Day 1
We set off from Mirfield in indifferent weather, about 15:30pm on Monday 17th July. Despite taking the scenic route through Flockton, we made good time towards the M25, despite being held up by a large load on the M1. We were then held up on the M25 by slow-moving commuter traffic, about 19:30pm. This mean that our arrival in Folkestone was a little delayed but we were still very much on time to catch the 23:00pm1 Shuttle. As it happens, we were able to board one earlier at 22:00pm and had a smooth run through to France. Even so, by this time, we were knackered and decided to get booked into a Formula 1 for the night. The one in Calais was booked up, the next one, in Dunkirk took some finding and when we got there, that too was booked up. However, we were advised that there were spaces in the second Dunkirk hotel, in Saint Pol sur Mer, just up the road. We drove around the deserted streets for almost an hour trying to find this bugger and when we did, found it to be beside one of the major routes north to Belgium – not the one we had taken2.
Day 2 – part a
After the night here in Dunkirk, we set off for the Czech Republic.
We drove up through the rest of France and then through boring Belgium, through the small finger of Holland that juts between Germany and Belgium, and then into Germany. Lunch was by a service station in the finger of Holland. Lunch didn’t include a boiled egg as they had been overcooked by Stephen. He just laughed. We passed under the giant Dortmund-Essen conurbation, and passing Cologne Cathedral on our left. We carried on down past Frankfurt and underneath the planes that were constantly landing there (we got some good shots of undercarriage through the sun roof). We drove through Nuremberg and on towards the border at Weiden. The countryside here is beautiful and despite the rain, we have had excellent views since Nuremberg. Wooded mountains faced us as we drove up and in the direction of Czech and the rain was drying up. We were looking forward to getting into Czech itself and finding a small hotel on the road, or at worst in Pilsen, and having an evening meal. By now it was about 20:00pm.
That didn’t happen. See next post (Day 2 – part b)
1 – Given that ‘Day 1’ included a trip through the channel tunnel, which only opened to the public in December 1994, I guess that ‘our’ trip may well have been 1995. It certainly wasn’t later than this. I do remember having been through the tunnel before ‘our’ trip.
2 – This entire journey turned out to be an example of what we miss when we have SatNavs – which were unthought of back in 1995!
My even older Holiday Weblog 