So a new year, 2022, starting in Exeter. Our first year where we start the year travelling in Beatrix and have a full year of travel planned, at least in our heads. There was much to be looking forward to. First however, we needed to do some Beatrix maintenance and all of us, including Merlin and Beatrix, needed to prepare for our first trip to France.

We needed to clean out the water tanks, to remind you had we have two water tanks, one that is our main tank which holds 300litres of water and our waste tank, the cleaning of these tanks is an annual task and we wanted clean Beatrix herself – which is no mean feat – as she has quite a lot that needs to be cleaned. We also wanted to put in a new Alde heating pump. We were able to do all of this at Grindlebrook Farm an independent campsite just outside Exeter . The cleaning activities just took time however the pump change was a little more complex. For that we needed to borrow some tools – some clamps more specifically and even so Toby managed to get the Alde heating fluid on his hands and had quite a nasty reaction to this. First lesson of 2022 always wear gloves when working with Alde heating fluid. The pump change over, although messy, went well and Toby again proved that he is really good at fixing and maintaining things on Beatrix.

We had booked our tunnel crossing to France in 2021 for our first ski season and we were due to leave the UK on the 6th January. Having used our Tesco clubcard points to reduce the cost and we were desperate not to have to change our travel plans. France however, did not lift it’s Covid restrictions which were put in place in December and we ended up moving the Eurotunnel booking to the 18th January. As we had planned everything we had booked Merlin’s Animal Health Certificate (AHC) on the 4th January in Exeter. We decided to keep this appointment and see if our luck would hold that we would be able to use this AHC if we could leave within 10 days of the AHC being issued.

Aside 1: Animal Health Certificates – a relatively new nuance travelling with a dog in the EU due to the fact that the UK is no longer in the EU. Now for your pet (cats, ferrets or dogs) to travel they needed an Animal Health Certificate (AHC) not a UK pet passport as these were no longer valid. This was a shame as we had been forward planning this for a while and Merlin had a UK passport which we had been keeping up to date knowing we wanted to travel with her. We made sure her rabies and vaccinations were tracked. The AHCs need to be provided by an « OV » Official Veterinarian and not all vets can, or will, do AHCs. The AHCs are a very paper oriented process being 14 pages long with check boxes that the vet has to complete after checking the dogs microchip and vaccination history. They are a significant cost as you need one for each trip to the EU. The first AHC we got in Exeter cost 194GBP and was never used!

The new Eurotunnel was booked and France decided to lift it’s Covid restrictions on the 13th January- with the proviso that you needed a PCR test within 48 hours of arriving in France. We very swiftly arranged a postal PCR test to be sent to us and get the results in time for us to travel on the 18th Jan. The PCR cost 44GBP. We also spent this time waiting planning our travel down to Montgenevre and how we would travel through France. We will do a post about planning trips as it takes some doing!

We slowly made our way from Exeter to Folkestone. With the extra days to wait until we could travel we decided to stay at Hunters Moon campsite in Dorset and then spend some time in Brighton.

Hunters Moon is a Caravan and Motorhome Club Campsite in Dorset and it was a lovely site although a little in the middle of nowhere. There were some great walks and the weather was typically British and we got very muddy as did Merlin! From here we then headed to Brighton via Southampton to try and pick up some new windscreen wiper blades for Beatrix as the jets on Beatrix were not really effective at cleaning the windscreen when it rained. The trip to Southampton was not effective however we spoke to a great guy who recommended a company where we could order the wiper blades and they would arrive before we needed to head off.

Brighton was a club site and it was great walking down Brighton seafront with memories of times spent there with my girlfriends when I was much younger – here we learnt that we should always check we know what the entrance to a site is like as we very nearly missed the turning and would have gotten into all sorts of trouble had we not noticed just in the nick of time.

We then travelled to Black Horse Farm campsite – our last campsite before heading to the Eurotunnel. This drive showed us how poor the roads in England are – the M20 was noisy and bumpy and had many potholes – the suspension in Beatrix is pretty agricultural and we found this part of the trip a little tedious as she bounced around a lot and our salt and pepper pots nearly fell out of their holders. We then had to arrange for AHC number 2 for Merlin. We booked her into a great vets in Folkestone and this time it cost us 165GBP. We scooted to Tesco in Folkestone to get a few last minute things for dinner and I was a complete klutz as I dropped the bottle of bolognaise sauce for dinner on the floor and made a right mess. At this point it might be worth you all knowing that I have a tendency to be a bit klutzy – luckily Toby still loves me and I do clear up after myself although this time round there was a fabulous Tesco employee who helped with the glass and tomato mess in this instance. We did a final clothes and sheets wash at Black Horse and to put snow chains on Beatrix for the first time.

Aside 2: for travelling in the mountains in winter in France you need specific tyres (see our kit list for more information) and snow chains in the event of snowfall. We had ordered our snow chains and not had the chance to put them on Beatrix. If any of you have used snow chains they are difficult enough to get on cars let alone an 8.8m 6.5tonne motorhome, We had some giggles and frustration as we followed the instructions and sort of managed to get the snow chains on and then off. We were watched doing this by other campers in the campsite – specifically a French man. He came over and asked us if we were expecting snow. He mentioned he lives in the Pyrenees and had never needed to use his snow chains as the main roads to the ski resorts are always cleared for the buses. This was reassuring as we hoped we would never need to use ours!

We put on our Anglemort stickers, in France if you are a long vehicle and over 3.5tonnes, and yes Beatrix is both long and over 3.5 tonnes, you need to warn people of the blind spots. This is a French law and is often a discussion point on motorhome forums as people don’t like them as they can impact the paintwork and visuals of your motorhome. We are law abiding individuals and so placed them on Beatrx and now she was ready for France. We just needed to do our final activities which was taking our antigen tests – it’s quite nerve-racking waiting for the results to come through – luckily we were all clear. At this point we scooted back into Folkestone to post off family birthday cards before we left and to get some cash out, Miraculously both Toby and I had our bank cards eaten on the same day so we were travelling to France for nearly 3 months with only a credit card and our Revolut card. We ordered new bank cards however did have to wait until we returned to the UK to pick them up.

18th January 2022 will be a date I will remember as it was our first trip on the Eurotunnel. The train we were due to get on was 09:20 and we knew we needed to get Merlin through the pet passport area. As we arrived at the check in for the Tunnel Toby got really nervous as the entrance to the check in had some pretty large concrete and metal barriers. Toby slowed right down as he was not sure we would fit in, I got out of Beatrix to take a look and the lady at the kiosk was laughing at us as she said if you can’t get through here you won’t be able to make it on the train. Which kind of makes sense and with that Toby drove slowly to the kiosk and we booked in. We managed to miss the sign for the Pet Passport and ended up having to walk across the car park to get Merlin through her checks. It was really quiet and there were not many dogs or other animals in the pet passport area.

Then we just sat and waited. As mentioned this was one of the first days of the restrictions into France being lifted and Eurotunnel was not busy. We were stopped to make sure we had switched off our gas tanks and then slowly pulled up to the train. Luckily we were behind a big vehicle and it gave Toby confidence on the line to take to get onto the train. The train is really quick and what is great is that Merlin could stay with us which on a ferry she would not be able to. 30 minutes later and we were being informed we could disembark. I had to remind Toby to drive on the right however actually as Beatrix is a German Carthago she is left hand drive and so it actually makes it easier for her to be driven in France and the EU.

We immediately noted two things – the roads in France have less traffic and are in much better condition than those of the UK. We will make many comparisons between France and the UK along our travels however this one still resonates with us and we notice on both sides of the channel! We drove a short distance to our first Aire in France and there were many kilometres to go to get to Montgenevre which we will cover in the next blog.

Thanks as always for reading, let us know your thoughts.

Sally, Toby and Merlin