Europe 2008 Part 15

M25

Next morning we set out along the motorway towards London. After a few minutes we realised we were going in the wrong direction.

It took us some time to come to the next off-ramp, find our way across to the other side and head off again, this time travelling north.

It did not take long to reach the junction with the M25, which is the motorway which runs right around the outside of London.

We were heading for Bishop's Stortford, which is on the Cambridge side of the London metropolis, and the nearest town to Stansted Airport, where we planned to drop our car and catch a plane to the south of France.

This meant we had to circle around London and eventually leave to the north-east. We reached our destination in the afternoon.

Bishop's Stortford is not a large city, but it took us a while to work out the system of ring roads and roundabouts which encircle it.

We found the home of our hosts, Debbie and Geoff Raines, and thankfully forgot navigation problems for a while. Debbie's father is a friend in New Plymouth; they have two children, who at that time were both at school. They also had two dogs, one of which was causing trouble, and had to be restrained by a gate at the foot of the stairs from charging up and enjoying our company all the time.

Debbie and Geoff showed us around their home town, including the ruins of a castle in the centre.

 

Next morning we dropped the car at the airport and caught a Ryanair flight to Marignane Airport in Provence, the airport for Marseilles. From there we caught the bus to Aix-en-Provence, where we had booked in to the local YHA hostel.

 

Aix-en-Provence is a very historic city. It was for centuries the capital of the County of Provence, and has a large precinct in the centre which is still mainly sixteenth or seventeenth century buildings and streets. There is also a large modern area; we got lost trying to find the hostel, but eventually found our way home!