Dave was able to take yesterday off and we pulled Rio from school a bit early (after his math test) so that we could get on the road and drive to the ferry port of Calais yesterday before it got too late. The drive went without incident and the only "glitch" was upon arrival--both the car's navi system and google maps said our prebooked hotel was located in a bit of a sketchy part of town, where there was no hotel to be found (though we suspect the apartment building in the area might have been an apartment at one point).
Reading through the reservation email more carefully, we found another address which turned out to be correct and then we were all set to check into the Calais Ibis (not to be confused with the smaller, Ibis Budget from our last crossing). It was a nice hotel for the money. Cute, clean, a little sitting space by the windows, free gated parking and friendly staff. I would certainly stay there again.
We were on the 10:45 ferry crossing--so we could sleep in a bit, found a pastry shop to stock up on goodies to munch on as breakfast while crossing (really, you must have pastries if you wake up in France, right?). Once we had our goodies, we drove over to the ferry port, only a few minutes from the hotel.
Step one is to drive by the border control agents, where you show your passports and answer a few questions. Then you drive on to the entry lanes for your specific ferry line (we were on P&O again; we liked them the last time so we thought we should stick with them), where you give them your booking number, are given a hang tag for the front mirror and told what lane to drive up to to await boarding. We were sent up to 169, being on the early side we were among the very first to drive on once that time arrived. We had a bit of time though, so we (and many others) left the car in line and walked over to the small building that had restrooms and vending machines for coffee, hot chocolate and the like (most for 1€). We amused ourselves by playing "guess the nationality" as other groups came through.
Here are some photos of the process--I find it so fascinating; they really empty and refill the ferries so very quickly.
Cars waiting in line while their owners get a drink, stretch, etc
The trucks start driving on first, coming in from behind the cars
When those trucks start moving, everyone else heads back towards their cars
Driving up the main ramp
and then routed onto the smaller side ramp
We had not bought the premium lounge passes this time. That was a good thing, this crossing was not at all full and there was plenty of space to sit and enjoy in the main lounges. Here are the kids with those pastries we picked up earlier in the morning.
It was rainy, foggy and the water was a bit choppy as you can see off the front bow there.
It was too foggy to get much of a view of those White Cliffs as we came into Dover.
But when we were driving off you could see them a bit.
A friend had recommended a pub near Leeds Castle called The George. We arrived at Dover at 11:15 (so, 12:15 in the time zone we are used to--and by the way, we have a nice little bonus, tonight is "spring forward" time in Europe, so that effectively cancels out the time change and we more or less skip the annoying daylight savings thing this year!). Anyway, the area around Leeds Castle is about an hour from the port, and on our way towards Swansea, so we thought that would be a nice place to stop for lunch as we headed across England towards Wales. On the ferry I had been given a free half hour of internet and looked up the pub to get the address and check the menu.
It wasn't until we saw the exit for Leeds Castle and still had 15 minutes left to drive that we realized I must have found the wrong The George--but we decided we might as well try it; the website looked good and we are nearly always up for an adventure. Which is how, after a series of small roads and tight lanes (including having to stop the car in the widest spot we could find and allow some riders to walk their horses past, we ended up here:
They had a nice little outdoor area that would be great on a sunny day. It was a very Pooh like blustery day though, so it was empty:
It was an adorable little place, pretty much in the middle of nowhere, but with a pretty steady stream of local customers (and a nice staff who all seemed a bit puzzled as to how on earth we ended up there).
Rio making a face because he had already finished his ginger ale and had nothing to toast with
The food was all delicious, and the servings quite large. Dave got a large appetizer combo, Marika had fish pie, Rio had sausages with eggs and chips and I had fish and chips of course. I think that is the entire cod on my plate:
They also had excellent, very creamy, ice cream. We can all highly recommend the toffee chip and butterscotch. Oh YUM. Prices were not bad for what it was: a bit under 80 pound with tip for four large meals, wine, cider, two sodas and four ice creams. Not cheap but not at all overpriced for what it was either.
So, I can most certainly recommend going to the "wrong" The George if you are near Leeds Caste and have a hire car to get there:
http://www.thegeorgekent.co.uk/
Maybe we will have a chance to try the "right" one on our way home.
We had debated spending the small fortune needed to go to Stonehenge (and prebuying timed tickets, which worried us because traffic is so hard to predict). Luckily, I posted about our quandary on faceobok and our friend Sara chimed in to tell me that the circles at Avebury are also excellent, cheaper and far less crowded. Being both frugal and crowd adverse, we set course for Avebury.
Before we got there, we drove through the very cute little town of Marlborough, where we just couldn't help but stop and walk around a bit enjoying the scenery:
Before leaving, we were drawn into a little cake and ice cream shop down at the end of a narrow street, for tea, scones, cake and ice cream (depending on who you were--I had the tea, keeping with that quintessential British theme). The little shop was called Applebys, and much more pleasant than the American chain of a similar name (Applebees) lol If you ever find yourself in Marlborough, I would suggest stopping in. Their lunch menu looked good too, with homemade soups and crusty bread for 3.95.
Avebury was only another 20 minutes down the road. Whereas Stonehenge would have cost us 86 pounds to enter the area (and the stones themselves are fenced off and only view-able from a distance, I am told) and there would have surely been many fellow tourists, Avebury only charges 3 pound for the carpark and you can walk right up around the stones, and very few people were out there with us. And it was pretty dang cool (I am sure Stonehenge, with its visitors center, museum, etc also has its merits). Avebury was one large circle with two smaller ones inside. Here are several photos from our visit:
From there, we drove on another two hours to arrive at our oh so adorable rental cottage: we couldn't be happier with it:
Overall, our vacation is off to a lovely start with a whole string of little adventures today as we made our way across the channel and across the nation.
--Hadley
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