SofaWolves

Day 3 – Burnt off half a waffle

Journey: Dunkirk – Bruges (Belgium)

After the snuggliest start to the day with all 3 furbabies in the bed, we had a lovely long walk on the beach that goes on for miles. The doggies were suitably tired so we went to LAAC contemporary art museum and sculpture garden. Some really interesting concepts and a few pieces I didn’t get. Paid respect at the war memorial and ate the obligatory coissant and warm baguette for lunch.

I loved the drive to Bruges, big straight roads in perfect condition and the motorhome is a dream to drive. We seemingly arrived at the same time as all the tour buses as it was heaving with tourists (ourselves included). Despite this we weaved the dogs through the streets and saw some amazing architecture, chocolate shops galore and the beautiful river running through.

Ernest was on stimulation overload and was fascinated by the horse and carts and a bubbly thing in the river. They coped really well with the crowds, made friends, and collapsed on the sofa when home. I have to admit that we ventured out alone later it was a lot easier. Plus it meant we didn’t have 3 dogs drooling over our waffles 😂

We did the food shopping by looking at the pictures on the packets and have tried using our Franglais (I think I’m marginally better at pronunciation than the Google sat nav lady). We are now home with sore feet having done 35,000 steps and looking forward to an early night

Day 2 – Doggy Urbex and lots of walking

Journey: Canterbury – Dover – Calais – Du Platier D’Oye Nature Reserve – Gravelines – Dunkirk

Today’s wisdom: Fate sometimes delivers a better option

Paws and feet have landed in France! The ferry crossing was a dream and doggies were so brave. We played a fun card game suitably called Itchy Feet and Mark confessed he has had a strange feeling he is leaving his whole life behind, he going to miss gigs, Greenpeace and his kids (typical me has booked in friends and hobbies for our trip so I have a few home reminders to look forward to).

My little brain managed to cope with driving on the right and we took the dogs to a lovely nature reserve not far from Calais. I instantly spotted an urbex opportunity and was adamant the dogs should be involved in the fun, so after a quick recce, we lifted each dog over the fence and went for an explore. The boys enjoyed it, Mabel would have preferred to stay on the sofa 😂

We then had a lovely long walk through wetlands – Jasper weed on most of it, Ernest darted about and Mabel got to roll in sand as we neared the beach.

We almost skipped Gravelines but I squeezed the van in and we had a nice potter around the flower laden Vauben city walls and visited their UNESCO belfry (there are lots of these, I need to get more excited about them lol)

Dunkirk was an obvious stop and having realised we were too tall for the planned Aire, I ended up driving through the city in rush hour slightly tense and praying I didn’t crash…why do bus lanes suddenly cut off and become road, then bus lane again… why are the traffic lights smaller, the road signs different colours and and and…it was a bit stressful but our resulting free Aire tonight is a minutes walk from the beach (Plage de Malo Les Bains) and so much nicer. We had a windswept walk, watched a kite buggy and lots of kite surfers, then came home for dinner and planned the Belgian leg of our trip. So many options and recommended places to visit, we have a rough route but feel free to add to it 😊 (been to Brussels before so trying to avoid centre to reduce journey time).

Day 1 – We finally leave Norwich

Journey: Norwich – Colchester – Canterbury

We have finally left Norwich! I woke at 5:30am and took Jasper for a final walk around Whitlingham, which was as beautiful as ever. We then travelled separately to Colchester to drop off the car and say goodbye to Deborah Davies, Delilah and Colin. Perk of motorvan driving…my bladder has realised it can request toilet stops at anytime…no more hiding behind the car 😂

Had a scrumptious pub lunch and Delilah walked Mabel…they go about the same pace.

Markles opted to drive this afternoon…he may have ignored the sat nav and ended up in country lines, met a 3 tonne limit road which resulted in a 3 point turn and more country lane diversions but we won’t dwell on that 😂He did really well, and got us to Canterbury Park and Ride for our first night. Dogs were really brave on their longest drive, preferring to cuddle together.

Organised as ever we arrived late in Canterbury and had missed the last bus into town, so walked the half hour in for a nice potter about and a glimpse of the cathedral, walls, lots of very old buildings and their obsession with Domino’s pizza (6 delivery cars past us in less that 5 minutes!).

The dogs are knackered snoozing on the bed, and we are excitedly practicing our French for tomorrow…

Today’s wisdom: if you download apps open them to download the maps while you have free WiFi or you can’t use them

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Who is who…

Have you ever been in a motorhome before?

Like living in cramped spaces?

Think its a bad idea to get a puppy 3 weeks before leaving the Uk to travel Europe?

If you answered No to those questions you are like us…complete novices, learning as we go and rolling with the adventure.

Our family consists of 3 dogs – Jasper our calm goldie with selective hearing, Mabel the grumbleweed who likes food, rolling and sleep, and Ernest the bulldog puppy who lives for food and adventure but doesn’t like the rain. Two humans – my hubby Mark whose bright idea this was…despite never having been in a motorhome and saying just months earlier that he had no desire to move. And myself Maria, a self confessed dogaholic/workaholic who sold my dog grooming business to buy our motorhome, who is mostly called Van…but became ‘home’ in our minds incredibly quickly.

I’m a luddite with technology with the brain of a sieve and 3 months into our year long adventure its obvious how quickly you forget where we have been and what we have seen. Things can easily blur together, so this blog pulls it all together: our daily events, great finds, food, camping spots and random thoughts of the day.

We love the outdoors, and so have a tendency to seek out great places to visit with our dogs, quite often off the beaten track (as our heavily rattled van will testify). We mainly wild camp and try to live as sustainably as possible (happy to share ‘eco on the road’ tips), and both love cafe culture so are always on the hunt for great independent coffee spots and vegan food.

It is meant as a lasting resource for those searching for inspiration, recommendations, or just following what we are up to. Ask as many questions as you like, share it with others it will help and we hope you enjoy and find it useful. I love to keep in touch with people so please comment on anything that touches you, and if you are thinking about/ starting / or on your own van life adventure I’d love to hear from you.