Or not, in this case.
As luck would have it, Easter was fairly fine, albeit quite chilly, when I set off for Dover, at 05:40. I was expecting the journey to take 1h15m, least that's what Google had said, and I needed to check in 90 minutes before sailing. As it turned out, journey time was about 40 minutes and I rolled up at border control about 06:20. 15 minutes later, I was in Costa, having a coffee and waiting for Paul and Phil. There were no issues with passport control and barely any vehicles, a relief, given the previous couple of days delays, as the Easter rush took hold. I got a nice new stamp for my passport too. Thank You Brexit!
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| Steven Seagull, Dover |
The others arrived, Phil, then Paul and within a short time we we on board and sitting comfortably in the passenger lounge. The journey is 90 minutes, so with the plus 1 hour time difference, we were rolling off about 11:00 local time. We had 4 hours before the Vimy Memorial Ceremony was due to start and just over 2 hours riding to do, off motorway. We'd talked about many things on the ship but not what our plans were on the ride, in respect of lunch. This is where the plan fell apart.
I imagined we'd stop at a McDonalds along the way. we passed two but Paul leading, clearly wasn't on the same wavelength, as we sailed by both. We had in the plan a stop at the Necropole Nationale de Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, a few miles from the Vimy Memorial and this was where we stopped. I'm thinking maybe Paul thought there was a cafe there, where we could get a snack or something but what there was, was a full blown restaurant, with a 3 course menu costing €28!!! Somewhat more than a McDs. We decided to stay, as there was little alternative at this point and nabbed the last table. It was packed. That should have rung the alarm bells.
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Not this trip!
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After discussion with the waitress, we chose our starters and main courses. I had, what was basically, a big slab of pate, with a bit of salad to start and veal in a creamy mushroom sauce with chips, for main. The third course was fromage but we'll come to that in a while. We chatted, drank the soft drinks we'd ordered and our starters duly arrived. Phil had gone for smoked salmon, a large portion, whilst Paul had a mushroom soup, I think. We carried on chatting and waited for our mains. And waited, and waited, and waited.
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| Some interesting decoration in the restaurant |
Eventually it dawned on us that time was ticking by and with just 40 minutes till the Vimy ceremony was due to start, we were still waiting. Eventually the mains arrived and I for one wolfed it down, aware that we had very little time to get over to Vimy before the ceremony started. I had already decided to write off the 3rd course, when I asked Paul what we were doing, as we now had less than 20 minutes before the ceremony started. Paul tried to 'negotiate' with the waitress, for a doggy bag for the cheese course but she wasn't playing ball, so we told her we had to go. When Paul paid the bill, it seems they took off a nominal €5 for the cheese we didn't have but still, we'd spent €79 none of us had bargained for, on a 2 course lunch.
We jumped on the bikes and made our way to Vimy Ridge. On arrival at the car park nearest to the memorial, we were advised it was full and told we'd have to go to the next one, about half a mile away. With no other option, we hot-wheeled it round to that car park, which was also full but just had a sliver of tarmac along the edge that would accomodate the bikes. By now it was gone 3pm and by the time we had walked the half mile plus, around to the back of the memorial, where the service was being held, we'd missed half of it.
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| Vimy Memorial, Service in progress |
Paul then decided he needed the toilet, so made his way all the way back to beyond the car park where we'd left the bikes, to the visitor centre, and leaving Phil and I at the service. The two of us stayed for 15-20 minutes, listening to some speeches, music and a young couple singing and then left when it was time to say prayers. I'm glad we actually made it to the ceremony, it would have been a long ride just for an expensive lunch but I can't say from what we saw, that I'd be rushing back to do it again. I would make the effort to visit the Necropole Nationale de Notre-Dame-de-Lorette again, as we didn't get to see any of that, apart from the car park and the restaurant and I believe it is well worth a visit, so that's something I/we could consider for a future trip over.
The plan for the return to Calais was to hit the toll motorway, to get back as quick as possible. Time was limited, with an 18:50 sailing and a minimum 1 hour check-in time and by the time we were back on the bikes it was already around 16:30. I had hoped we'd have enough time to do some beer shopping at a supermarket but that was out of the question, so it was just a straight run to the ferry port...... or it should have been.
For the first time, I was leading the group. Almost immediately, I realised my route was not quite right and we ended up doing a big loop, where I'm pretty sure a shorter route away from the memorial was possible. And that was before I took the wrong turn off a roundabout, meaning we ended up going up and down both sides of a dual carriageway. Once on the motorway, we made good progress. Even the tolls didn't cause any hassles, take a ticket one end, put it in the other and tap your credit card. However, nearing Calais, I once again led us off in the wrong direction, leading to another u-turn at the next junction. It reminded me of a similar incident on the outskirts of Bologna back in 2014. Grizzly will no doubt recall that. Part human and part Tomtom error.😉
That wasn't the end of of it though, as when it came time to take the exit for the ferry, with conflicting signs on the road, signs above the road and directions from Tomtom, I had no idea where we should be going. Luckily Paul had some idea and we made it to check-in in good time.
I sailed through check-in and French passport control was a breeze too. Then, I drew the short straw on the UK border control. 6 lanes, 5 of which were moving smoothly. Mine, was dog slow. So slow, Paul and Phil had sailed through theirs, relatively, and were already in the boarding lane before I had even reached the booth. Don't let anyone tell you it's the French who slow down passport control. In my experience, it's our side. Eventually though I was through and it wasn't long before we were boarding. Strangely, Paul and Phil were sent one side of the ship, me the other. That wasn't really an issue, except there were no straps to tie Ginny down, so we had to wait around until one of the crew located some, before we could head up to the passenger lounge.
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| 2 more stamps. |
The journey was fairly uneventful but very lively, as the on board kiddy entertainer was dishing out balloon swords, so loads of kids were just rushing about bashing each other. Then he led them, pied piper like, around the ship, picking out adults to be assaulted by 30 odd kids' swords!
We'd had a fairly nice and sunny day but as we approached Dover, we were sailing through mist, albeit, a thin layer. By the time we departed the ship, it was clear, so misty just over the sea. We'd said our goodbye, as besides being on other sides of the ship, Paul and Phil were going in a different direction from me. Well, they should have been. There was just one more wrong turn for me to make though and I ended up going the same way as them for a few hundred metres, before turning off the main road and heading up passed Dover Castle. It was no big deal, just a bit annoying, as once again I'd added some unnecessary metres onto the daily total.
It was a good ride home but pretty dark by the time I pulled up onto the drive. Catherine heard me arrive, so already had the back door open for me to carry my stuff in. It had been a long day and not entirely successful or fulfilling but still good to get out and about on Ginny. She'd done the whole journey on the one tank of fuel, just as well, as in France it's about £1.65 / ltr, and she was still showing about 60 miles range left, so frugal as ever.
I don't have any other trips planned as yet but I have a big list of places I want to visit, so as soon as the weather perks up, I might be off on another adventure. For now though, bye bye.
