It was an early start today. My friend and I got up at 5 and I took Aramis for a short – and sadly last – walk down to the river.
Had I taken this walk a few weeks earlier, the sun would already have risen at this time of the day. It is already getting darker and days are growing shorter again. Even though it does not feel like it during daytime, autumn is slowly approaching…
We said our goodbyes and left York at 6. The satnav told us that the journey to Dover would take about 4h30, which was, as always, very accurate. The three of us stopped a couple of times for a wee, but time flew as we had plenty to talk about. We arrived in Dover just after 11. My friend and I bought a picnic at a supermarket and then we drove straight to the ferry terminals, which turned out to be a very good decision.
As I have spent most of the day driving, some of today’s pictures have been provided by my excellent friend.
There was a long queue in front of passport control and waiting became a little tedious, but once we got the first booth, the French customs officer saw our passports, asked whether we were Swiss, and when we confirmed he just waved us through without even having a closer look.
At check-in, our passports were briefly flicked through, but nobody cared about Aramis. I was almost disappointed that I did not get to climb across all our luggage again to check his microchip.
As we were waiting, my friend took a very nice snapshot of Aramis and me. Note the ribbon he won at Thornton le Dale Show, which now embellishes his cage. I am still wearing the wrist band to remind me which side of the road to drive on.
On the ferry, I found a sofa and had a nap. My friend, however, went on deck and took some great shots of a seagull which flew all the way from Dover to Calais and was fed with crisps by passengers.
I made sure to remind myself to drive on the right hand side again. It felt a little weird and I was a bit worried to go wrong at some point, as I was slowly starting to get tired. I never did, though, and my friend kept a close eye on me too. We stopped at an ‘aire’ shortly after Calais and had dinner. Aramis showed great interest in our falafels and found them to be very tasty (if a bit too spicy for his delicate tummy).
Our hotel for the night was still 2.5 hours away. We started listening to an audio book by Ken Follett, which was very captivating. I was, however, starting to feel the long day and was very glad when we finally arrived in Reims at 8 o’clock.
The Adventures of Aramis 