Day 1 - Friday 5th July
So once I finished work at 6pm, Kirsty and I left the house and headed south, embarking on a trans continental drive. The plan, make it to our friends wedding in the heart of France and stop off long the way. Our first stop was simply to sleep. Our self converted Vauxhall Vivaro will be our luxury accommodation for the most part of this holiday, but we will be treating ourselves also. So, we stopped in a car park, outside the town hall of a quaint little English town. I’d been driving since 7pm and it was about 3am and although loaded and wired on caffeine, it was time to stop. We had done about 300 miles or so, so it was a good head start.
Day 2 - Saturday 6th July
Forgetting to switch my alarm off, we were up at 7, but this is no bad thing. Setting off, we headed for the Dover to Calais, operated by p&o.
Although we had no idea where to go, or what to do, the embarking process couldn’t have been easier and we could have easily slipped a few additional passengers on for a fee, gutted.
The crossing, for two seasoned ferry go-ers, was a beaut; stunning view of the cliffs of Dover, flat calm waters and a duty free.
Off the ferry, we made a B-Line straight for Belgium and more accurately - Bruges. It’s strange to think that when crossing the border, people one hundred meters apart could effectively have a different mother tongue altogether (English and Scottish may seem like different languages, but they’re not). Arriving in Bruges, without incident, we began to realise how much of a friend google maps (and plenty of data) is. Navigating our way to town, we found a camper friendly car park,, so jumped in. Realising it was going to be well over €20 just for a few hours, the gentleman in charged assumed it was Kirsty’s mistake, we joked and he let us go free. Heading further into town we stopped down a quiet street, just past a cute pizza restaurant - Buon Gusto d’italia - which would in the end be our first meal abroad. Trip to Belgium and we eat Italian. Also, my first beer was in the van before dinner, and it was a Hazy Jane from the Scottish Brew Dog brewery, how cultural are we? Things changed once dinner was served (pepperoni for Kirsty and and I started tucking into the Belgian beer, Leffe Blonde to be precise.
There was a festival on called the Cactus festival, which was a celebration of all things including live music. It was amazing to hear music wherever we went, just filtering through the open air.
After a few more beers, wine and conversations with locals (who explained in great detail the importance of recognising “posh” and “not posh” Belgian accents, we called it a day and retired to the van.
Day 3 - Sunday 7th July
this is where the #vanlife can cause an issue if you are stealth camping in city centres - showering. However, I was choking to go for any kind of swim, so we descended upon the local olympic pool, the Lago Brugge Olympia. Not only was it a HUGE pool, but it was calm, not too busy and everybody was just swimming away. Oh, and they do great coffee.
After a swim and a shower, Kirsty now happy to have washed her hair, we drove out to a local decathlon and got some essentials (snorkelling kit and sports boxers (to stop/prevent any chafing) and flip flops) we hit the supermarket for some beer, wine and water before heading back to the same spot to park up for another night. Tonight however was a photo night, so grabbed the camera bag and we headed back into town, also looking to experience the local Frites which were being raved about on line. Kirsty and I googled the best place to go and landed at “Chez Vincent” where my fiancée enjoyed a cheeseburger and I opted for the pulled chicken ten frites with sticky BBQ sauce. Spotted a few good shots as well as amongst the obligatory ones so after food and with tripod in hand, I set about catching them.
Again, after a few beers it was time to hit the hay and head for bed.
Day 4 - Monday 8th July
waking up in the city of Bruges, we decided to retrace our steps and head back to Lago Brugge Olympia for another coffee. Sorry, another swim and a shower. I can’t tell you how nice it was to get a freshen up before a day of driving. Our target location for tonight was Mont St Michel on the north west coast of France. Dinner on this occasion was catered for by MacDonalds but, when got to the coast and in view of the castle town, I did manage a few long exposure shots shots with the new 70-200mm f2.8 L (beast).
This evening was the first main evening of indecision, and that was about where to park. And worse than this, by the time we parked up, the pubs were shut. Anyway, more stealth camping ahoy, we found a nice wee car park, tucked away off the main road and set up shop for the night. A few glasses of wine and using the little battery powered fan as in house air con, we enjoyed a couple of episodes of Lost (laaaate to that party I know) and called it a night. Next morning, I managed to get a few drone shots BEFORE LOSING SIGNAL AGAIN (thank god for return-to-home) and some more with the 70-200.
Day 5 - Tuesday 9th July
Today was a bit of a driving day, heading south towards the Bordeaux region of France, as Kirsty had arranged a private campsite (shower, pool, BBQ, electricity, fridge etc) for us to stop at in a small town called St Martin Du bois. Again, google maps is your friend, in this case using the “avoid tolls” to try get some of the smaller towns in. During this drive I was also making the final arrangements for a tomorrow’s tour of a vineyard which is a partner to the distillery I work in back at home, more on this later.
The campsite was lovely, basically a couple who live on the edge of a vineyard and rent out their garden, pool and pool house. Dinner tonight was griddle cooked steak and chicken legs / drumsticks with a salad and some cheeses and meats. Red wine and kronenberg blanc (basically shandy in a bottle, but in this heat it’s fantastic). The griddle wasn’t too hot (literally) so everything took a bit longer than planned, so all in all, a bit of a non event. There was one other family there who seemed to be friends of the owners, and they were all lovely. After having the pool to ourselves for a couple of hours at night, we again retired to the van for the evening. Even with parking in the shade, the light deflectors up on all windows and the fan, Kirsty really struggled in the heat which is a shame, because we were here for a couple of nights.
Day 6 - Wednesday 9th July
today we headed into the vineyards as between myself, my general manager John and David (Chateau Lafaurie de Pereguay general manager) we had arranged for Kirsty and I to have a tour of the Chateau and the Vinotheque, including a tasting of their fantastic wine (sweet white). The chateau was absolutely stunning and part of another world to us and our van. The place is lined top to bottom with Lalique Crystal and oooozes class - glad I wore a jacket and Kirsty a dress. I had brought a bottle of our malt along as a gift but it turns out they had a stock of it behind the bar, so I gifted it to Clemence, our tour guide. This was awkwardly late however, as David had beaten me to it and gifted Kirsty and I a bottle of their 2015 Sauternes. Following this, Kirsty and I went to have some lunch at a local restaurant, suggested to us by Clemence - when we got there and looked at the menu, we actually opted out and wandered up the road a little to a fabulous eatery called La Saprien - here I had potentially the best Omelette I have ever eaten.
Following this, we headed back to the campsite where Kirsty had what can only be desc iced as a meltdown. It was very warm, becoming uncomfortably so. After coming down, we chilled for the night by the pool, occasionally chatting to a new family who were on site, who had also driven, but from Denmark. Turns out, Frederik is a professional sports photographer - what are the odds?! However, for the sake of everyone else’s sanity, we kept our conversations away from cameras and instead discussed topical content such as vanlife, the Tour de France and cultural differences.
Day 7 - Thursday 10th July
Today is the day of Amanda and Stevens welcome party, so all the guests for their upcoming Saturday wedding can get to know one another a bit. They had very kindly arranged transport to and from the event on each day that there was something happening. The busses would only pick up within a certain vicinity however, so Kirsty had arranged new accommodation for us in the town of Belves. So, another driving day ahead. We awoke early, I made Kirsty drive for all of about 100 yards so I could get some drone shots of the van, and from here we set off. We then returned 5 minutes later as I remembered we had left the beer and cheese in the fridge. Now we are good. So we set off and arrived at our Air BnB with minutes to spare - collection was at 4 and we unlocked the apartment door at 3.30. Bags thrown in, shirt and jacket on, we headed to the square and spotted a couple, who turned out to be Dave and Lisa, also apparently waiting for collection. Once on the bus we picked up a few more, also not picking up a few more (hope you guys made it) we arrived at the fabulous Chateau de la Bourlie. From here, the next few hours can only be described as CHAOS. The party, about 100 strong, got together as a collective and drank ALL the tonic, ALL THE GIN and left half of the beer which was there for the next two days. The beer, brought by Digger at the Inveralmond Brewery was a light one, great for the warm weather. However, as folk were struggling to pour it, Kirsty had to step in and show em how it’s done. Snapping away as the unofficial photographer, managed to get a good few shots, but not much video, which is probably a good thing. As the gin started to run out, we turned our heads to vodka, aperol and pretty much anything else we could get our hands on. I even remember having a goblet of red in my hand as the heat reached mid thirties. Food tonight was a BBQ of a full roast hog, lamb cutlets and some fantastic home made salads and sides (including an excellent coleslaw). The food made a dent and unfortunately gave everyone a second wind. Quote of the night going to Digger:
JJ: “Digger my friend, how’s you?”
Digger: “Well JJ my friend, I wouldn’t drive…”
Night coming to and end, time to head home.
We managed to bus home, somehow, and managed to get to the apartment, somehow. The apartment was on three fooors, with the kitchen/dining on the ground floor, the living room and bathroom on the middle and the bedroom on the top floor. I made it as far as the 2nd floor where the couch is; night night.
Day 8 - Friday 11th July
Chill day. I’m not one for struggling the morning after, so got up around 9ish, and went to get a few things from the van and took the drone with me. Got a couple of shots of the town and some further out, but again, connection issues (sort these Mavic Air controllers out DJI!). After this headed to find a boulangerie to take some breakfast back to Kirsty and spotted Digger and his wife Anna. After a pretty funny attempt to piece the previous night together, along with some coffee and shared regret, we hit the market briefly to get some food in for both respective parties. Once back, Kirsty and I relaxed properly. A nosey around Belves was in order, as this has been dubbed Frances prettiest town; a title which I’d say it lived up to. We gandered round discovering on our way that places weren’t really opening their kitchens until later, so even more glad of the pain au raisin and, um, custard puff thing. Upon first arrival th previous day, even though in a rush, we did spot a place we wanted to eat, so, around 12pm we arrived at the restaurants gate and, in broken french managed to book a table for the evening meal. After that, we gandered in a homeward direction making the very British decision that and decided someone must be serving food. On our way through France I have been meaning to pick up a utility knife, but never found any of our destinations
