Monty Carlo: Day One..and Two

On Friday morning, when the bells rang out for the start of those Athletic Games, I was loaded and ready to go to Dover. That was it, really. Started out at 0815, drove down the A1, M11 and M25 to the Dartford Crossing.

Dartford Bridge in Traffic

The bridge took 15 minutes to cross but after that, all of the traffic was coming the other way. (I took a couple of photo shots of Smogdon from the top of the Crossing, but didn't see the eye or much else due to the weather).

Smogdon from Dartford Bridge 1

Smogdon from Dartford Bridge 2

Why ANYONE wants to battle into and out of London in that is beyond me!!!!!
Sat under my carport, comfy, breathing FRESH Yorkshire air is better than anything London can churn out.

So on to Dover, well almost. Drove into the Eurotunnel slip road thinking you get to a roundabout and get back on Motorway. . . NOT. . . Then a few miles later, saw a sign for the Battle of Britain Memorial so just had to call by, take a few moments of thought, and a couple of photographs.

Centre Section of the Battle of Britain memorial tablet

Waiting for them to return...

Monty with a Spitfire in background

Monty beside the 1940 memorial

Managed to reach Dover by mid-afternoon and an early night before catching the 0420 ferry to Calais..

Bed

I'm booked on a P&O one.....

Calais has loads of onwards choices depending on where you are heading. Leaving Calais at 0700, for me it was Rouen, Took a wrong turning and headed back to Paris (Versailles) and then the A10 to E10 and on to first stop Bourges. My tyres were pretty hot, kept a super pace for most of the route but a couple of jams were inevitable. Only traffic - no accidents. Arrived in Bourges around 1500.
AA Route Calais to Bourges 335 miles. Monty (with detour) 354 miles.