2004, Day One

Day one 11th June

This year we are going as a family, we will be accompanied by Nicole our daughter, Tim her husband and twin granddaughters Georgia and Emily. We will also be followed two days later by my brother Michael, his wife Brenda and their teenage children, Joshua and Jenifer. Then unbeknown to all of them, for the last three days of the holiday by my son Ralph, his partner Tracey and her daughters Saffron and Chelsea, will be joining the rest of us. Tim has been added to the van insurance to let me have a bit of a rest on the longer runs.

The twins will only be ten month old, so I have rigged the single bed to act as a double cot for them and Nicole and Tim will be in a tent on the same pitch. Mick and his lot will also be camping using borrowed camping equipment. Tim and I also have our bikes with us.

We have booked Dover Calais and as the twins are so young, they can only be in the car seats for two hours at a time, day one is all in England, with the first night on a site in Kent. This site was a bit remote but very handy for the motorway so excellent for an overnight stop and the site bar sold some very nice beers. This was also the first time Nicole and Tim had put up the tent in anger but all was ok.

Day two