We stopped off with a friend in London for the night before getting up for an early start and heading down to Folkestone for our 0950 departure on the Eurotunnel. 35 minutes of train and we were in France – it’s pretty impressive on the convenience front, even if it’s boring: you sit in your car for 35 minutes of tunnel. Still, we were in Calais.

We quickly headed onto the motorway and headed across northern France over to Belgium. Nothing particularly exciting about the drive – it was over land that was quite flat, lots of agriculture. I was munching on a piece of M&S cocktail sausage when it went down the wrong way and spent the next 10 minutes coughing, so we pulled into a service station for a break. No sooner had we stopped than a wasp flew into the car – Sean whacked it with a cloth and flung it straight at me, where it stung me on the neck.

Once I’d finished swearing and Sean had finished apologising, we got ourselves sorted. Apparently, you have to pay 30c to go to the loo in service stations around here. That was a bit of a pain since we hadn’t stopped at a cashpoint yet…

Anyway, we got to Brussels with no idea where we were going and asked TomTom to take us to a car park in the center of town. A nearby Novotel pointed us to the tourist information center in the Grande Place….whereupon we walked into the middle of a huge beer festival. Of course, we were driving, so couldn’t take part much to my disappointment. After pottering around for a bit, we had a Belgian Waffle (what else would you eat in Belgium?) and wandered around taking photos before heading back to the car. We drove around a few of the sights before heading back out on the motorway. I’d love to come back here, it’s a beautiful city with lots to see.

The drive to Luxembourg was more scenic, crossing valleys although by the time we got there we were both exhausted – we’d not had much sleep the night before. So after a bit of food, we headed straight to bed.

Miles so far: 513

Anyway, Sean and I have been planning a trip to Italy for a few months now and it’s almost here. Tomorrow afternoon, I leave work and drive to Cardiff to pick Sean up. The next time we’ll see the house, we’ll have drive through Belgium, Luxembourg, France, a bit of Germany, Switzerland and Italy.

I am, understandably, somewhat excited. Internet access has been sorted despite Vodafone being useless – thankfully, 3 are targetting users wanting some decent data rates at the moment, so I have a 3 SIM in my laptop’s built-in 3G card. It’s PAYG so I won’t come home to a £300 phone bill and it means that I can keep a record of the trip on my blog.

I’m just waiting for clothes to dry now and hoping the weather will last…

Update: Track my travels on Dopplr

Figuring that time was running out for Sean and I to have a break this year, I booked some time off (just a few days) and we packed the car and left. We had a vague plan – some friends in Betws Y Coed and my sister on Anglesey, but beyond that we could do anything. We packed a tent and everything we’d need just to pitch up for a few nights, filled the car up with diesel and headed off, L-plates stuck on the car and Sean firmly behind the wheel (and me in the passenger seat feeling very nervous).

We started off well with Sean driving quite well. However, it rapidly became apparent that we had to get to Sean’s mother faster than he could reasonably be expected to drive so we swapped quickly and set off up to Llangorse where she was attending a singing camp. Glorious sunshine greeted us as we arrived at what was in fact a very waterlogged campsite but the sunshine boded well for our trip. Toddling off up towards Brecon we hit the A470 and after stopping for tea and scones at Builth Wells, Sean drove us up to Betws Y Coed where we stopped overnight. Over dinner we made our plans for the morrow and the plan we’d decided on was something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time – Crib Goch. However, it wasn’t to be. As part of The Plan, I decided that a weather report was in order. The MetOffice however scuppered our plans (well, I suppose they didn’t themselves…) with a report of 55mph gusts on “exposed ridges”. I think Crib Goch qualifies as that. So we changed our plans and headed into Betws Y Coed instead. It turned into quite a nice day and we ended up taking a drive up through Pen Y Pass and down into Llanberis. A quiet bite at the famous Pete’s Eats and we headed back up to Pen Y Pass where I took the two pictures above. The top one is of Crib Goch from the back of Pen Y Pass. The bottom one is of the weather report as it was at the entrance to the cafe. Standing there taking the first photograph, I have to admit, I was glad we hadn’t attempted the ridge – I had to use a nearby wall to steady my hands in the wind and it would have been significantly stronger at the top.

After a few days around Betws, we headed up to see my sister. It was good to see the kids again, although my sister ended up feeling quite ill, so we spent some time around the house. Despite the lack of walking, Sean and I had a great time. We spent the entire time with limited internet access – at some points with limited access to any kind of communications at all. I barely fired up my computer – no work for any of the organisations I work with. Absolute bliss.

We drove home today – well, Sean drove a fair bit of it. He’s getting pretty good, though he’ll need some more practice before he goes for his test. I’m relaxed, unwound and ready to get back to work tomorrow. What more can you ask?