It was a very cold night, and we were nursing our batteries to make sure we could have heating and hot water in the morning, so early bed, hot-water bottles and reading under the duvet was the order of the day. Very cosy, and I slept fairly well - my cold seems to be pretty much over, thank goodness, although I have had a couple of bad coughing fits.
So, anyway, we woke up to a bitterly cold morning - only 6°C in the WoMo, according to my clock. But the batteries were fine, and we put the heating on for a good blast before we got up. It was a seriously lovely morning, so after breakfast we wrapped up warmly and set off for the walk I've been longing to do ever since we first parked up here a couple of years ago. Across the bridge, down the hill to the Strépy-Thieux Canal Lift, round the lift (stopping to watch a boat coming out of the caisson), and down to the towpath on the other side; along to the next bridge, which leads to the old lift, and back along the towpath as we went last night. Only just over 3 km, according to my watch, but very pleasant - and a few hundred metres more than I found comfortable, which is very good for me! A few more photos on Facebook.
After the SW had had his coffee, it was time to head on, and we drove as far as the French border before stopping for lunch, and then straight to Cité Europe where we had a cup of tea, and did a Last Shop in France, and then went to Lidl and I did a Last Last Shop there. It was dark by then, so we drove round Calais admiring their Christmas lights, which were as excellent as ever, before coming here, to the motorhome aire, where we are parked up before our crossing tomorrow morning.
