An Early Start to the Adventure

An early start for me (Annie): 4:30am. Surprisingly awake, I headed off towards the Eurotunnel and the start of a 2-week holiday. I'm driving the car down to Switzerland and meeting Chris and the girls there when they've flown over. They're limited to a week: I get to eke out a bit more holiday with some adventure!

The new SatNav guided me admirably through all the bits of the UK that I knew. It waited until about 10 miles away from the only bit of the route I was unsure of, then turned off and refused to turn back on. I pulled into the nearest services and did what all good IT people do and fiddled with the power lead and power button until I found the magic combination to make it do a full reset. Back again - good! Now don't do that again, please.

The Eurotunnel was a fabulous adventure. I've gone as a passenger on the Eurostar and taken the Ferry many times, but this was a first. The sensation of being in a car whilst moving (in the train) but not controlling it is hard to reconcile with. I parked inches behind a beautiful pale blue Ferrari and was instructed to park in 1st gear. I spent the whole journey reciting in my mind "remember to take it out of gear; don't smash into a Ferrari...". All safe off the train, and off I go - released straight onto a French motorway - no hassle.

I visited Vimy Memorial Park on the way to my overnight stop in Reims. I gave up history early at school, and I had always felt ignorant about the causes and workings of WW1. It was fascinating walking through the restored and preserved trenches and tunnels there. However, with the lush green grass and beautiful sunny sky, the trenches actually looked quite tranquil. I stood for a long while trying to imagine the turmoil, but nature had decorated over these horrors. A final stop at one of the cemeteries at Vimy, to take in the sheer number of unknown soldier graves, where this blip was taken. Interestingly, a very few of them were in fact named - I wonder if modern DNA technology can help more with that?

Whilst walking around the trenches, a lady tripped and grabbed out at the nearest thing to break her fall. That was my camera backpack, and she took me down backwards with her! We were both ok, thankfully, but on my way down I tried to right myself with my arms and the camera held in one of them became the casualty. Cracked back screen. :( Ah well - the people were ok - that's all that really matters (and the camera still seems to work too).

An evening stop at Reims, debating whether to visit a Champagne House for a tour before heading off to Zurich tomorrow.

This is our 200th blip! I knew it would be today, but haven't arranged a special 200-themed one; I wanted the travels recorded. We'll be a bit slow commenting over the next week or so as we'll be away from WiFi most of the time (and may even have to back blip on our return - the shame!).

I can't believe we've made it solidly to 200. This is mostly down to the ever patient Chris who, despite this being my idea, gets shoved uncomplainingly out into the garden when we're blipless. Ah well, it's good practice for him! Thanks to all for making this such a friendly place to be. :)