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<p>Well, our holiday has not ended on a high I am afraid to say! We lounged around in bed until 9:30ish as it was still raining and we knew we didn't have all that far to travel. After getting up and packing our soggy tent away, we were off, only to stop 100m down the main road for Ben to put his rain covers on.</p> <p>The journey this morning was wet, cold and slow as we were driving cautiously on the slippery roads. We stopped for lunch at a Champion, the inside of which was colder than being outside as they had their air conditioning on full blast!</p> <p>After eating out sandwiches and some yummy caramel slice things we were on our way again. But not for long; Ben pulled over as his steering felt funny, and we found out he had a flat back tyre! We panicked a bit, not knowing what to do in the middle of nowhere in the drizzle. Then Ben remembered that my Dad kept an emergency tyre kit thingy under sit seat. This pumped foam into the tyre which re-inflated it and glued the hole shut. He definitely had a hole in the tyre as foam came bubbling out of it. We limped into the nearest town only to find the motorbike garage was closed for the holidays! After a quick phone call to Dad to see how far he thought we could drive, we decided to head for the nearest big town - Abbeville. It was 20km away and we stuck to 50km/h so it took a while. When we got there, Ben went into a pharmacy to ask for direction, and we found a garage! To our relief they said they could do it. Unfortunately it cost €195 but we couldn't go any further and by this time is was 5:30ish so we had it changed.</p> <p><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/B.Hymers/EuropeTrip/photo#5152424512506183474"><img src="http://lh3.google.com/B.Hymers/R4EWy5_yPzI/AAAAAAAAAaY/-2MSijZcWbw/s144/100_0783.jpg" alt="Getting my tyre changed"/></a></p> <p><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/B.Hymers/EuropeTrip/photo#5152424542570954562"><img src="http://lh6.google.com/B.Hymers/R4EW0p_yP0I/AAAAAAAAAag/HgXpXhu7V_c/s144/100_0788.jpg" alt="Shiny new tyre"/></a></p> <p>With the shiny new wheel attached, we got on the non-toll motorway to Calais and arrived at 8ish. We were just looking for somewhere to eat dinner when disaster struck again. I was following Ben around, when he went through what I thought was a red light. I paused and was just about to radio to say what I thought when the crash happened. A car pulled out as his light went green and Ben drove into his bonnet. It was scary to watch, but no-one was hurt. The indicator broke off Ben's bike but it was already only gaffer taped on. The car didn't fare so well with a large dent in its bonnet. Luckily the owner of the car was very cool and collected. He phoned his parents who arrived on their motorbike, to advise which forms needed filling out. They spoke good English which was fortunate. We exchanged details then left with me leading as I think the crash had left Ben feeling a bit shaky.</p> <p><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/B.Hymers/EuropeTrip/photo#5152424568340758354"><img src="http://lh4.google.com/B.Hymers/R4EW2J_yP1I/AAAAAAAAAao/th8LrO1F9ic/s144/100_0793.jpg" alt="My freshly cracked fairing"/></a></p> <p><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/B.Hymers/EuropeTrip/photo#5152424589815594850"><img src="http://lh5.google.com/B.Hymers/R4EW3Z_yP2I/AAAAAAAAAaw/b9Qyje6FM5I/s144/100_0795.jpg" alt="His dented bonnet"/></a></p> <p>After all this it was getting on for 9:30ish. I lead us around the seedier bits of Calais before finding the main restaurant area. We strolled around looking at the menus before deciding on an Italian place in our price range! We had a really yummy Parma ham starter and 2 cocktails “sans alcohol”. Then Ben had a steak and I had a chicken thing; all very lovely.</p> <p>By the time we had eaten it was getting close to check in time so we hopped back onto the bikes and did the three minute journey over to the ferry port. We had a queue there as they only had one kiosk open for checking EU passports! Then we were into lane 86 behind a massive American house thing. It was a cold wait as we had no-where to shelter so we sat on the tarmac in the dark!</p> <p><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/B.Hymers/EuropeTrip/photo#5152424619880365938"><img src="http://lh4.google.com/B.Hymers/R4EW5J_yP3I/AAAAAAAAAa4/5fISx-qa_fU/s144/100_0799.jpg" alt="Us on the ferry"/></a></p> <p>We were loaded first onto the ferry. I was much happier this time as we left the bikes on the side stands and strapped down to the boggles.</p> <p><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/B.Hymers/EuropeTrip/photo#5152424641355202434"><img src="http://lh5.google.com/B.Hymers/R4EW6Z_yP4I/AAAAAAAAAbA/hsCx4l4xYKo/s144/100_0805.jpg" alt="Dover from the ferry"/></a></p> <p>The ferry journey was brief and choppy. I felt sad as we watched the lights of France fade away; our holiday was ending.</p> <p><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/B.Hymers/EuropeTrip/photo#5152424671419973522"><img src="http://lh4.google.com/B.Hymers/R4EW8J_yP5I/AAAAAAAAAbI/I8J53oESRvo/s144/100_0806.jpg" alt="Helen at home"/></a></p> <p>The journey from Dover to Fareham was cold, wet and dark. I didn't feel sleepy as I needed all my wits about me! It took 3 hours, and we were back at Ben's at 4am. We hastily unloaded and dumped everything inside. Then, what luxury! We crawled into an already made-up bed which was so comfortable and warm, and were asleep within seconds.</p>
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