Off to Calais,
France today. An early start @ 5.30am, we needed to pack the last of our bags
and get the tent down in time to catch a bus for the 8.35am train out of
Brugge. Though we were at the bus stop in time, the bus we needed never turned
up. We ended up catching the next bus with a delightful driver. He broke us off
some English and we traded info about our countries. With us catching the later
bus, it meant we missed our first train connection. Roni had done research into
our connections and time, so we knew where we had to go, we just didn’t know
about times and if it came with any secret costs. Luckily we made it through without
a hitch or extra costs. We also met a chatty train conductor that is a trainer
at Les Mills in Belgium. He was excited to find out that we were from NZ and
sat down with us for a chat.
We arrived
in Calais by 5pm. Our motel was just a small walk over the road from the
Railway station. YAY! All checked in and bags dropped off, we headed into the
cold to explore Calais as we would only be here overnight. Tomorrow we bid
farewell to Europe and make our way to the UK.
We visited
the port, the old bunker and fort, the lighthouse and other bits and pieces in
between before heading back to our motel with fish & chips and a beer. Our
room then became a sauna as our pile of hand washed clothing (and tent) dried
with the heater going full bore. In this tropical setting we packed our packs
yet again before crashing to sleep in the early morning.
