Caen, France to Rotterdam, Netherlands
Trip Start
Jun 07, 2006
1
70
Trip End
Ongoing
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Sunday, November 26, 2006
OK, so we woke up early (well 7am, but it was bloody cold and dark!) and quickly prepared ourselves for a solid day's driving. We had worked out that it was a little over 600km from where we were to Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and we figured we would do it all in one day.
Everything was going hunky-dory, we had driven about 350km, just finished our lunch and approaching Lille in far northern France, when we heard the tell-tale Gollum of our front right tyre going flat. We managed to pull off on to the shoulder of the busy freeway (just), erected our obligatory emergency triangle and got to work changing the tyre.
We thought everything would be OK this time. Our spare tyre was full of air, we had bought a new tyre iron, we knew how to work the jack, so what could possibly go wrong? Well, whoever put the wheel on had obviously used a drill to do it, because the wheel nuts were stuck on fast. After 10 minutes of grunting and straining, including literally bending a steel bar we were using for leverage, we had to admit defeat and call the emergency line to get someone to come and help. How embarrassing!
Anyway, 35 nervous minutes later, holding our breath that a semi-trailer wouldn't clean up (a) us ; (b) Big Green; or (c) all of the above, your man turns up in his big yellow truck to help us. He struggled for a while, then fetched a giant iron bar from his truck and used that to force the little bastards off with a series of giant pops. No worries, he says, then disappears into his truck to write us a bill for 160 euros. OUCH!
Being a Sunday (as it always seems to be whenever anything goes wrong), we located an open campsite on the north side of Lille, holding our breaths all the way there, hoping like hell that we wouldn't blow another tyre. We got there OK, but there was no one at reception, therefore no electricity, therefore no heater, therefore bloody freezing! If we were genies, we would have crossed our arms, blinked twice, nodded our heads and transported ourselves to just about anywhere else, such was the mood in the van that night. At least we did manage to get a warmish shower the next morning.
So, the next day our first task was to find a tyre shop and get ourselves a new one. We were luckily near the town of Armentieres, rather than in enormous Lille, so we happened upon one pretty easily. Unfortunately, they didn't have the tyre we needed, nor did the second one we found, but third time lucky "Crepy Pneus" came through with the goods. From the lads at Crepy we bought a 120 euro bottle of Beaujolais and they were nice enough to throw in a free tyre. Or maybe it was the other way around, we're not sure.
Anyway, with the full complement of tyres restored, we got back on the road and managed to actually make to it Rotterdam this time, all safe and sound in Big Green's native country, just 50km from our final destination. We both let out screams of joy when we crossed the border to the Netherlands, knowing that we were just a stone's throw away from ending our journey and returning home.
Even better, the campsite in Rotterdam was open, they had electricity AND a washer and dryer, meaning that we would be able to start the following day in clean clothes, for the first time in way too long. The small creature comforts have taken on enormous importance with us lately, with the weather turning nasty and the van seemingly shrinking by the day, so we finished the day in a much better frame of mind than the day before.
