Day 1

        I got up easily at 04:20 and was waiting in glorious sunshine for Cammy at 5am we set of around 05:15 and the sat nav said it was 8hrs 15 to the chunnel at folkestone , Mr sat nav was not far out we arrived at the channel well early for pre-booked 15:40 train slot as it was 13:05 when we arrived !and that's with 3 quick stops a harry rams dens breakfast bap at abbington and a toilet stop at sherwood forest, then fuel at London the service stations along main motorways know how to rob travellers ! i filled the car with fuel at tesco falkirk where it was £1.01 per litre the service station at London was £1.25 and £2.50 for a bag of wine gums compared to £1 at tesco , all was well though we got on the chunnel train 2 hours earlier than expected for a £4 fee , the passport checking like asked if we were heading to the footy i had to tell him Scotland weren't at the euros this time !it was me and cammys second time through the chunnel but the last time when he was 12 we were train passengers  heading to paris from London this time we were sitting in our car stuck in a closed carriage trying to get a snooze   , it is a quick and easy way to get to France .

             As we were early we decided to stop of at a war memorial around Ypres and i told mammy about the fact his great grandfather got blown clean of his horse there and was lucky to survive at only 15yrs old he signed up.and my granddad didn't like to talk about what he had seen on those fields we were driving through , that whole area between Calais and brussels has seen some of the biggest war battles anywhere . we were driving past flanders ypres the somme Dunkirk  , there is a huge archway in the town of Ypres called menin gate dedicated to the fallen and a big war grave site that  we visited on our way to brussels

         Driving into brussels from France was interesting we basically took a right turn into a tunnel below the ancient basilica  and drove what felt like half the city in these labyrinth style tunnel roads before we arrived at our city centre hotel in brussels at 7pm, it was a short ride out on the metro to the bar area and first pub we have came across is brew dog Brussels 😊 braw a pint in here then Cammy ! €15.60 for two pints !! Here's hoping the rest of the bars are cheaper