Things were going so well early evening as we set off in our magnificent big motor...
However, I got to drive the luxury life for just about 10 miles out of Maidstone Services on the M20, when the car started ticking ominously, like a pneumatic drill. Pulling over onto the hard shoulder steam was coming from under the bonnet and there was a nasty smell. This looked rather terminal...
The nice chap from the RAC came along, looked at our smoky smelly engine and confirmed the worst: it was terminal - the head gasket had blown big time. He hooked us up to the back of his van and towed us to the next exit (poor Sarah trying to steer about a ton of car without any power steering!), left us in a Burger King car park and arranged for a tow truck to take us back to Brighton...
It looks a rather sorry sight on the back of a low loader...
Once loaded up, we headed off back to Brighton, which at no more than 56 miles an hour in a tow truck, seemed to take an eternity! At least the view was nice...
Back in Brighton we had 3 options: (a) No trip, (b) Use my little Fiesta, or (c) Use Sarah's really little Fiat 500. We decided (a) was not an option whatsoever and (c) would have been way too uncomfortable. Therefore, we now present The Big Trip In The Little Car (shown here the following day parked in a French service area)!
Of course the extra return trip and car change meant we missed our ferry. However, Sarah managed to get us a spot on the 2.20am P&O ferry over to Calais instead of Dunkirk. I had to chuckle at the name of the ferry, given I was in said city just the previous weekend!
At least going to Calais meant we were nearer our hotel for the first night, which was in Calais anyway. Having finally got there at gone 4 in the morning, we went straight to bed!
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