A tunnel and a horse

So we have now left France behind us as we end our third week on the road. In actual fact we ended it not in the motorhome but in the home of our good friends Karen and Michael Moffat who now live in Banbury. We met them a long time ago in Bahrain and have remained close friends ever since. More about our Banbury adventure in due course.

We left France via the Channel Tunnel. This is our second crossing using this route but the first time with the motorhome. I really recommend it. It is fast and easy. I was a little uneasy about driving the motorhome onto the train because it goes inside the carriage but we were behind two buses so I thought, if that guy can get his big bus in there, I can get my comparatively tiny motorhome on safely. I am delighted to report a straightforward boarding. 

Approaching the train
We're going inside
Inside the train, you drive through all the carriages to the front

Getting off was fairly easy too (for me) because I was lucky to get the benefit of the bus driver's mistake. When driving off you have to turn to the right and onto the platform but when driving a long vehicle when you turn sharply right your back end, well not YOUR backend luckily, but the back end of your vehicle moves out to the left. The bus in front turned a smigeon too sharply and the back left of his bus clipped the wall of the train. It was just a skiff so luckily not much damage. It is possible the driver did not even feel it so somewhere down the line he'll see the damage on the bus and wonder how it happened. Anyway armed with that knowledge I made sure that I had travelled sufficiently far forward before executing a beautifully smooth and well judged (and smug) manoeuvre onto the waiting platform. We were in England. I suppose technically we were in England after we passed through the border control on the other side but I don't really count that.

We were heading to Banbury. Ride a cock horse (whatever a cock horse is, any ideas?) to Banbury Cross, to see a fine lady upon a white horse. Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes, she shall have music wherever she goes. Now my information is that the fine lady should actually be a Feinnes lady because that was her name Lady Feinnes but it is a long time ago and there's nobody around now who can be sure. There is a statue of her beside the cross and the rhyme printed around the plinth thing at the bottom. 

Banbury Cross
A fine (Feinnes) Lady
After a couple of lovely days in great company it was back into the motorhome and heading northwards again towards our next great adventure.
David, Sheila & MJ


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