Author: Paul

After a rather sleepless night on the ferry, breakfast was delivered to our room at 8.30am. A pot of coffee, orange juice and a selection of pastries. We enjoyed that in the room looking out to sea and then got ready to leave. We had a couple of hours to spare before arriving at Santander so had a look around the duty free. We left empty handed which is unheard of and then headed to the lounge. I took my laptop and did a hour while Pamela caught up with messages. The scenery as we came into Santander is beautiful. We were called to get to our vehicles about 20 minutes before we docked and were out of the ferry and through passport control in no time.

We just went for it covering 570km on this run stopping only twice for supplies. The scenery is breathtaking and combined with great weather made the miles just fly by.

Of course, we have done a lot of this route before. When we were approaching the service station where we broke down last month we were determined to at least get past that point. No need to worry though, this one hasn’t missed a beat(Touch wood)!

We decided to leave ourselves just 4 hours drive to get home tomorrow so settled on Cácares. I don’t know how she does it but Pamela has picked another outstanding stay, Hotel Hospes Palacio de Arenales & Spa, Cáceres. If you’re passing by here, I can’t recommend enough.

Down for breakfast at 8.30am which is an early start for us. Pamela had Pesto and pine nut butter beans and I had Kedgeree. We’re trying to lay off the full english breakfasts at the moment.

The room in the Greyhound inn was fab and Pamela said she had the best night’s sleep ever whereas I was tossing and turning all night. We’re putting it down to the sugar in the sticky toffee pudding earlier in the evening.

We’re just about to head off for the 3 hour drive to Plymouth. Pamela is filling in ‘a million forms’ concerning the crossing and we need to get diesel.

Update: We arrived in Plymouth bang on time without fuss. The ferry is massive! I don’t know what we were expecting but it wasn’t this. There’s a beautiful Ferrari next to us in the waiting area, a McLaren and quite a few Bentleys. There’s about 20 chaps on a motorcycle touring trip that looks fun and also a TVR owners club rally. By far the most interesting though is the entrants to the 2026 Panda raid. These are old fiat panda 4x4s with the suspension raised up. Their route is from Madrid to Morocco using only map and compass, no GPS and each vehicle is carrying about 20kg of school equipment to donate to schools in Morocco.

I’ve got to work on the crossing so we’ve got a larger cabin with desk space. The upside of that means there’s also a balcony. The weather is fantastic as we set sail, Sitting on the balcony in the sunshine, we’re beginning to see the appeal of cruises.

After a very expensive game of Land Rover bingo which left us stranded in the middle of Spain last month, we’re ready to try again. With my world’s wheels out of action until a new engine is fitted, it’s my turn to step up. I’ve researched which is the most reliable used car on my list of potential new rides and we have a winner. So with European breakdown cover firmly in place, we’re off again.

We headed south on the M6 still undecided wether we were getting Leshuttle or the ferry. I let Pamela know she had until Birmingham to decide. The decision was made by stoke! Ferry it is from Plymouth to Santander. We agreed to stop in Oxford for the evening, leaving us just a 3 hour drive to Plymouth the next morning, arriving at the ferry terminal for 2pm.

The initial plan was to visit Clarkson’s pub and stay overnight local to there, but as always, we did no planning whatsoever and it was booked up for the next 4 days. Our stop for the evening is the fabulous Greyhound Inn just outside Wantage in Oxford.

The beer garden looked fantastic when we arrived so we dropped our bags off in the room and went straight back downstairs to enjoy the sunshine before tucking into delicious fish and chips and sticky toffee pudding from the restaurant.

Up early this morning to visit the launderette before we pressed on. The deserted streets of Le Mans are beautiful in the early morning sun.

We skipped breakfast in the hotel, instead deciding to visit a Boulangerie on the way so we could get going. We weren’t disappointed! Pamela ordered in french for both of us. Weirdly, the most challenging part was to not reply in Portuguese. My croissant aux amandes was ridiculously good as was Pamela’s plain croissant and the coffee was perfect.

We headed south along the west coast of France. I was keen to visit Pamplona but since the weather was good, we thought it would be a welcome change to pitch up earlier than normal and enjoy a sunset.

We had Mimizan in our mind, a long stretch of beach on the Atlantic coast which is popular with surfers but we weren’t able to find suitable accommodation online so we continued a bit further across the border.

We ended up in San Sebastian and my goodness were we glad we did.

We stayed in the fabulous Luze Boutique. Situated above the town, It has a fabulous view of the bay of Biscay from our room. They have recently received their first Michelin star. Although we are both big foodies, we’re more pour over coffee and street food. We enjoyed the less formal tapas menu in the lounge which was of course excellent.

We enjoyed it there so much that we booked another nights stay giving us the opportunity to enjoy some shopping and lunch in the town.

We had a bit of a lie in this morning and booked the 12.52 train and drove the short distance from Ashford to the port.

Leshuttle is superb! Both passport controls are one after another at Folkestone. No fuss, straight through. We then sat in line for about 5 or 10 minutes until they were ready for everyone to board. It’s a double decker train which you drive onto. The journey took roughly 35 minutes and as we’d cleared French passport control back in Folkestone you simply drive off and away.

We got straight on the motorway heading towards Tours. The first stint took us through Rouen before we stopped for a coffee. The weather was lovely, the scenery wonderful and the roads empty. On the second leg we passed through Camembert which made us both smile.

We stopped for the night at an elegant hotel in the centre of Le Mans. There is an impressive courtyard next to our hotel with about a dozen restaurants each with indoor and covered outdoor eating space. It’s busy, but not packed, and has a great atmosphere.

Fun fact, David Jason used to live here.

Mange tout!

We’ve had a quick sarnie from the lovely Deli Mio in Ainsdale and now we’re on our way. A quick stop at Dave’s, then to Janet’s and then finally Pat’s flat. Left Aintree at 4pm, Pamela is driving, and right now we’re on the M6 toll in Birmingham heading for Folkestone.

We’re surprised how good the traffic has been, so we’re just going to keep going and get a hotel there. Xxx

Update:

We made it to Ashford by 9.50pm, great journey, had a little stop at Oxford services, and now we’re tucked up in bed at a hotel not far from Folkestone, Pamela got straight in the bath when we arrived, then demanded a cup of tea and chocolate, which thanks to everyone knowing us so well, we have plenty to choose from! 😊