Day 1 Guignicourt

A 5.30am start can only mean one thing, we’re off on holiday again.

Shower and a strong cup of tea whilst randomly chucking the odd forgotten item in a bag for life, I’m guaranteed to have forgotten something.

We fuelled the car yesterday and discovered that the road to our caravan storage is closing for three days imminently! So, you’ve gathered we’re taking the caravan away with us this time. Workmen stand at the side of the road, chewing the fat with cigarettes hanging out of the corners of their mouths, whilst a young lad runs around with traffic cones. This isn’t looking good for us getting the caravan out of storage.

Bright and early at 6.30am we head to the site hoping that the workmen haven’t yet turned up and that access is still possible. We’re in luck, the signs are laid face down on the ground and and the cones moved to the grass verge. We hook up quickly and hit the road before Fag Ash Frank and his gang turn up to disrupt rush hour traffic.

Up to the M25 and across to the Channel Tunnel, the traffic gods seem to be on our side as we arrive early and are allocated an earlier train. We have very little time after parking in the waiting area before our train is called. Well, we have time for a quick wee and I may have just popped into the Duty Free for a squirt of perfume to find that my perfume of choice is 40% off. Who can resist an offer like that? Certainly not me, I sneak it into my bag, I’ll tell Steve later.

Once on the other side of the channel, the sun shines and the roads flow freely. A quick pit stop at an aire for another wee, you can tell we are getting on in years, our pit stops are more frequent than they used to be.

Our first site is in the town of Guigncourt in France. This site Au Bord du l’Aisne we stayed on over ten years ago when we took the van down to The Alps. It was nice back then and just as nice this time round. A site that is affiliated with CAMC, complete with its own swimming pool and loosely described ‘restaurant’ selling pizza, burgers and chicken with chips and to the delight of the Brits on site, alcohol.

Setting up was easy but hot work. We chose a really spacious grass pitch facing south. Chairs out and relax, this is what caravanning is all about.

10pm and it’s still warm and the light is just starting to fade as we retreat into the caravan, it’s been a long day and we are starting to fade as well. Looking forward to climbing into my caravan bed and sleeping like a log.