Well, what an eventful journey back we’ve had! Involving (possible) speeding fine, ambulances and Channel tunnel hiccups…
Our journey started perfectly with a trip to see our friends, Angi and Paul who were staying further up the coast in Benicasim. We found the site fairly easily and then spent the evening with them both, catching up on their adventures over the winter.
They showed us the sites of Benicasim, with a walk along the seafront then we ended up in the bar! It is down to these two that we decided against working the winter. After the debacle of Hereford we were in bit of a muddle (well I was, Angela) about trying to recoup the money we lost on the yurt, through no fault of our own.
Angi gently reminded us why we had chosen this way of life, to move on and forget about those who are not important to us anymore. Smart cookie, that one 😉
It was great to see them both but we eventually took our leave and headed off to Zaragoza, our next stop before heading out of Spain into France. We found the site straight away this time and from here decided on our timescale through France, then booked our tunnel back to England for the 29th January.
As soon as we left Zaragoza, the heavens opened and it has not stopped raining since. Our journey through to northern France was relaxed and we found a few new aires to stop at. Honfleur was our last stop before heading to Le Touquet, where we park up the night before our tunnel crossing every time.
Again, the weather was dire so we called into a lovely little restaurant around the harbour and we ate handsomely. Dean chose oysters and mussels in a creamy curry sauce (remember that for later…) and I chose deep fried Camembert and chicken for my main.
We left and enjoyed the rest of our evening before heading off to Le Touquet the next morning. When we arrived we were the only ones there and it remained that way all night. Unusually, the facilities had been turned off so we had no access to water or drainage either but as we only had one night to go we were not unduly worried.
Well, from here on in our journey took a decidedly sour turn. About 11pm Dean felt unwell and then had a severe bout of sickness and diarrhoea. He went to bed feeling a little bit better but about 1.30am he felt ill again. Having got out of bed I then heard a thud and discovered him on the floor, out cold.
I dread to think how I sounded to the emergency call handler who had to take my call, but we succeeded in getting an ambulance to our ‘van and we were taken to the A&E department of CHAM.
Two hours later they let me in to see him. He had been put on a drip overnight and given anti-sickness drugs, after having blood tests and an ECG taken to rule out anything more sinister than dodgy seafood!
We were allowed to leave at 10am the next morning and during the taxi ride back to the ‘van I called to rearrange our tunnel crossing time, as there was no way we were going to get there by 11am. That was all changed to 4pm the same day, so when we got back a bit of tidying up was needed while Dean sat still feeling very fragile.
I drove the ‘van back to Calais and we got there early so pulled up and punched our reservation number in, only to be told that our booking had been made to go Folkestone to Calais. They wouldn’t have it that I knew it had been booked correctly, as I had asked the lady who I booked it with to ring them and check.
So, two trips round the ‘no exit’ lane I had to call the travel company who I had booked it with to see what was going on. To add to the frustration, they confirmed we had booked it correctly but I would still have to pay another £68 if we wanted to travel! This was through no fault of the travel company who were really helpful and since then they have arranged for us to get a refund – excellent customer service on their part.
Eventually, we made it back to England and onto the Caravan Club site in Folkestone where we just showered and slept… after a few telephone calls to family and a cry to my mum!
