Early autumn holiday, 20 September 2024

Blégny-Mine, Belgiium

A long day driving across Belgium. We set off at about 10:00 am; our first port of call was the Auchan at Grande-Synthe, just outside Dunkerque. The Sat-Nav took us via the back roads, which was lovely - we allowed it to, because we knew we would have a lot of motorways later on. That was thoroughly enjoyable.

I did a shopping in the Auchan, which to my annoyance was out of all the Lipton's black tea varieties, just empty spaces on the shelves where they should have been. So no agrumes! I have bought some Earl Grey, which I like, and will have that or Lady Grey in the afternoons instead.

Lunch, parked up in a random services somewhere in Belgium, was rather later than we intended, because there was a contraflow due to roadworks and we thought we needed to stay in the right hand lane, not realising that this was now solely an exit. So we drove for several miles on N roads, which made a pleasant change from the motorway, but by the time we go back on to the motorway, the services where we had planned to stop were behind us, and the next ones were another 15 minutes or so away. The Swan Whisperer had mentioned going to Strépy-Thieux for lunch, but I'm glad we decided against that, as it was quite a long way on from where we did stop!

After which, it was only another 2 hours to Blégny-Mine, where we have stopped before. The aire is free, including services, although you do pay for electricity if you want it. The Swan Whisperer went for a walk, and I did as much of the tai chi form I could remember (despite watching a video of the form, I still had trouble remembering!). Then I sat and read until the SW came back, and then came inside as I was getting chilly, and there was cider in the fridge calling my name! In a moment I'm going to get supper. 

Early Autumn Holiday, 19 September 2024

Calais, Hauts-de-France

We had not intended to be here tonight, but things went a bit pear-shaped. The day started off well; after breakfast we loaded the car and headed down to Sussex, in time for lunch with my mother (who finally came home two days ago) and sister. 

We needed to leave about 15:00 to get to Folkestone in time, but, largely due to the Swan Whisperer leaving his phone in the car and having to rush up to get it, we didn't get away until about 10 past. 

It was a slow old drive to Folkestone; the M25 was giving its best impression of a car park! However, the M20 was reasonably fast as the lorry lanes weren't in use so we could use all three lanes. 

We arrived at about 17:30, expecting to be pushed on to a later shuttle, but the automatic check in gave us the reference for the 18:16 on to which we had been booked, so we went straight through passport control and into the holding pens. Where we sat and sat. After 45 minutes, I contacted their customer service to ask what had gone wrong, but their rep kept saying we had been bumped on to the later shuttle because we were late, and quite made it sound as though we were being punished for it! She simply wouldn't listen when I asked why we had been booked on to the 18:16 - what had changed between checking in and arriving at the holding pens? And we were far from the only vehicle with the same boarding letter in the same situation! I was very unimpressed, and have sent them a stonking e-mail saying so. 

By the time we finally got on a Shuttle, it was about 19:00, so I made salad while the Swan Whisperer finished making the beds, and we ate during the crossing. But we decided we didn't really want to drive another 45 minutes this evening, in the dark, so I checked the aire in Calais, and they had free spaces so I quickly booked us into one of them! 

And there is the most gorgeous moon - my photos don't begin to do it justice!

Imber (not) revisited

Ten years ago, we visited the lost village of Imber.  At the time, I'm not sure how well-known the day was, other than by transport nerds (hey, I never said I wasn't one!), and it was pouring with rain.  Today, things are very different.

We travelled on a UK Railtour charter, which was comfortable but I'm not  100% sure it was worth it.  On the other hand, it did mean we got programmes and a guaranteed, comfortable seat.  We did, however, have to be at Waterloo before 10:00 am, which meant I had to miss tai chi.  However, it was a civilised hour to leave, and the journey was uneventful.

We had learnt that there was an exhibition about Imber in Warminster itself, a few minutes' walk from the station.  It closed at 1:00 pm, so we went there first.  It was quite good, but I thought very biased about how ghastly what the army did was, etc.  Well yes, but we were at war, and other villages and owners of big houses had it every bit as bad, if not worse.

As the queues for the buses had been stretching round the block, with not a bus in sight, we decided to have lunch first, as the queues were supposed to get shorter in the afternoon (spoiler: they didn't!).  We found a very nice tiny café that did us sandwiches and salad, but first we visited the St Lawrence Chapel, which was lovely.  The vicar and - I think - a churchwarden were around, and told us all about the stained glass and so on.  

We walked back to the station only to find that the queue was longer than ever, a good 500 metres long, if not longer.  A bus did arrive while we watched, but it was obviously only going to take a tiny fraction of those waiting  So we decided that, as we had already been to Imber, we would explore Warminster instead.  We found a lovely public park, where we sat and read until we got too cold, and then went and had afternoon tea in Coffee #1 - at least, I had tea but the SW had coffee.  I had an oatmeal-raisin cookie, and the SW had some chocolate concoction that looked rather rich.  But lovely comfortable armchairs, and a loo!  We had, actually, hoped to have had a cream tea at St Lawrence's, but when we got there we found that this would be being served tomorrow, not today.  Bother!  

Then we wandered back to the station, which was a bit of a mistake as it was very crowded and there wasn't really anywhere to sit.  In hindsight, we should have hung on in the café for another 10-15 minutes.  On the other hand, we were able to see a great many Routemasters and other buses dropping people back! 

Our train arrived at last, and we were glad to sit in it.  I felt very tired on the way home, and it was very noisy and tiring.  We got a bus at Waterloo, and then picked up a ready-meal in Lidl. 

I do rather think that Imberbus Day has outgrown itself.  It's not fun having to queue for over an hour to get on a bus, especially if you have to get back on a deadline.  The various little villages on the route all do tea and cakes now, which they didn't when we first went.  I don't know how long they will be able to continue, especially since the buses are all owned by enthusiasts and are not getting any younger.

Meanwhile, my mother was finally repatriated today, and is now in hospital in Worthing!  The hold-up was due to the insurance - the French hospital would have liked rid of her two weeks ago, and the ambulance had been on stand-by for her since 6 August!  Sigh.