[GillParticipant]

Well I did it in disaster style. On the way to Eurotunnel my front passenger tyre burst. I called the RAC and they fitted the silly little emergency thing (a space saver and told me not to drive more than 50 miles an hour. Now I do not really speed but 50 all the way to Central France?
Off went the RAC and I went to get something out of the boot. I slammed the tailgate down….on top of my head!!! I drove on with a splitting headache and noticed I had a few drops of blood down the front of my white T shirt. When I drove onto the train I adjusted the interior mirror and looked at the back of me.

On my right there was blood from the top of my T shirt down to the bottom. I looked as though I had been hit with a brick or a bottle. I asked one of the staff that walked by if there was a first aider when we drove off and he said he would phone ahead.

I was directed straight off the train when we reached Calais and sent to a part of the platform that had been coned off. It was really embarrassing. The Samu was there (Fire Brigade but all trained paramedics) The police were there and an ambulance. Unlike our ambulances they are more of a first aid taxi to hospital).

I got out of the car and they sat me down. They all had a look at my head and, although I don't have a great deal of French I knew they were discussing the best thing to do for me.

They then told me that they would take me to hospital. I told them this was not possible as I had 2 dogs and all my luggage. I told them I would see a doctor when I reached my destination (I didn't). I had to sign a form saying that I had refused hospital treatment and went on my way.

I did not reach my half way stop until about 2 a.m. I tried to feed the dogs but they were too tired and although I wasn't hungry I hadn't eaten since munching a banana and a cereal bar on the way to the tunnel, I ordered some ghastly expensive toasted sandwich and got through most of it. I put on a coat more to hide the blood than because it was cold and took the dogs out for a quick pee. When we got back they curled up on the blanket I had brought for them and went straight to sleep. I showered and washed my hair. I couldn’t believe how sore my head was. And I was really surprised to see so much blood in the shower tray It looked like the shower scene out of psycho, but in Technicolor

I covered the top of the bed with "dog towels" They were my towels but have got thin, or got a hole. Perfectly clean, but scruffy. I would have been mortified if I had bled all over the pillow, as it was the towels got smothered.

It was Anya that woke me to go out "quelle surprise" She is 2 years old very loving but thinks she is still a puppy. Once out Echo had a pee but Anya did nothing, just wanted to sniff everything, pull on her lead and wag her tail all the time. I was surprised how dark it was and, although in the centre of a very busy town, there was hardly any traffic. On returning to the hotel Echo (5 and very laid back) couldn't wait for the automatic doors to open, and she just stood in front of the lift, it was obvious that she wanted to go back to bed, as did I.

On the other hand Anya decided she would far rather have another walk she tried to pull me to the outside doors but when she realised that she wasn't going back out she pulled me towards the receptionist to bark and say "hello I'm sure you'd like to make a fuss of me and play"

It was only when I got back to my room that I realised the reason it was dark and there was very little traffic was because it was [b]4 A.M. !!!!!!!!! [/b]Both my kids always said that Stephen could have a deep, brown rumble voice. If he used that voice they would think "Oh Oh! what have I done" I cannot do that voice but when realised what the time was I grabbed hold of Anya and explained, very roughly in her ear that she had to go to sleep or DIE!!!

I got into bed and got a bit more sleep. When I was up, showered and dressed I cleaned my teeth and then used a teepee brush, as recommended by my dentist. They are small interdental brushes designed to go between each tooth like floss and you brush the sides of your teeth. I got to my right eye tooth and suddenly felt something hard in my mouth. A piece of the cap on my eye tooth had broken off between the eye tooth and the one next to it

After a quick breakfast the following day (the same day I suppose as I had arrived at 2am) off we went. Long, long drive and at one point I started to drift off to sleep. A long blast from a car horn brought me to my senses, and I stopped at the next petrol station to get a strong coffee and a sandwich (YUCK motorway outlets are all the same no matter what country you are in the food is awful). I had parked next to the man that had blasted his hooter and I apologized, in my best French, for what I had done. He told me, in perfect English with a French accent, that it was not a problem but he was concerned for me.

We got to "la Maison du Puits" late in the evening. It was very dark as the only 2 street lights in the village go off at 11pm. I unpacked the car as quietly as I could (not 1 light on in any other house), turned on the water heater which is a very old fashioned thing. It holds about 1 shower’s worth of hot water, takes about 5 hours to heat up and costs a fortune to run. OOOps we must be in France :-):-) By the time I had made up my bed and the dog's bed, checked over the house etc. the shower was luke warm minus at least 4 degrees. I bet I could shower faster than any one of you and still soap up everywhere!

After I had showered,brushed my teeth etc. I went downstairs to check that all was OK I could hear drip,drip,drip. The old fashioned water heater was leaking. I turned off the water heater and the water supply to the heater and grabbed some sleep. By trial and error the following day I found I could turn everything on, put a bucket under the heater and shower quickly. After 3 visits from the plumber and €140 later, it was all fixed.

I really enjoyed my stay, quite a few tears but many chuckles remembering all the fun (and disasters) we’d had over the years. Our lovely old neighbour (now 104) cried buckets when I visited her and said she would probably never see me again. I told her she must learn to can can and when I came back we would both dance in the square. She agreed and lifted her leg slightly from her wheelchair.

I left her with a large tin of fairy cakes I had baked for her some with fruit in and some with a chocolate topping I put the tin in her lap and she became distracted and let go of me

Her son was visiting from Paris. He very kindly took my punctured tyre, got it repaired and fitted it for me. He is nearly 70!

The journey back was worse, bit I am sure you are so bored with this that I won’t go into detail. Suffice to say that I lost my credit card wallet, the dogs were refused entry back into England by Pet Control (we had to wait 24 hours before they could travel) and I mislaid my car in the centre of Calais After 2 hours walking round the freezing cold, deserted back streets of Calais I had to call the police to help me find it!!!

Needless to say I was more than glad to get home.

I have wondered since getting home if Stephen was saying “see you shouldn’t go on your own” or “If you can get through that you can get through anything” Knowing what Stephen was like I am taking the second statement as more likely than the first and will be returning to France aprés hiver (after the winter)

I hope if you have read this you are now drifting into a lovely sleep as I am sure that I have bored you senseless This should be better than a sleeping tablet.

Keep well everybody Love from Gill xxx

[AliParticipant]

Gill,

Your story really did make me chuckle!

I have nothing but admiration for you. How brave of you to even attempt the journey! It's amazing what You can accomplish when you set your mind to it!

You should write a book 🙂

I'm sure Stephen would be proud of you.

Love Ali x

[susannahParticipant]

Oh Gill Im so pleased your home safe. Stephen would be so proud of you. it did make me smile though especially the bit about loosing your car. I thought it was only keys we were supposed to loose!
Love
Suex

[jmsmythParticipant]

Gill I'm so glad that you did the trip and got home safe, but I'm like the others your trip was like "inspector Clueso" and I did have a laugh although I admire you, it probably wasn't fun at the the time but as you wrote it a sense of humour showed itself. I'm not sure I could do it. But good on you 😀
Love Jean x

[sanParticipant]

Gill you are a star and gosh what an experience, i hope that it does'nt put you off going on a long journey again, you clearly met some great people on the way happy to help you which is heartening:-) on to your next adventure? San x

[eveParticipant]

Hi Gill

Well you did it,come hell or high water,good on you,you did make me laugh !!!!!

A few tips Gill!!!
Buy a spare wheel,this new thing about not needing a spare is not on,specially taking on long journey,s !!
Be careful parking in Calais !!!,if you take the road to the left nr dock,keep going and sea on the right follow sign for campsite and air de services,keep going lots of parking on the front free,nice restaurant you could have spent hours in!!
You now have 5 days to have your dogs checked and passport stamped,so it could have been done nr the village your house is at.
Next time contact me I live 9 miles away from Dover and I am sure we could come up with something to at least start you off early from Dover than London.so you will get more time on road,I am on your Facebook or private message on here.
Last but not least I think you have done wonderful,would like to here about your return journey
Deep breaths Gill,hope you bought plenty of plonk home,onwards and upwards.Love Eve

[tomParticipant]

Aww Gill

My you know how to make me Laugh and Laugh I did and to be fair I do want to hear the story of your Return trip but to be fair wait please for my belly to settle down after all the belly laughs i gave Lol, and am darn sure Stephen did say “If you can get through that you can get through anything” and i for one Second that well done you 😎

Love Tom xxx

[dickbParticipant]

So you had an adventure but you went and you did it! Was it Julius Ceaser who said " I came, I saw, I conquered. Your journey for you was probably just as awe inspiring as Ceasers. Next time will be easier and I'm sure there will be a next time.

[GillParticipant]

You shouldn't encourage me by saying that my post made you laugh. I take it as a compliment and write another waffle. I have no problem at all with your laughter and chuckles. I have laughed myself (but only when I got back home)

Eve you are absolutely right regarding the worming jabs but I am programmed like a rat. Stephen and I always left vaccination until the morning we were due to leave and then packed and left. I don't remember why we did it this way but that was what I did on this trip.

I had found when ready to leave from my half way stop at Chartres that I had lost my credit card wallet. I tipped out my overnight bag,wash bag dog's bag. Everything. I had a debit card in my purse, and I went down to reception to pay on that and asked if anyone had handed in my wallet but nobody had. I explained that I had to phone and make sure that I cancelled my cards and hoped I would be out by the noon booking out time.

Reception kindly said that the room was not booked out for another couple of days so I could take as much time as I needed. Before I phoned the card people to cancel, I got my main luggage from the car (2 very large holders, my things would go into one but it becomes too heavy for me so I split it)I tipped both bags out and went through everything. No wallet.

By the time I had done gone through all my luggage and cancelled my cards I realised that there was no way I was going to reach Eurotunnel in time for my crossing so I phoned and changed my crossing to early evening.

Panic over, off we went. The dogs are always brilliant travelling. They fidget for about 15 minutes and then settle down to sleep. I stop about every 2 hours to give them a drink and take them for a pee Then they get back in the car, fidget for a while and then go back to sleep.

I got to the tunnel in plenty of time and drove straight into Pet Control.
They used to come round the counter and scan the dogs but now they hand you the scanner and you do it yourself. I scanned Echo, fine, scanned Anya no go. She has 2 chips as the first put in was faulty. The second is much lower than Echo's and almost seems to be in between her shoulders.

One of the Pet Control Officers came round and tried. No reading. Then she tried it on Echo. No reading. The thing had packed up. After getting another scanner both dogs were cleared. PHEW!

They checked the chip numbers against the passports and then looked at the vaccination entries. Problem. Their passports were stamped and signed at 9.30am and it was now gone 6pm. My 24 hour window had past. Entry denied!!!

I burst into tears but immediately realised that I would have to deal with this and pulled myself together. They gave me a list of vets in Calais town and said that the first on the list was nearest. They telephoned her to make sure she was open and she said she closed at 7pm. Fine I set Tom Tom and off we went. I got to the street in plenty of time and parked. The street was deserted. No shops open and no vet's. A man passed by and I asked him if I had the correct street. I showed him the pamphlet I had been given and he explained that I was in [b]la Rue[/b] de Curie and should be in [b]le Boulevard [/b]de Curie.

He gave me instructions and said that it was a busy road and I may not get parked. So off I went on foot. It was getting later and later and I was running out of time to catch the vet. I started trotting and first of all both dogs thought it great fun. Then they got fed up and wanted to stop and sniff everything. I carried on trotting, dragging them in my wake.

By the time I got to the right place it was well past 7.00 and the vet was on the pavement locking up. I was so breathless I could not speak. I just pointed to the dogs. She unlocked the door, turned the lights on and sat me on a chair just inside the entrance. She went and got me a glass of water and waited until I got my breath back and could speak.

We then went into her consulting room and she examined both dogs, gave them their jab and signed and stamped their passports. They could travel at 5.00pm the following day. I asked if there were any hotels in the area that would take dogs and she told me Cité Europe was a 5 minute drive away.

Well! It would have been if I could have found my car. I tried to remember the instructions that the passer by had given me on the way and reverse them. It would be fair to say that my sense of direction is not good. In fact, to be truthful it is b***dy useless. I spent 2 hours wandering round the deserted, dark, back streets of Calais, by which time the dogs were quite distressed and I was so dry that if I had found a puddle I would have drunk from it.

Definitely time to admit defeat and shout for help. I phoned 112 (the international help line for emergencies) and asked for the police.

I was put through to the nearest police station and explained what had happened. At the end of my explanation I was told OK I understand, goodbye. Before he had a chance to put the phone down I screamed allez Vous??" you come?. "oui". I had explained which road I was in and told them which shop I was outside. (it is a very long road) About 20ft from where I was standing was a bus stop. It was not a shelter but it was lit up and had a bench to sit on, so I went there. The dogs laid down under the bench and I sat there shivering and shaking. The few passers by that walked past looked at me strangely and I am sure they thought I didn't know the service had stopped.

After an hour the police turned up. The dogs had become a bit distressed by then which is so not like them. 3 officers got out of the biggest Land Rover type vehicle I have ever seen. Stephen had Land Rovers years ago but not that big!

I know that policemen have got younger and taller as I have got older but there couldn't have been one of these men that was under 7ft. I had found a scrap of paper in my bag and, thinking they would take the details, drive around and then come back and tell me where to go I had written down the details of my car.

I showed them the scrap of paper and they said OK but motioned me to get in the giant car. "les chien?" I said and they picked up the dogs and put them in the back of the car. My turn now! Well. One of them got into the back the opposite side to me and took my hands. Another Half lifted me from behind. A push and a pull and in I went. Embarrassing? What came next was probably worse.

Within 2/3 minutes there was my car. I had turned out of the vets the wrong way, and got hopelessly lost. Not even knowing how to retrace my steps.

I apologised and thanked them over and over again. I shook their hands and told them they were wonderful and I loved them (you can get away with declarations of love when you are a pensioner).

I got into the car and started it up. I knew the dogs needed a drink, as did I and I would have to re-set Tom Tom and I thought once I was in my car they would drive off. No way. I moved off and they followed me until I was out of town. I expect they wanted me out of their jurisdiction. Once they had gone I gave the dogs a drink. Poor things I had to fill the bowl up twice, I had a drink of water myself and re-set tom tom.

Within a few minutes I was in a 24/7 Ibis and standing under a hot shower. Bliss!

I set off the following morning, got to the station far too early so I grabbed a coffee and took the dogs for a long walk.

At my designated time I went to Pet Control and went through the rigmarole all over again. I was so scared that the dogs would be refused entry for a second time. No problem and off we set.

I cannot remember much about the drive from Folkston, except worrying if my bad luck would continue and something had gone wrong at home.

All was OK the house was very cold after being empty for so long but soon warmed up. The dogs, as good as they always are wherever I take them, were excited to be back, check out the garden and sniff round every room. I went to bed thinking "Never Again"

Who was I kidding? The following morning I could almost hear Stephen whispering in my ear. "What does it matter they can't take your breath away, and life's too short to worry". He often said that. I worry over everything and he was always unbelievably laid back.

I have changed a bit since then. Even though the journey was a nightmare nobody took my breath away, and Stephen's life was definitely too short.

I won't go back to France until après hiver (after winter) as it gets so cold there but, come the spring I will be there.

Love from Gill xx

PS since coming home I have had a phone call saying my wallet had been found, handed in and looked as though everything was there. I had left it in the village supermarket on the day I came home, after all one has to buy a couple of bottles of wine, smelly cheeses and some very sickly French nut nougat

P S to Richard I don't think it was so much "I came, I saw and I conquered" as "I came, I saw, and fell flat on my face. But picked myself up";-)

[MinParticipant]

Well done Gill,
I know it must have taken incredible courage to undertake the journey. Its a shame you had so many mishaps, but your on a learning curve and overcame all of the problems you were presented with so well done you.
You can have an e badge of courage from me as well as a cyber hug
Hope you can look back now and laugh at it all.
You've come a long way in a relatively short time on this journey through widowhood.
Nothing you encounter now will be as dreadful as the loss of Stephen, so you know you will be able to do anything you set your mind to.

On an entirely different note I had to re hang the kitchen door and plane it before putting new hinges on it. Boy was I pleased with myself and if your half as chuffed at your travel achievement I know just how you feel.
Bless You
Minx

[mhnevillParticipant]

Hi Gill

I can hardly believe so many things could go wrong on one trip! Surely you must have had your lifetime's mishaps rolled into one journey. Yes, I am sure Stephen would have been proud of you. I can't imagine how I would have coped with all that. I can't even face driving in Europe.

Here's to the next trip. I'm sure your feet will get itchy come next spring and France must hold some very special memories for you.

Lots of love.

Mavis x

[zasrsParticipant]

Hi gill
What an adventure ! You gave me such a laugh. I nearly took out several cars in Calais I forgot they drive on the wrong side at some traffic lights.

I thought I was doing great guns when I did a long haul with connecting flight on my own, but that was peanuts compared to your trip!

Well done you, we never what we are capable of till it happens.

Best wishes

Sarah

[eveParticipant]

Hi Gill Min and Sarah

well I think you ladies have done wonderful, you all should be very proud of your achievements, Min hanging doors, I think thats wonderfull, it gives hope for people like me, I tell myself I can do it, and take a deep breath, but you three are achieving things you thought you could not do alone.:-D 🙂

Gill you did make me laugh again, the offer is there if you travel again!

My best wishers to you all, and looking forward to hearing your adventures.Love Eve

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