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A life less complicated

Featured / freedombird / 13 Comments

Having completed a large chunk of the British coastline and visited 1467 beaches on the way, ventured into the unknown, crossing the English Channel for the first time and seeing what the coastline of France has to offer and adding a further 459 beaches to our tally, we are off again. This time, as a complete change we are on the pursuit of stunning scenery and again crossing the channel and meandering down the core of Western Europe to see what we can see…

If you would like to see our earlier journeys around the UK, they have loosely been grouped together by location and you can find the links below.

NB some of the links below are not yet working properly as it is a work in progress….

Beach Guides:

To catch up with our earlier adventures in:

  1. North coast of Cornwall from 5th October 2017 to 11th February 2018 –   Freedombird in Cornwall
  2. Back in Cornwall at various times to complete the coastline – Freedombird back in Cornwall
  3. North coast of Devon from 11th February to 19th March 2018 – Freedombird in North Devon
  4. Somerset from 19th March to 29th April 2018 – Freedombird in Somerset
  5. South Wales coast from 29th April to 14th August 2018 – Freedombird in South Wales
  6. West and North Wales coast from 14th August to 21st October 2018 – Freedombird in West and North Wales
  7. North West England from 21st October to 26th November 2018 and 27th January to 4th February 2019 – Freedombird in North West England
  8. Cumbria from 27th January to 5th April 2019 – Freedombird in Cumbria
  9. South Coast of Scotland from 5th April to 25th May 2019 – Freedombird on the South Coast of Scotland
  10. West Coast of Southern Scotland from 26th May to 17th July 2019 – Freedombird on the West Coast of Southern Scotland
  11. Edinburgh and surrounding area from 18th July to 30th July 2019 – Freedombird in Edinburgh and surrounding beaches
  12. East Coast of Southern Scotland from 28th July to 15th September 2019 – Freedombird on the East Coast of Southern Scotland
  13. North East England from 12th September to 20th November 2019 – Freedombird in the North East of England
  14. Yorkshire from 14th January to 22nd February 2020 – Fredombird in Yorkshire
  15. Lincolnshire from 23rd February to 13th March 2020 – Freedombird in Lincolnshire
  16. Norfolk and Suffolk from 15th to 24th March 2020 and 28th June to 18th July 2025 – Freedombird in Norfolk and Suffolk
  17. Inland England on various dates travelling through – Freedombird in inland England
  18. West Coast of Northern Scotland Part 1 from 11th September to 14th October 2024 – Freedombird on the West Coast of Northern Scotland Part 1
  19. North Coast of Scotland and the Orkneys from 15th to 27th October 2024 – Freedombird on the North Coast of Scotland and the Orkneys
  20. East Coast of Northern Scotland Part 1 from 28th October to 15th November 2024 – Freedombird on the East Coast of Northern Scotland Part 1
  21. In the Highlands of Scotland from 15th to 26th November 2024 and 10th to 21st June 2025 – Freedombird in the Highlands
  22. West Coast of Northern Scotland Part 2 from 8th to 17th April and 31st May to 5th June 2025 – Freedombird on the West Coast of Northern Scotland Part 2
  23. Outer Hebrides Part 1 from 22nd April to 12th May 2025 – Freedombird in the Outer Hebrides Part 1
  24. Outer Hebrides Part 2 from 10th May to 30th May 2025 – Freedombird in the Outer Hebrides Part 2
  25. East Coast of Northern Scotland Part 2 from 15th to 18th June 2025 – Freedombird on the East Coast of Northern Scotland Part 2
  26. North and West Coast of France from 11th September to 7th December 2025 – Freedombird on the North and West Coast of France

Thursday 12th March 2026 – Le Shuttle and crossing into France….

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Well today is the day and we are very excited and yes a little apprehensive as we make an early getaway from Canterbury Camping and Caravan Club site at 7.30am to drive the short distance to LeShuttle. It feels a little overwhelming when you arrive at LeShuttle as it seems there are so many lanes and potential ways to get it wrong but in fact it is all quite straightforward and there really is only one way to go!

After checking in at a machine which has already identified who you are by your numberplate and confirming a couple of details, you follow the road around to pet check in which means parking up (for me in the large vehicle section) and wandering in through the main terminal with Duty Free and plenty of eateries – the process was very quick and straightforward and Tilly got a little bag of treats for her bother and then back to van to wait to be called.

Visible from the van is a large check in board which indicates the waiting time for your call, based on the number that you have been allocated. Within 20 minutes we were off on our merry way to the train via British and then French passport control (all done from the van)….

What an amazingly easy way to travel, so much less stressful for Tilly and so fast, just half an hour and we are driving out of the train and onto the road system in France – no further check points just voila and you are there! Driving more or less straight onto a dual carriageway almost means that you don’t have to think about driving on the right as it is obvious.

Our journey from the terminal is quite short and by midday (11am UK time having got on LeShuttle for the 9.45 crossing!) we are arriving at our first stop for the night at the Camping Car Park Bray-Dunes….

After a rewarding cup of tea and to be a fair a little mental clap on the back for yet another new experience ticked off we got wrapped up (there is a fair chilly wind blowing) and walked the few hundred metres to the beach….

On consulting the map, I realised that we are just a short hop from the Belgium border so we decided to walk eastwards to Belgium, well why on earth not? The beach is a lovely long stretch of sand, literally as far as the eye can see – with Dunkirk just visible to the west and possible (time will tell) the whole of Belgium’s short coastline, visible to the east and Tilly as happy as I am to be back on our travels again….

The border istelf took some finding with the only marker I could find being this rather unassuming block…

So here you are France to the west and Belgium to the east….

We continued our walk into Belgium along the beach De Panne to get a closer look at Westerpunt a 6m high architectural structure ‘offering a symbolic connection between the sea, dunes and residents’ and pretty panoramic views as you can walk over the top, towards France and De Panne Beach in Belgium….

We about turned here and battled our way back against the seemingly strengthening westerly breeze – I think you could say a very successful and enjoyable first day.

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 60
  • Miles walked – 6
  • Beaches – 2
  • Countries – 3
  • O/N – £15.51 inc EHU

Friday 6th March 2026 – a trip into Lyme Regis…

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A grey and breezy day as we take a run down into Lyme Regis. A buzzy and pretty little coastal town with a nice long promenade and a fair bit of sand on the main beach at low tides….

We easily found parking (paid) just shy of the seafront and took a breezy walk first down onto The Spittles to the east of town where numerous fossil hunters were scouring the shores….

Under the watchful eye of Lyme Regis’s most famous fossilier – Mary Anning….

Heading back towards the town for followed the shore along Church Cliff Beach and Front Beach…

To the end of the promenade and Monmouth Beach, before heading back along Front Beach to the van and home…

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 13
  • Miles walked – 5
  • Beaches – 4
  • Car Park – £3
  • O/N – £19.45

Thursday 5th March – Bridport….

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After a morning spent on site doing stuff, we headed down into Bridport for the afternoon. Not the best weather, mostly grey and misty but dry and plenty good enough for a nice walk along the beach. Firstly we headed eastwards away from town towards Burton Bradstock, along the high sandstone cliff backed East Bay…..

Plenty of space for Tilly to have a good run around, before heading back towards Bridport’s West Bay resort where the sand turns into large banks of shingle (currently being dredged from the harbour area onto the beach)….

We wandered out along the harbour wall from where we were afforded magnificent views of those sheer East Bay cliffs….

On the other side of the harbour, West Bay beach was not as impressive….

We followed the raised promenade to the end of West Bay where unfortunately access to the long sand and shingle Eype Bay was closed due to recent rock falls from the soaring cliffs….

West Bay had a nice feel about it and was quite busy with no shortage of Fish & Chips, amusements and pubs it was clearly a popular venue for Bikers, many of whom were gathered along the harbour front enjoying the almost sunshine and said fish & chips!

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 23
  • Miles walked – 4.5
  • Beaches – 3
  • C/P – £3
  • O/N – £19.45

Wednesday 4th March 2026 – Crossing over Dartmoor….

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After a lovely few months back in Cornwall, spending time with friends and family and what has been a long, wet and stormy winter, we are glad to be back in our ‘Happy Place’ and back on the road again. We left home on Monday 2nd and are slowly making our way across to Folkstone to catch Le Shuttle on Thursday 12th. In between preparing and settling back into the van and completing various admin tasks we are hoping to bob in and out of the coast and notch up a few more beaches before heading to Europe.

Todays drive took us over Dartmoor as we made our way from Tavistock to Charmouth, pulling over in the hazy sunshine to take a walk across a section of the moor – we were not alone….

Albeit somewhat shrouded in mist the views were still pretty spectacular – in the distance Bullseye Stone…

Heading 5 minutes further onto the moors and we were suddenly completely immersed in the low mists with visibility shrinking to 50m or less….

Needless to say it was a slowish journey to Charmouth and even though the mist had opened up once we left the moors, we decided against popping down into Exmouth and will save that delight for another day.

The journey so far stats:

  • Miles driven – 158 (inc 74 today)
  • Fuel – £88.33
  • Groceries – £84.75
  • O/N – £32.26 (2 nights)