After a cold snowy weekend, there were lots of Met office warnings about travelling,however, I set off to Pease Pottage services to meet the others, then onward for a cold ride down to the Channel Tunnel. We got there at 10:43 to find the trains suspended. We could either wait or be re-booked onto the ferry. It would have been a choppy crossing so we decided to wait for the train.
After a couple of hours we were allowed to board, and eventually we set off THE WRONG WAY!!! I had a look at my GPS and we were heading up towards Ashford, going backwards, and somehow did a loop and then headed back to the tunnel still going backwards. After a slow trip through the tunnel we arrived in France at about half three. The first place we were planning to visit closed at 5 p.m., so we didn't really have enough time to visit, so we went to find our hotel instead. After booking in, we decided to find a cafe until the hotel restaurant opened
so we had coffee's and bolognaise flavour crisps (we know how to live in style), then it was back to the hotel for an evening meal and a few pints
Hotel Car Park
Next day it was off to La Coupole which was about half an hour away. It is a huge concrete dome with a massive tunnel complex underneath where V2 rockets were assembled and launched
Next we went up in a lift to the dome where they had some rockets on display
V2 Rocket Motor
Next we got back on the bikes and headed to the Blockhaus d;Eperlecques about 45 minutes away, the Blockhaus is huge, with obvious damage from a Tall Boy bomb
And it was even more impressive inside...
Tall Boy bomb
Liquid oxygen pump
Halftrack outside the blockhaus
V1 on launch ramp
After a good look round we then had to make our way back to the tunnel and home. This trip was far better than I was expecting, the Cupole and Blockhaus far more impressive and the company great as usual.
Charlie
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