Day 1 - Sunday 23 August

Campsite: Aire de Camping Car Vallee de la Scarpe, Arras, France

Early start for the 430 mile journey to Aire de Camping Car Vallee de la Scarpe. Thankfully temperature low 20’s and a relatively decent night’s sleep. No milk for tea though, poor start tut tut. Left site around 8:45 and drove the route including all tolls. Must have been a total of around £65 all in. Christ. Stopped en route for various coffee stops and baps that were made by Mel.

Driving on the French autoroute

Another fuel fill up - over £2 per litre! Around £130 to fill. Will total all of the costs up at the end, but the diesel has been a real killer and would definitely make us re-evaluate this type of trip again. On the final straight to the aire, the sat nav took us down a one way street that narrowed to a pedestrian bridge about 2 metres wide. We nearly got wedged and were re-directed out by an old French baboushka.

Finally arrived around 8 hours later at the aire. £12 for an overnight stop and all services included - pretty damn good. We freshened up and went straight out to the beautiful medieval town of Arras. There was a huge market on with very interesting goods on display and the market square was rammed!

Arriving at Arras Aire de Camping Car Campsite pitch setting at Arras Walking into historic Arras Medieval town square in Arras Bustling market in Grand Place Arras Historic Gothic architecture in Arras Market stalls and Grand Place Exploring Arras town centre

We found a cracking pub - The Melting Pot to watch the Newcastle vs Liverpool match and settled in for a good few hours. Mel could not wait for the big game. The ale choice was exceptional! There was around 30 fine Belgian ales on tap. We worked our way through most of them and then feeling slightly squiffy headed to the local curry house at about 9:15.

The Melting Pot pub exterior Watching Newcastle vs Liverpool at pub Belgian ale selection at The Melting Pot Enjoying drinks during the match

Mel had chicken tikka masala and I had spicy chicken jalfrezi with rice and a garlic naan each. We also had some poppadoms and a couple of Kingfishers. All was lovely and mine had a right good kick to it! The bill was around £55.

Curry house dinner in Arras Chicken tikka masala and jalfrezi feast

We staggered home for about 11pm.

Walking back through Arras at night Illuminated Grand Place at night Night view of Arras medieval square

Day 2 - Monday 24 August

We were up at 8:30 to do all the usual tasks when moving on - empty toilet, drain water, swap fridges over etc. and left at about 9:15. First stop - another fuel stop - fuel here is around £2.05 a litre - put about 30 litres in to get us a fair distance in the south of the UK - Mel grabbed a couple of coffees for 10 euros.

Packing up the van at Arras aire

Straightforward journey to Dunkirk and arrived at around 10:45 for the 12:00 crossing. After 2 security stops (really?) and 3 passport checks (should have jumped on a dinghy to negate the hassle) we were lined up for the ferry.

Line up at Dunkirk ferry terminal Boarding the ferry at Dunkirk

On board we grabbed a box of fine wine for £3 a bottle. For food, Mel had chicken and chips and I had chips in curry sauce and a shared diet coke - total cost £18. Arrived in Dover at 2pm sharp. 70 miles in - another fuel stop as running on fumes, put in the final amount for the trip - thank the lord - £2.01 per litre, half tank £72.

Ferry journey across the Channel

Traffic jams throughout the M25 car park and around the Birmingham area at rush hour. Arrived back home at around 7pm, unloaded all and collapsed.

Trip Summary & Review

My overall review of the trip: It was far too hot and far too many miles for the 3 week period. The trip would be great if in retirement or we had longer. 7 / 8 hour driving days in 40 degree heat is no fun. Air con is now considered a must in Europe in peak summer. Unfortunately due to working commitments we are stuck with the summer holiday period. Switzerland was a definite highlight and the views, walks and memories will last a lifetime, the living costs however, especially eating out, make it prohibitive for most people. Swimming in the crystal clear waters of the Lake Thun were incredible, as was Lake Annecy. The Aire du camping cars are still a fantastic feature of French motor homing and allow you to stop very cheaply (or free) in beautiful towns where you can then go and explore the area and spend to boost their local economy. Win win. The prices of the campsites in Europe also put rip off Britain to shame. French wine is still unbelievably cheap. Eating out in Italy is also very cheap. The ridiculous cost of diesel is also making trips like this prohibitive to most people.

  • Total distance covered: 2,456 miles
  • Total spent on fuel: £776
  • Total spent on Tolls: £345
  • Total spent on Ferry crossings: £284
  • Total spent on Campsites / Aires: £621
  • Total spent in supermarkets: £502
  • Total spent in restaurants / cafes / bars: £1,440
  • Total spend overall: £3,968 (or £1,984 each for 23 days of travel)

Au revoir and bring on the SE Asia tour in 2027!