Friday 26th July, 2019

Day One, The OBE Tour 2019

The great British weather has done an amazing job of acclimatising us ready for this year’s big European tour. The van aircon was required in the garden to make loading bearable and Betty took advantage using the cool space to study wishing she was coming as she watched me load. Not this time tho, just three of us would be setting off in our van leaving the big two kids home alone with strict no parties rule.

Dasvid and Lisa will be forming our convoy for the trip, we agreed to meet them on route to the tunnel but they experienced a slight day due to Dasvid losing his wallet in Fair Oak on route to collect his van, not a great start to his holiday.

Our journey started really well, for a Friday Hamble Lane and the M27 were creepily quiet, we thought our luck was in but the truck man satnav advised of a long delay and off into the countryside it re-navigated us. It was a bit of fun and as we had time for the other to catch up we took the time to take a look around the Tunbridge Wells area.

Our convoy formed at Folkestone Tesco where as diesel is now cheaper in the UK than France we filled up before getting to the tunnel which looked quite quiet. A relatively small wait saw us move towards the loading lanes. Dasvid went first and told the lady in the booth that he was with his friends behind him and that we should travel together on the same tunnel – we did feel sorry for the small car that had snuck in the line in front of us as they got put down the Motorhome lane travelling with Dasvid and Lisa! We’re not sure if they realised but we did all laugh when we did.

A smooth tunnel and short drive saw us stop for the night in Ghent. A basic carpark just outside the city would do for a few hours sleep.

Overnight Location: 51.04567°N 3.70328°E

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