We got up early and left Hove around 8.10am as we had to get to Dover by 11am fit the 12 midday ferry to Dunkirk. We said goodbye to Rob and Kate – and Lisa and Sean who we will see later in Slovenia.

We had a good drive and the queue to get through French customs on arrival at the port was not too bad. We were in the queue for the boat by 10.50am while they were still unloading the arrivals. We made our sandwiches and soon we were loaded on.

We could see the white cliffs once we were in the lounge.

It was a very quick crossing – just over 2 hours and soon we were driving through the Belgian countryside heading for Ypres.

We arrived at the Hooge Crater aire just outside Ypres which is handy for lots of WW1 sites. In fact the Hooge Crater museum owns the aire so is next door. Also the Hooge Crater Cemetery is across the road. It’s the 4th largest military cemetery in Europe. I checked it out.

It’s very nicely done with lots of lavender and roses.

While I was doing that Glenn checked out a noise coming from a wheel. We need to get brake pads done. I had asked for a full service but apparently it didn’t include breaks. So we will get that done before we move on. Anyway lots to do here!