Boondock Puffins

Journey from Calais down to the Alps, in convoy 🚗🚙🏍

Having finally packed up all our stuff into the required vehicles and secured our Eurotunnel bookings, the family convoy set off, with Eliza’s parents kindly coming along with an extra vehicle of stuff (complete with bed and mattress) from England to the south of France.

While we all got to Folkestone together, we were different heights and vehicles so ended up with a very antisocial crossing, all split up into different sections of the Eurotunnel.

Despite agreeing beforehand that we would not travel in convoy, this happened of its own accord, which was much easier and less stressful than anyone would have thought – a prearranged meeting spot and route via Google maps did help cut down any worries that one of us might veer off on our own path too much as well.

The journey down through France was remarkably smooth, with an overnight stop at a hotel just outside Dijon. It turned out to have a swimming pool which could not have been more welcome after a long day of travelling, particularly for Tom who had been slowly baking himself to a crisp in his motorbike gear.

The following day encompassed many more miles of motorways. A word of advice if you are ever planning a trip across France complete with tolls: invest in a BipnGo! We had one for Eliza’s father who drove down without a passenger and it made a significant difference – not just in terms of speed when not having to stop at toll booths, but also for the lack of faff of being a driver of a right hand drive car in Europe and not having to stretch yourself across the passenger seat to lean out the window and press the button for your ticket.

After a brief refuelling stop (both mechanical and human) a little outside Lyon, the final leg of our journey was uneventful… if bendy. Heading into the Alps was an adventure of its own (see below), with many switch backs and view points – needless to say Tom had a great time on the bike, and Dougal the Panda Cross was in his element.

So now here we are!