Sat-Nav adventures in Europe

Leaving London

It’s a strange feeling at the best of times when leaving a place you have spent two of the best years of your life at, let alone leaving in a campervan for a 6 month drive, London to Australia. Having said that, I still found it harder than expected to say goodbye to all those who have changed me in so many ways. But as I’ve always seen it, you’re either moving forward or backwards! So I know the right thing for me is to move on…. The next adventure!

Late as usual

Dorothy, May and I steamed down the highway watching the clock tick by as we tried to make our ferry from Dover to Calais at 04:20, wondering how we managed to start this monumental road trip late. (In hindsight there was no other possible way it would have happened…. Fitting really) As we were closing in on the eastern docks at Dover it seemed as though we would make it just before cut off at check-in. As I approached the booth in Dorothy I am greeted by the ticketing lady “You must be Mr White?” They must have heard about my trip I thought!  Could have they been eagerly awaiting my arrival to answer all their questions about this crazy dream?  “You’re late!”…. I paused, and then stammered…. “Your ferry left at 04:20 AM, you booked for 04:20 in the morning”. It seems in my haste to book all the last minute bits and pieces, I had failed to recognise a 24 hour clock. (I’d like to say this is the first time something like this has happened) I gave a little embarrassed look, before she assured me there was a ferry leaving at 04:40 PM, and would only cost a few quid extra to catch a lift on that one. Relief!

That bitch on the Sat-Nav

After landing in Calais and entering the address for our overnight Aire (Aire de service – Free overnight campervan parks throughout France and some other parts of Europe) We gleefully made our way towards Gent (Belgium),full off anticipation and excitement. This soon turned to sheer frustration as we became victims of a cruel practical joke at the hands of Garmin (The brand of Sat Nav we are using). A preverbal wild goose chase proceeded, with the phrase “Re-Calculating” ringing in our ears.  After shouting and swearing at it, the bitch seemed to fall in line and we managed to find our rest spot for the night.

Gent was lovely the following morning, although I was struggling to get into the flow of travelling again. Maybe because it was the European vibe that I have mostly already travelled or the magnitude of what was in front of me hadn’t really sunk in yet. I felt a little ambivalent to what was all going on, and the geriatric tour groups didn’t help the feeling of the great adventure that I was shooting for.  Gent, and I suppose Belgium as a whole, seems to completely wedge between French and German culture, being pulled either side by these two giants. This in essence, creates a uniqueness that has a nice flavour, but nothing that was going to keep us around for long.

After a pre-game pep talk with the sat-nav, we set off for Reims, in France.  Reims is a nice functional city, where we got another taste of wild camping, this time with a couple of other motor homes.

Backpacking with retirees

Since we started this trip I have completely lost my sense of identity. I have the spirit of a backpacker but I am finding myself in the company of retirees.  We are mostly frequenting Aires or overnight stops, meeting retired couples, living the dream in their giant fully furnished motorhomes. It makes it a struggle to find those “like-minded people” backpackers are always seeking. I am however grateful at witnessing couples routinely shouting at each other for the most trivial things. Never the less we march on making our way through Strasbourg to what we discover as a gypsy haven.

Damn pikies

Strasbourg is simply a very attractive city full of the usual European grandeur…. But what intrigued me even more, is the number of damn pikies there were. I don’t know if there is any historical reason as to why this is but we soon learned they were not as welcoming to our little attempt at nomadic life. After sourcing a couple of aires, we checked out the first one…. We found a little gypsy community, full of dodginess and generally they seemed to be in a griftin mood.  Being the inquisitive sort we are, we pulled up for a closer look at pikies in their natural habitat. Like caged lions, they approached the fence to gawk at us, soon making their intentions very clear, we were definitely not welcome in their community…. Damn pikies!!!