Autumn sojourn to Germany

Apart from three folk festivals and a brief trip to Devon and Cornwall to see relatives and friends, we haven't used Cara much this year. We needed to put that right and have now started on a seven week sojourn to Germany, although we have no firm plans and may visit other countries.

Thursday 23rd October 2025 – Home, England

The weather forecasts had been full of warnings for Storm Benjamin that was going to hit Northern France and England today and we were glad that we were going on Eurotunnel and not by ferry.
We had to encourage the local geese to move out of the way as we left the aire. They normally live in the moat by the town walls but had decided to wander across the road and were reluctant to move.
The weather, although a little breezy was not bad on the 40 minute drive to Coquelles. Jane had found a garage very close to the Eurotunnel Terminal that had motorhome dumping facilities, which meant that we could empty everything before putting the van into storage when we got back. We were offered a shuttle that left half an hour earlier than we had booked – good news! There was a lot of confusion on the electronic boards as we queued to board – they showed us delayed to our original time, then said that we were ‘on time’. We were called down to the platform and five vans arrived next to the shuttle that we had originally been booked on. We watched as the cars were loaded on but, although our door was open and apparently ready to take us, we were never called to load. Eventually they closed the doors and the train left. So the five of us were stuck on the platform without any explanation of what was happening. We rang the Eurotunnel Information line to ask what was happening. This took some time and involved two delays whilst the very pleasant helpdesk person consulted with her supervisor. In the meantime, another shuttle arrived, discharged its cars and then called us in. So we left about 15 mins after our original departure time. Very strange.
Arriving at Folkestone, the weather was awful – very strong winds and heavy rain. It was a battle with the steering wheel until we reached the M25 but the weather gradually improved as we travelled further west to home sweet home.
People keep asking me how far we drove on our sojourns so this time I recorded it:
Total mileage: 3,730
Fuel costs: Maximum – 175p/l in Switzerland
                         Minimum – 121p/l in Luxemburg
                          UK on return – 144p/l
Photos: None

Wednesday 22nd October 2025 – Bergues, France

An early walk into the town meant that I could pick up fresh bread, croissants and two small cakes from the bakery.
A simple drive through France, close to the Belgium border, took us to Bergues where we have stayed a number of times. The town provides a simple aire for motorhomes – an open area next to the town walls and moat without dumping facilities or fresh water.
Bergues is an interesting town with a lovely central square. Last time that we stayed here they were renovating the square and it now looked splendid with its new stone paving.
Time for another attempt to have a good French meal. Many of the restaurants were closed on a Wednesday but I had identified one that had very good reviews. I went off to do some shopping whilst Jane went to the restaurant to book a table for a little later. I got a WhatsApp message from Jane to say that the restaurant had a booking for 30 people and couldn’t take us. We weren’t expecting that on a Wednesday.
Jane had identified a bar that also did food and the menu and reviews looked good so we arranged to meet there. We went in only to find out that they only did food at weekends. We had a drink whilst we decided what to do. Fortunately, the bar was very close to the main square and I had seen two butchers that also sold complete meals. I got there 10 minutes before they closed and, after checking that we could reheat the meals in a conventional oven, I bought two dishes of rabbit in mustard sauce. It turned out that they actually heated the food and I returned to the bar with a carrier bag holding the meats. We finished our drinks and headed back to the van.
I have to say that the meals were very good, with plenty of rabbit, potatoes and proper vegetables – no chips! In retrospect, we should have heated them up again in the oven as they were at Greek temperature i.e. warm not hot. Next time, we will book that restaurant well in advance.
Photos: One of the town gates through the walls of Bergues; The Bergues Hotel de Ville in it’s newly-renovated square; I was the last customer in the butchers and they had to moove (sic) the cow in for the night; Jane was quite impressed by this man in the square – we have no idea why he was there.