20th August 2018 - Twyford

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Kms today = 557
Kms to date = 9,505

Eva prepared a great breakfast for us and Pierre reckoned we shouldn't leave for Dunkirk until after 9am. He was going to show us a good way out of Liege so after breakfast we loaded up the bikes and followed Pierre until we got to the N90 where he flagged us on. Pierre and Eva were absolutely charming hosts as nothing was too much trouble. We followed the N90 towards Namur. Unfortunately we must have taken a wrong turn as we lost the N90 and found ourselves on the wrong road. Luckily Mabel came to the rescue and got us back on track even though it wasn't on the exact route we had planned. We arrived in Dunkirk about 1.30pm and decided to go to the 1940 Dunkirk Evacuation museum.
Outside the 1940 Evacuation museum.
What we didn't realise was that it was 18kms from the ferry terminal. We had a hasty look at the museum which was very interesting before we had to jump on the bikes and head for the ferry. This time Mabel really got her knickers in a twist. There were all kinds of roads that she didn't know about and at one stage we went round in a circle ending up back where we started. Luckily as we went through one of the many round-a-bouts we noticed a sign  pointing to the "Car Ferry" so we followed it round the houses until we eventually arrived at the terminal. Getting past the French customs was straight forward but there was a long queue at the British passport control and the weather was quite warm so we got all hot and sweaty while we waited. They asked me if I had a British passport and I told them I had but that it had expired and I was travelling on my Australian one. Somehow they thought this was strange but they let me through anyway. Must be getting ready for Brexit!! After the passport check we had to wait a fair while before we were allowed to board. They put is on the starboard aft side of the boat in a narrow space beside some huge trucks. The journey to Dover was only two hours thank goodness. The ferry was a mess with the men's toilets blocked and the food like dried cardboard. The UK is one hour behind Europe so we left Dunkirk at 4pm and arrived in Dover at 5pm.
The white cliffs of Dover!
We disembarked pretty quickly and headed to Twyford via the M20, M25 and M4. It was 120 miles and it took us two hours. We had a clear run all the way making really good time. Unfortunately I had told Sheila that we would be there at 6pm when I should have said 7pm. I must have been confused by the time difference. Sheila and Margaret were wondering where we had got to when we arrived at 7.15pm.
The Hoons are back.
Margaret started cooking the dinner as soon as we arrived and Colin went out for beer and wine so we had a convivial dinner together. Many tall tales and true were told before we hit the sack.

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