️

So we crawled through Border Control & check-in then parked up in Lane 85 long enough to make & drink a coffee (to go with our meal deals 🥪 that I’d bought on the way home from work followed by a custard doughnut 🍩 😋 ) and then make the bed.

They offered us the 9:30pm to Calais which only takes 1.5 hours so we dock at midnight French 🇫🇷 time (the Dunkirk ferry didn’t leave until 10pm, takes 2 hours & doesn’t therefore dock until 1am)…
We’re heading towards Lille but – as Dave is doing all the driving – we’ll see how far we get…
I rang a campsite ⛺️ en-route & used a little of my (rusty) A’Level French but luckily he spoke English !! 
The website says it’s a naturist site (!!!) but in the the photos the peeps all had clothes on 😂
Anyway it’s about an 1.25 hours from Dunkirk but if Dave gets tired we’ll just stop at an aire…
TTFN xx 
P.S. That’s Dave’s impression of driving the ferry 😳
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On The Way !!!

And here begins our first proper summer holiday in 5 years (having run the guesthouse for the previous 4 summer seasons).
 
And I feel like writing again because I am happy 😊 
 
So on the way to Dover for the 10pm ferry to Dunkirk & last check-in is 9pm.
 
Google Maps currently saying we will arrive at 8pm but give it time – it’s a Friday and some numpty somewhere will decide to have a crash for the LOLS !!!
 
And the name of the tour is Strasbourg (France 🇫🇷 not Germany 🇩🇪) as I now know Strasbourg is in France !!!
 
More later… 👋
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Home tomorrow

We finally are on our last day. Not much of an adventure this time but a holiday so Helen wasn’t so interested in blog updates. So I had to do it. Not really up to literary standards I’m afraid. But hey.
Lovely stuff to look forward to on our arrival home. A £6k water bill to pay after an underground water leak, get Helens foot fixed, me back in hospital to get my nose redone and to top it all, the 3 bed apartment has been destroyed after a radiator leak. I mean pretty much destroyed- may need to be rebuilt. We will see what the insurance say. Brilliant. I’m feeling at the moment like I dont want to go home.
But we do have positives too. Helen’s will get her scooter so more independent and I can get back to playing the sax now my chest infection seems to be subsiding.
Great start to 2024 eh?
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Morbid Brits

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We came across this cemetery. Gate was open so we had a nosey. Never been to one before. There were whole sections devoted to one family. Different levels of ornamental additions. I suppose depending on upon the spend I guess. They seem to take death seriously here. All graves (?) had recent flowers.