From the keyboard of Dr Jan

Ruth and I arranged to have a day off today, so we decided a trip to France was in order

After getting up at some ungodly hour, we arrived at Dover about 45 minutes before the departure of the Norfolk Line‘s ‘Maersk Dunkerque’.

What a fabulous boat! It’s one of the new craft being introduced on the Dover to Dunkerque route and it’s a big step up. There’s a very comfy video lounge, which was due to show Wallace and Grommit and the Wererabbit. Unfortunately, the video projector couldn’t see the signal from the DVD player, so the film was cancelled and monies refunded.

After breakfast, we decided to splash out and upgraded ourselves to the Executive Lounge. We each had a huge swivelling seat with a foot stool, and our own personal TV, along with free drinks and snacks from the bar. Well worth the £10 upgrade fee

We stopped briefly near Dunkerque to get petrol and fit the headlamp deflector kit (from Halfords), then we launched off down the motorway towards Rouen.

We had to stop for a quick kip at an aire on the way, but we got to Rouen just after 4 in the afternoon.

We took a wrong turning, but Colin soon sorted us out and we arrived at the Etap Hotel in Cleon about 17:30 or so.

It looks like there may be one other couple in the entire hotel, so it’s not very busy right now

After we checked in and dumped the luggage, we bimbled off to find some nosh and were pleasantly surprised with the fare at the local Carrefour mall.

After a very satisfactory meal we came back to the hotel and watched a DVD on the laptop – Circle of Friends. I fell asleep shortly after it started, but Ruth tells me it was good, if a little stereotypical.

Hopefully tomorrow we’ll be able to see some of Rouen before heading off for Honfleur, where we’ve gone a bit mad and booked ourselves into the Ibis