The trip took in four countries, covered six hundred miles and left us both sunburned and soaked. Fabulous!
This maps shows the journey (click for a zoomed version):
Friday
We left Burghfield Common at about 1330 and popped via Halfords in Reading for get some headlight converters. They're so easy to fit and apparently a legal requirement, so it surprised me how few British cars we saw that had them fitted. For reference, they cost £9.99 and seem to be single use. Hmm.
The drive down to Dover is some 120 miles and we managed the majority of this with the roof down. Some heavy rain started part way around the M25, but luckily there was a few minutes of stop-start traffic so I could reach behind and grab the roof.
As soon as that had passed and the roof was dry again, down it went! This is my standard approach to the MX-5. The roof should be down unless it's raining or so cold that you'll damage it while folding.
We stopped near Dover to grab a couple of Geocaches and bought some dinner from Subway. Then on-wards to the ferry terminal. Our ferry was originally booked for 2015 and we arrive din Dover at about 1815. P&O were very accommodating. They got us on the next available ferry for no additional cost, meaning we were away on the 1835 sailing. The crossing was smooth and painless and we enjoyed watching the seagulls following close behind the boat. A bunch of British teenagers were feeding them on the wing - quite entertaining to watch gull trying to take food out of their hands!
That night we stayed in the Holiday Inn outside of Calais. Having eaten earlier, the bill was pretty moderate. We'd chosen the Holiday Inn because they have a late check-in. If we'd not been able to get across the Channel until 2015, then we'd have been too late to check-in to most other hotels. (Bear in mind that France is an hour ahead of the UK.)
Saturday
After a good breakfast, we drove out of Calais on the coast road to visit a statue that commemorates the an early pioneer of flight. Flying is close to Katy's heart, so it was quite an interesting statue. It's also the location of a virtual Geocache, our first in France. (GCG4DE)
I just had to take a photo of Scarlett here! The drive from the hotel to here was enough to dry of her roof - I dislike folding it away wet - and it went down just before we drove off.
After this, we popped briefly to Carrefour in Calais and bought a few items for a picnic lunch. The next stage of the journey was to drive to Breendonk, near Antwerp. (Point D on the map above). This was a concentration camp in the Second World War. We had a good drive down there and the walk around it was both emotional and informative.
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We discovered that you can use an MX-5 boot lid as a picnic table. Fresh french bread and some rather nice cheese made by monks (apparently) - perfect.
After spending a few hours in Breendonk, we then drove north and joined the Anwerp ring road. From here, we journeyed a few miles into the Netherlands to - yes, you've guessed it - collect a Geocache. (Point E on the map). There really was no other reason to head into the Netherlands, but I'm glad we did because I grabbed a few more shots of Scarlett on a quiet road:
After this, the drive west to Bruges was pleasant. We ended up taking some country roads through some beautiful villages. Some of them were not very MX-5 friendly, being entirely cobbled with rough stones. Hard suspension meant that the ride was not pleasant at over 15 mph!
This part of the Belgian countryside is very, very flat, but stunning in its own way:
I rather liked this view too! (MX-5 porn?!):
Driving into Bruges and finding the hotel was simplicity itself. The TomTom One that we were using had the whole of Europe on it, and took us exactly to the door. We stayed in the Apollo ArtHotel. (Link)
We had a super evening in Bruges itself, finding a nice little Bistro and dining on freshly made pizza. The local beer - Jupiler - was actually rather nice, especially in large glasses! Ahem.
Sunday
We awoke rather lazily and headed into Bruges for about 10am. The shops don't really open until then on a Sunday anyway, and we wanted waffles for breakfast. We drove into Bruges and parked in one of the underground car parks. We witnessed some frankly awesome parking:
And then wandered around to find a waffle shop that was open. I'm so glad I went for the Ice Bruges. Decadent and fabulous:
The rest of our morning was taken up with a boat trip on the canals of Bruges and some more wandering about. The town is simply beautiful. I love the architecture: it's random, with every building being different from the once beside it.
After we'd had enough of Bruges, we went back to the car and drove down to Ieper (Yypres). (Point G on the map). Here we visited the place where Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae wrote "In Flanders Fields". There was a Geocache there too. War cemeteries always make me melancholy, so we went into Ieper itself for some coffee.
The drive back to Calais brought with it some very heavy rain, so the roof went back up. During this rainstorm, we got a wave from a Mk3 MX-5 driver who not only was blasting along way above the speed limit, but had the roof down. Not sure his girlfriend looked so happy... Nutter! :-)
We arrived in Calais way early for our ferry, but this time had to wait an hour for the next one. P&O still had us on an earlier ferry than booked, so you can't fault them. It was at this point that I realised that I was actually quite sun burned. Oops.
Here we are queued up for the ferry:
We ate fish and chips in Dover from a take away, our plans to find a restaurant being scuppered by places being shut fairly early on a Sunday. The drive back from Dover was uneventful and Katy fell asleep for most of it....
It was a great weekend, helped out no end by having the MX-5 and keeping that roof down for most of the way. Loved it! The next plan is to head out with two cars and drive down to the Swiss Alps. Watch this space...
