Linds: “Pete, there are people looking over from their caravan…get your clothes on”. Pete: “Linds, it’s ok! Remember where are we...we’re in Belgium”

25th July - Gent, Belgium 25 c. Cloudy

We arrived VERY tired into Calais at about 10am our time this morning (after a night of partying at Alices, thank you Alice, was lovely to see everyone too!) and we started off driving for the sake of driving for a while, JUST to see if we could still drive on the other side of the road. Shambles initially but we did it. Enough was enough, time for breakfast. The center of Calais was as I remembered from school Geography field trips; clean & orderly with the odd scattering of macdonalds (which lets fce it when youre embarking on fairly new travels, why does seeing a macdonalds sign make you feel that everything is going to be ok, ironic when it’s the thing that will kill my kids if I fall prey to yet another happy meal). Petes first observation however wasn’t about the croissants we were about to purchase it was of a man wearing “a beautiful Sunday morning outfit”…I could tell Pete was jealous as this distinguished man strutted confidently past our car window wearing those really really tight cycling shorts which aren’t cycling shorts at all (suggesting they shouldn’t be worn at all). I love watching pete checking someone out, his does this side smile, hes glad to see the bravery; “look at him…hes got a bum bag and hes tucked his t-shirt in”

Croissant delicious. Baguette perfect.

Didn’t take long to get to Belgium but we had to stop for a rest. Service stations as they should be, it was mad…A picnic bench full of really reall

y orthodox Jews, a huge man asleep on a massive blow-up bed, OUTSIDE his tent which was pitched in front of his converted ambulance and it seemed like everyone knew everyone, particularly helping the many with car bonnets up. It was time to put up the pop up top and go for a kip. This van still feels such a novelty and I cant help peek out the window at peoples reactions when the roof starts going up; secretly thinking I cant go to the toilet looking like this they’ll know Im trailer trash…so I popped some makeup on first, put my celeb shades on and thought what was the point of doing my makeup!? I will always be Jenny from the block even when I have a lot, I couldn’t disguise it. Whilst we regularly get beeped by our fellow VW Californians, I cringe inside as I wave back like a desperate housewife thinking ‘its not what it looks like, were humble folk with pram in the boot taken out of the skip’.

Gent, Belgium is lovely; like a mini Venice...

We pitched up after finding space at a very busy campsite and immediately took the bikes off, kids trailer attached and bobs your uncle…FREEDOM! This is it, we are starting our holiday. Yes!

Riding through quaint streets, along tram lines and it was amazing. I prefer cycling than walking, its quicker and you see loads without feeling compelled to read the small print. I wondered how long it ha

d been since I last rode, noting how confident I was… it was probably a year or so. I remembered falling of my bike, always from clipping my wheel on a kerb, drain or stone…the tram lines looked primed for

me this time and my judgement waivered for a minute but we survived. Here is some piccis of the town, a little boat ride with a free ice-cream and a very irritating guide reminiscent of a horse racing commentator in three European languages!

Ok, hour ahead. Off to the pop up…to pop off, hoping nothing unexpected pops upJ