Our First European Road Trip - Day 1

DAY 1 - Gloucestershire to Reims, France

We have been planning our very first European road trip in Denzel for some time now and departure day finally dawned. Having spent a full two days packing and loading (and re-loading) the van we were ready to set off. There is no doubt about it, the prospect of 18 days away from home in a VW campervan with four people really does focus your mind on what is really essential equipment and what is not.

Our plan was to spend two days driving through France into Switzerland where we would be staying in the Bernese Oberland region, just outside Interlaken. We had 6 nights there before heading off back in to France to Lake Annecy for a further 3 nights. After this we were bound for St Simeon, a small village about 20 miles from Paris, where we were booked in to a cottage for 7 nights. This might sound like 'cheating', but we decided to treat ourselves to an extra level of comfort at the end of our holiday in case we weren't talking to each other by then.

With some sadness, we made the decision to leave Milly the chubby brown spaniel behind for this adventure. Throughout the holiday, however, we were surprised by the number of British campers who had taken their dogs with them. Certainly the regulations around pet passports were eased in 2014 so we might consider it another time.

Our total journey time from home to Reims was around 10 hours but not all of this was driving. We left home at 7.15am and made the Eurotunnel terminal by 11.00am having had one short stop for chocolate and toilets (not in that order!). We had hoped we might be able to board an earlier train as ours was not departing until 1.10pm but we were out of luck. My daughter was delighted as this gave her two hours of browsing time in the duty-free shop - my son showed considerable less enthusiasm for this unexpected development.

Passage through the tunnel was straightforward and very efficient. We had completed the advance check-in on-line so the whole process took under 5 minutes when we arrived at the terminal. As we were in the van we went into the carriages with all the other campervans, motorhomes and coaches. The journey time through the tunnel is 30 minutes during which you can get out and stretch your legs and use the toilet (although judging from my daughters description of the toilet you might prefer to use the ones in the terminal building before you leave).

If you have never driven in Europe before and are perhaps a little anxious about the prospect I would say don't be. The French motorways are quiet (probably due to the cost of the tolls) and well sign-posted. A sat-nav equipped for Europe really helps as does having a front seat passenger because the toll machines are on the 'wrong side' for right-hand drive vehicles. All of the French towns we drove through were quiet too so the driving really wasn't stressful at all (having said that I wouldn't want to drive through the middle of Paris!)

So, we arrived in Calais at 2.40pm French time and set off for Reims where we were booked into a Novotel for the night. We had given serious thought to a campsite for one night but decided against it as we did not want to completely unload the van just for one night.

The trip to Reims was very straightforward and uneventful. For the best part of 145 miles we were on one road, the A26, only turning off about 2 miles from our hotel. This section of our journey did cost us €32.50 in tolls though! So although it was a lovely fast road it came at a price. We stopped at one of the roadside 'Aires' to use the toilet and have a late picnic lunch. This is one aspect of driving in France that we really appreciate and wish that us Brits would replicate. Their roads are dotted with regular 'Aires'. Some are well equipped with a shop, cafe, petrol station and so on, but many are just parking areas with toilet facilities and picnic benches set amongst the trees. You might find a small children's play area too. They are free to use, the toilets are usually very clean and they are great for a quick pit stop.

We arrived at the Novotel outside Reims just before 6pm. I had found this hotel on TripAdvisor and it was apparent that it was used by a lot of Brits as a stop-over after a day of journeying from the channel ports. We paid €125 for four of us and this included a breakfast. I have to say that the hotel did not disappoint. It was easy to find, clean, bright and friendly. The rooms were a good size with nice en-suite facilities. The restaurant was excellent and fairly reasonably priced although there were several other eating options within easy walking distance to cater for all tastes and budgets. But the highlight was discovering a lovely terrace, positioned to catch the evening sun, complete with an outdoor swimming pool and surrounded by a vast grassy area with table tennis, two boules areas and a small play area for little ones - very unexpected. The rooms were comfortable and we slept like logs. Breakfast was buffet-style and was very good indeed. Overall, we felt ready for another long drive to reach our first campsite........