Hiya,
So for this summer's vacation. I'm putting the family in the car and driving to Spain to see some friends in various places, do a bit of business of course and also do some shopping, relaxing, swimming in the sea (not a good proposition in the UK!) and basically have a nice work/life mix going on in warmer climes...
We started by staying a night in Kent, so that we could get to the Channel Tunnel easier on the morning of departure. I opted to stay at a hotel in Royal Tunbridge Wells. The reason for this is that although its a basically priced Travelodge, what they have done is bought a Victorian era grand-hotel, The Wellington, and converted it for their use. So this means for a very small cost, you get a next-level-up degree of luxury as these photos demonstrate (apologies for the blurriness - very cheap camera on my phone):
Our room - massively bigger than the usual Travelodge rooms
View from our room - somewhat nicer than the usual view of a car-park/motorway...
The window on the grand staircase showing the hotel's origins
Next morning, it was through the Channel Tunnel to France and then a 450 mile blast to Clermont Ferrand for our overnight stop. The view from this window was perhaps less inspiring, being of the local cemetary, but hey, variety is the spice right?
I see dead people....
Luckily, the route to Spain that I had chosen allowed us to pass over the Millau Viaduct on the way. Here's a shot of our approach to it:
Once that was negotiated, it was a quick few hundred miles blast to our next destination, Salou in Catalunya/Spain which is where I'll pick things up in Part 2...
(Oh and dont worry all you retro fans, I'll still be posting videos of retro-gaming-goodness while I'm away... Yay! ;) )
Cheers,
Cass