First beach walk in France: With mask (mandatory) on the promenade 😷

Last Thursday, our ferry departed from Sweden/Trelleborg to Germany/Travemünde, where we arrived on Friday around 0.30 am. One week later, we are now (again) in northern France!

The ferry was the worst we have ever had and so the 8-hour crossing was not the greatest (compared to the ferries to Sardinia, which we have often used, it was pure luxury ;o)! The ferry was extremely small. It was used 90% by trucks and their drivers slept in the small cabins (with bunk beds). There was also a canteen (without windows) and a small lounge. Unfortunately, we were not able to book a cabin for Triene anymore, so we spent the 8 hours in a seating area. It was also hardly possible to move around, as there was only a small outside deck (without seating) and the few corridors were so narrow that we did not want to walk along them too often because of Corona and the safety distance.

However, the real shock came at the end. The crew wanted to squeeze another truck onto the ferry and it is a mystery to us how they managed to get it past our motorhome. In any case, there was only enough space for a hand between the truck and our car. We had to get in through the driver's door. Thomas took precautionary photos, including the license plate of the truck, which the driver did not appreciate. But if there had been any damage to our motorhome...

When the loading hatch was then lowered, we were supposed to drive down first, as we had to drive in reverse onto the ferry and could drive out forward, and the truck could drive past us forward. What a horror. I looked out of the side window for Thomas, which was hardly possible because the truck was right there (apart from the fact that it was quite dark)!!! However, I could see that we would not have been able to get past the truck with the trailer and maneuvering was not possible due to the narrowness. So the truck had to reverse out first. This certainly took almost 10 minutes with the help of the ferry crew and during that time we held our breath!!! BUT, it is really fascinating what truck drivers are capable of!!! He made it and our motorhome survived without a scratch (and we thought the Italians were chaotic on the ferry ;o). After that, we were awake enough to drive about 80 km to my mother's place, where we could park on the farm of her landlord again.

There we spent some time/days with our families and made some purchases, among other things.

This Tuesday, we finally headed south in the afternoon (a great time to drive through the Elbe tunnel ;o). We spent the night in Germany, just before the Dutch border.

On Wednesday, we sprinted through the Netherlands and then through Belgium (attention wordplay ;o)

Recently, in Belgium, you have to register online 48 hours in advance (failure to comply is punishable with a fine of 250 euros!). And since we heard about it too late and didn't really want to fill out the form (it asked for a lot of information), we took the route with the shortest distance through Belgium and drove non-stop to get out of there as quickly as possible and to be able to prove to the police, if necessary, that we were only passing through the country as a transit on the fastest route without any stops.

On the last kilometers, before Bruges, the heavy rain came, which continued, so France greeted us with continuous rain.

On the next morning, it was changeable at first and then it became nice during the day.

We are currently zigzagging along the coast, stood in Audresselles yesterday and in Quend Plage today. Both parking spaces are not so ideal or beautiful, so we didn't stay for very long. It is still high season and the summer holidays in France last until August 31, 2020, so it is still very crowded and due to our length, including the trailer, we cannot use every parking space.

So we hope that it will gradually become more relaxed from August 31, 2020.

Oh yes, and now to the headline! France is the first country we are visiting where there is a mask requirement, just like in Germany. BUT, not only in enclosed spaces like ours, but also in towns (at least in the ones we have been to so far). So you are allowed to take off the mask at the beach, but it must be worn on the promenade or in the towns and alleyways! There are signs everywhere and the police are checking. It is really not pleasant when it's hot, you're sweating, and your sunglasses fog up (then you only need sunscreen on your forehead ;o). For us, another reason to avoid places/cities. In terms of big cities, we have already avoided them, otherwise we would have liked to go to Stockholm, Gothenburg or Copenhagen, for example. But the last thing we need is a corona infection in the motorhome and keeping a distance is difficult in the city centers (in June, for example, we were in Ghent and Bruges, where it was very bad and crowded)...

As always, greetings to all of you, we'll be in touch soon!

P.S.: If you have any tips or recommendations for France and the Atlantic coast, please write them to us. We would be very happy about that. Just like comments in general 😁