119. The French Connection

The day has finally come to leave the UK. Excitement with a few nerves mixed in made for a very surreal morning for two reasons:

Firstly, I wasn't sure how the UK passport officers would react regarding my status, as there was no real record of my stay in the UK. Having travelled to Ireland on two occasions, I left the UK and entered the EU, but there were no checks at the ferry terminal on either side so there was no one to process or stamp my passport.

Secondly, the prospect of driving on the other side of the road was a little daunting as I've never done it. Max has been learning French on the Duolingo app so she can put those skills into practice.

Our first destination is a sit near Bordeaux meaning we have an 867 km drive ahead of us, which we split into 3 days.

We headed to Folkstone and drove onto the train for the 35 minute trip to Calais, France. After clearing both the UK and French passport controls, we drove onto the train and waited in the car. Since its such a short trip, there are no cafes on board and you remain in your car.

Coming off the other end, the roads are cleverly marked to get you driving on the other side of the road before you know it. Since it was a multi-lane freeway, all I had to remember was that the slow lane is on the right, as well as the exits, of course. The freeways were in excellent condition, but with tolls. As expensive as they were, we were happy to pay them as we had a 300km trip to our first pitstop, Bernay, and just what I needed to get used to driving on the opposite side. 

The accommodation was pleasant enough which included a big room and breakfast.

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Our accommodation on the 1st night.

A 15-minute walk into town was well worth it as it's rich in Tudor period buildings. We walked into a restaurant and managed to say hi in French and indicate we wanted a table. The waiter was great and started speaking English, for which we were grateful.

Pics from Bernay.

An old government building earmarked for renovation.

We made it to France!

Real estate prices are comparatively cheaper than in the UK and Australia. 

We could afford to buy any of these rural properties with some change left over.

Some of the residences have kept relics of previous times.

After another day of driving, this was our accommodation on the second night. It was a beautiful building in a rural setting. The prices at this time of the year are so reasonable.

Tomorrow we travel the last leg to our sit where we will meet the owners and see them off for their 6-week holiday in Portugal, as you do, when living in Europe.