Friday 3 January 2020 – Wissant to Pont de L'Arche

Wissant to Pont de L'Arche - 143 miles

With the expected rain falling during the night we awoke late to a miserable morning which didn't improve until late afternoon, resulting in a tiring drive. With no facilities we were on our way after breakfast, somewhat later than we wanted but hey-ho we're “on holiday” so it doesn't matter! Sticking to our tried and tested route we made steady progress south on quiet roads down past Boulogne to Abbeville then the autoroute to Rouen, pausing at a rest area (Aire de Behan) for lunch. We noticed the water was on here so took the opportunity of topping up the freshwater tank – at this time of year most water supplies are off to prevent freezing so we always take every opportunity.

Following recommendations we'd planned to head for an aire de campingcar at Nonancourt, so had it programmed into the satnav which showed us another way through Rouen, although we did end up in the same place as before but with apparently heavier traffic. Unfortunately our late start meant that we would probably arrive after dark, not something we were keen on especially not having been there before, so as we were passing very close to another favourite, at Pont de L'Arche, we thought we'd have a quick look. Not unexpectedly there was plenty of room so we called it a day and picked a reasonably level spot and put the kettle on!

Joined later by several other vans of varying nationalities we relaxed and caught up with “the paperwork” before tea and hopefully another quiet night. Jamie has been as good as gold but does seem to want more walkies, something we're quite happy to indulge him with.

Checking in with the MotorhomeFun forum we learned of another planned fuel strike in France, starting next Monday for 3 days. It's possible that this may cause us a problem but we'll refuel every day for now and not let it get below half – hopefully that will mean we'll have enough to get to Spain, where it's far cheaper anyway. But if not we'll just find somewhere nice to stop and wait it out – we're in no rush!