Our first motorhome trip to France Home to Hull and Lac du Der
Home to Lac du Der
Up early, a dull overcast day in Lancaster, rain overnight. Today we leave home on our first ever motorhome trek into Europe. We have made a start on our Hymer adventures in the UK, and feel we are ready to venture further afield. Our son is taking a family holiday in France, so this seems like the perfect opportunity to go and try some motorhome travel in France. We left the ferry booking a little late, so the only route open to us at a reasonable price was Hull to Rotterdam with an overnight on the ferry. That leaves us a long drive south to Bordeaux, it’s something we have never done before, so we’re somewhat apprehensive and excited at the same time.
Our 2004 Hymer B544 now sits on our driveway packed with everything we think we will need, ready to go. We eat breakfast and receive an email from France, the family’s progress is slower than expected and their mobile phones don’t work. Sounds like a disaster. We are unsure our phones will work, or how much it could cost for data, so I have already installed an app with maps, but just to be on the safe side I install another and all the maps for that one. Belt and braces you might say. It takes a long time. I also have all the maps on my GPS, what am I thinking about, we used to travel everywhere with paper maps and managed perfectly well, so why am I so bothered?
We are late leaving, I test Here maps on the route to Hull, the voice is American, so are the terms, we are going to intersections and around traffic circles, but the directions are correct and we arrive at the ferry terminal. En route we filled up with diesel, then board the Pride of Hull for the voyage to Rotterdam. Good cabin, small but functional, we’re only going to sleep here, not have a party.
We are awakened at 0630 local time, 0530 UK time, by a voice telling us that breakfast is now being served. Not a customer-friendly act at all in my opinion, it’s an advert that has woken me. The toilet is vacuum operated, like those in aircraft, noisy and unnerving. Next thing we know we are on the vehicle deck and being waved forward off the ferry, not even time to set up the maps app on my phone. We follow the lines of vehicles out of the port and stop at the first possible place to stick beam deflectors on our headlights.
So far so good, we are driving a right-hand drive Hymer, so it’s unfamiliar, but it’s a good reminder that we are in Europe, not England. We find the aire along the road and stop for lunch as planned. I have spied out these locations on google maps, looking at the satellite images, so it almost feels like I have been here before. A quick call in a supermarket for food items, fill with more diesel and on the road again.
We found the aire at Lac Du Der, it was almost full, so we moved across the road to a big space where other motorhomes were also parked up. Gill made a super meal and we sit digesting our first day in France, too tired, we almost collapse into bed and sleep deeply.
Our first motorhome tour in France
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