London, Dover, Calais, De Panne - 5th June 2006

We left London around ten this morning and after negotiating our way around the London traffic we took the M20 down to Dover. We were running a bit late, but after a blast down the motorway we arrived in Dover with fifteen minutes to spare before we had to board our ferry. Once we arrived in Calais we immediately headed North seeing no need to hang around for too long in either Calais or Northern France. Shortly after we crossed the border and entered Belgium I needed petrol and so toook the first available exit off the motorway which took us to a small, clinical seaside resort called De Panne. The place was nice enough, but had the air of standing by for something - much like a room reserved for a party feels before anyone has really arrived, but after the party has officially started. The day went pretty much exactly as we hoped for and we didn't push ourselves too much by any stretch of the imagination.