So…. after uncertainty hung over family adamson's get away this year we finally booked a ferry, and managed to find a couple of campsites that weren't full… more difficult than you think!

We set off…. and broke down! We weren't even a mile from home! Freckle had had hiccups on our return from Cornwall a few weeks ago so our lovely mechanic kindly took her for a spin and had a fiddle with her insides…. but as we pulled away from our house the black smoke bellowing was a sign of impending doom!

When we couldn't get in touch with camper fixer Matt, we called the super Spencer family for advice…. after following a suggestion of wiggling some cables we were in the carpark on the phone to the RAC when family spencer arrived. In no time Spenny got on the floor under the van, whilst katie and I had a supportive glass of cider!…. the Spencer's then took the children out for tea, whilst camper Matt, who had also arrived (along with my dad to join the party) and fixed a leaking pipe with some cable ties and gaffa tape. A few minutes later then a lovely RAC man rocked up to the party and fixed something else. Something about air and pipes – I think I've concluded that air in freckle pipes = bad…. fuel in pipes is what we want!!

We loaded the bikes back up, tried to steal the spencer children and then made our way down the road, hopeful that we might meet again with slightly warm wine out of a box by a sausage BBQ somewhere in France next week!

How marvellous that we had so many friends sending us messages and rocking up to see us and make sure we got on our way….

We boarded the boat and whilst we waited for our cabin to be ready we had to make a last minute alteration of our route as one of the campsites cancelled our booking.

Once the children slithered into their bunks Stew and I had a very short corridor party (just one gin and tonic) because…. well…. it's what we do, before getting a few hours sleep, and starting the Freckle Adventure 2017 proper very early the next morning!