A long drive

It was a busy morning, as is always the case before we go away - I washed and ironed the bedding, did all the other ironing too, finished packing, cleared the fridge, cleaned the coffee machine...all those usual things when you are not going to be at home for a while. I also managed to get a walk in with Xena before the rain started which was lucky. 

In the meanwhile, Gavin was in London running in the Royal Parks half marathon. In addition to colleagues from his office joining him, this year Luke and Meriel also ran it. Meriel had a very good run, finishing in 1:35 (and her first 10km was exceptionally fast), Luke finished in 1:36 and Gavin in 1:41. It was the first time Gavin has run with one of his sons which was kind of special for him. Running is not Luke's favoured sport and I am not sure he will do any more races, he prefers team sports.

When Gavin got home we packed the car and set off for the Eurotunnel to drive to France. It rained all day and when we got there it was still raining. This was taken as we were boarding the train so you can see how it works. We have now stopped in Reims where we are spending the night and will continue to Switzerland tomorrow morning. We usually prefer to do the journey is one trip but as we left late, and having Xena with us, we thought it only fair to stop over. We stopped a couple of times at those motorway service places for Xena to stretch her legs, and they are such awful places - cigarette butts lying everywhere, bits of food on the ground - it was a nightmare stopping her from wanting to eat all that rubbish. The food they offer is also pretty grim and we had a dreadful supper of something bought from such a place. We are now in our tiny hotel room and Xena was delighted to be able to get out the crate and stretch her legs. She is not allowed on the bed at home but as there is not much room for her to run around in our room she soon found herself on our bed! (see extra) She won't be sleeping here, we have brought her own bed (her crate which she loves) into the room. Gavin has now taken her for a walk around the hotel while I upload this.

An early start tomorrow and next stop Switzerland.