Driving 600 miles to the South of France in my car…
good morning everybody it’s currently 6:00 a.m. and I am on the way down to Portsmouth because I am driving 600 miles all the way down to the south of France where my dad lives going to spend four weeks with him he’s got some Renovations and he doing on the house he decided to retire and buy some land in a house out there so going down there to spend some time with him and my stepmom and helping with some electrical work and other bits around the house I’m hoping to get quite a bit of Surfing done while I’m down there because I’ve always enjoyed doing it I’ve been doing it for about nine eight nine years but only sort of one or two sessions a year so I’m not really every time I every time I surf I’m sort of starting from scratch cuz I’ve forgotten everything I’ve learned so I’m hoping to use these four weeks to get quite a bit of surfing in and hopefully Advance beyond the beginner level I’m also hoping to get a board while I’m down there but I’m going to have to have a few sessions first to figure out which board is best suited to me but we’ll talk more about that when I get down there for now I’ve got 600 miles ahead of me so wish me luck the the RO the [Music] lights my time is when dark Falls the end of the road the lights FL I’m looking for someone to raise the bar looking for some looking for someone yeah looking for someone looking for someone not long to go now guys got about 20 mil left to go to get to Portsmouth days is not to get not to get to my destination in France I wish now 20 mil left to Portsmouth it’s currently 6° nice and warm in the car though I’ll reconvene with you when I am at the ferry terminal see you [Music] soon so I’ve just had an absolute bloody mare I dropped my keys at some point during the security check going through the terminal and I couldn’t find them spent ages trying to look for them and they were somewhere in the boot obviously they wanted to check my tools and stuff in the boot because I had a knife in there a Stanley knife ridiculous but so yeah dropped my keys couldn’t find them so I ended up being the last one on the boat so stressful anyway we’re moving now let’s have a look wave goodbye to Portsmouth kind of military boat over there it’s a bit old and decrepit though anyway I need to go and find my seat so let’s go see if we can find it let’s go higher up so this look some sort of Cafe there’s lots of Lounge areas I don’t know where you find your reserved seat though I’ve got a reserve seat which cost about 8 quid I think to [Music] reserve I already forgot my number it’s not this way it’s got to be another way this Blood maze this they’ve got a cinema here and they’re showing Ghostbusters and Willy Wonka I think I found my seat here we go I didn’t record much down there because it was quite quiet in there and there’s a lot of uh let’s say pensioners trying to rest in there I don’t want to disturb anyone but I found my seat oh look at this a proper deck I don’t even know if I’m supposed to be here like I just walked up the stairs and out a door and then I found this place really want to be on the other side so I can see Portsmouth but that’s the a of white over there I think that’s cows over there don’t if you can see that on this because it’s very zoomed out there you see that I don’t know that’s that’s cows anyway the out of white you can see dolphins and Wales that would be awesome I don’t they got the zoom on here to see them there’s your onboard entertainment bit of table tennis before I decided to explore the ship further I paid a visit to to the L and I have to say the toilets were very clean after that I went to the canteen and I snacked on a banana and tried to uh catch up on a bit of uh French because I can’t speak French at all so got to make some effort then I visited the canteen or Cafe that they have there and got myself a couple of sandwiches one for the road and one to eat on the ferry and some um lemon sponge cake and two bottles of water all this came to about €6 [Music] after I’d explored the ship a bit more I went back to my reclining seat and tried to get a bit of shut ey as I was shattered and I have to say the seats were fairly comfortable for such a cheap price [Music] [Music] before I knew it we were arriving in Normandy and my 6 hours at Sea was coming to an [Music] end well shortly be arriving in werham in Normandy which is where we’ll actually uh be catching a furry back from in about 4 weeks [Music] so despite feeling shattered after only getting 5 hours sleep I’ve got to stay focused because I am going to have to drive on the other side of the road now last time I drove in France I took a I took the wrong turn at a weird Junction and ended up on the other side of the road the worst thing of all was my dad was in the car behind so he saw everything never hear the end of it but luckily it was in a rural area so there wasn’t too much traffic so it wasn’t too bad I’m just queuing up to go through customs now I believe the majority of the drive should be on the motorway so I’m not too worried speaking of which I’ve made this little Contraption for the page machines those of you from the UK have driven to France before you know the struggles of having to lean across the passenger seat to try and reach out the window to to hit the contactless on the on the toll booth it’s an absolute nightmare so I’ve just Tak my bank card to a selfie stick so I can push it out the window I don’t have to lean across let’s hope it works don’t know how aable it’s going to be we’ll see well we did it here we are in France driving on the other side of the road wish me luck [Music] right I feel comfortable talking now because I’m uh staying on this road for 75 km I’m absolutely shattered um I took a wrong turning um coming off the main road about about 5 miles back 5 km back um I haven’t gone the wrong way around around about yet so I’m all good uh I just had to do a loop come off the motorway go back on it or come off one Motorway go back on another one to get on the right track again only cost me 3 minutes so it’s tell it’s saying my arrival time is about 8:00 in the evening uh so I’m just hoping that uh dinner is still on at 8 um I didn’t think about the fact that I would be hitting Rush Hour which is a bit annoying but there you go so tonight I’m staying in larell which is on the west coast about halfway down the country I didn’t fancy doing the full 8 n hour drive all the way down to towards bit beitz because well I’ve been up since 5 and that would mean I’d be up till about well gone midnight so it’s just not it’s just not safe to to drive that far when you’re that tired especially on roads you don’t know driving on the other side of the road so I just thought it’d be best to split the trip up stay in larell and yeah just make it a little bit less stressful so I’ve got a 5H hour drive ahead of me I’m probably going to make a pit stop about halfway to have another sandwich I bought two on the fair ate one there and packed one with me so I’ll have another another little stop somewhere along the way have another sandwich keep me going till dinner then in the morning I’ll finish the rest of the journey on on down towards beit yeah I’m not going to talk for too long because I’m got to concentrate on driving trouble is talking does actually keep me focused because when you’re driving on a Motorway for 70 mies gets a bit boring that’s when you start to lose focus I’m not driving very fast I’m just sticking in the slow lane for now while I’m chatting it’s just safer anyway I will catch up with you again when I decide to stop and have a snack [Music] okay guys we’re just coming up to the first page so this is where we find out if my little Contraption Works let’s go in this one I have no idea if this going to work or not cuz it’s not really the right angle but let’s see let’s get a bit closer just waiting for this person in front right let’s see how this goes oh my god it worked that’s amazing that makes life so much easier I’m a goddamn genius okay onwards a little longer than a few minutes later for those of you who don’t know what a page looks like here we go I think uh do I need a ticket what is this hold on is this one I have I’m going to have to get a ticket I might have to actually get out here oh okay well that didn’t go as planned I actually had to get out because hold on I actually had to get out because it only gave you a paper ticket so I guess I have to take this to the next bit and then pay I don’t know find out in a bit I was given this little piece of paper I’m going to have to have a look at that in a minute and see what it’s all about I’m staying on this road now for for 70 km so I’ve gone from one to up to another a11 oh no I’m going up to off onto the A1 and 70 km I’m on the a28 whatever that means means nothing to me I’ve got a million squashed bugs on my wind screen now which is really annoying so apologies for the for the look of that when the camera’s facing the other way there’s a massive Cathedral over there pretty awesome let me just get settled here and I’ll put the uh put the cruise control back on and I’ll try and figure out what this flipping piece of paper means yeah I have no idea what this thing is I’m assuming I’ve got to put it into another machine when I get to the end of or when I come off this road and then it will charge me whatever sun’s out woo hopefully that’s a sign of things to come it’s about to go back in again though and it’s gone I that lasted long at least we got a bit of sun 5 Seconds worth so we’re just going past L man or Lon sorry just going past L more uh which is where they have all the uh Motorsport racing I think it was last weekend actually so I’ve got to come off here and then there’s probably going to be a page to find out what this piece of paper’s for maybe maybe not that’s Lon there can see the city over there okay I was mistaken I thought there was going to be a page but it would appear not I’m just going straight on to the a11 and this is a three lane so this is a problem okay this looks like a regular pay but I think I’m going to have to put the ticket in so that’s a bit annoying I’m not sure let’s see if it lets me just pay let’s see okay well that sort of worked I was able to uh I had to get out and put the ticket in and then I to get out and put the ticket in and then I was able to use my little Contraption after I got back in the car so it sort of worked but that’s the ticket paid for anyway at least I don’t even know how much it charged me it worked that’s the main thing now I think there’s a p there’s a an what they call an air which is like a services in about 12 km so I might stop there so yeah I’ll see you then [Music] [Music] hope you can see me all right I’ve just stopped some place called perier something like that I’ve got about 121 K left to go so I’m just having a bite to eat cuz I’m starving h it’s a bit chilly now as well look like it’s going to rain I’m getting really annoyed with these bloody bugs keep splattering all over the windscreen then drying up instantly and I can’t get rid of it with the windscreen wipers it’s got bugs spattered everywhere mind I just went inside there’s a little um Cafe in there and a shop and obviously there’s fuel but to be fair I’ve done I’ve got yeah yeah like I said 120 km left until I get to lell and I’ve still got half a tank left of fuel so it’s pretty good and that’s with a heavy load in the car so it’s pretty fuel efficient I got the got the car what a month ago now the weekend of my birthday the weekend after I think it was got myself a new car scy Octavia i’ say new it’s 10 years old but it’s only done 40,000 Mi well 50 now it when I bought it it done 47,000 now it’s done 51,000 so I put quite a few miles on it already but I needed a bigger car it’s a 2 L you know I was planning to do a lot of driving around Europe so that’s why I got it and uh so far touch a word it hasn’t failed me so probably should have said that but I’m sure it’ll be fine right I’m going to enjoy my sandwich I’ll talk to you later right I’m about to start on my journey again um just had to do a bit of stretching cuz I’ve been satting in the car for too long not moving so um I’ve got another one of these so that’s going to be fun when I get to that toour um I’ve just I just got a call from the hotel asking what time I’m arriving what time I want my dinner reservation booked um I don’t speak any french I mean I know a few words here and there but I can’t form sentences uh and the guy that called me could barely speak English either so that was an interesting com ation but we got to the point where I booked I told him I was arriving at 8: and I booked a table for half 8 at the restaurant um so I need to get moving because my ETA is already 25 8 so uh I’m already going to be 25 minutes later than I would have hoped so I’ve got to get a shake on uh there was something else I wanted to say but I’ve completely forgotten what it was so I will just see you when I’m back I guess I need to put some different music on because I’ve had the same music on going in a loop for like 4 hours okay see you soon a [Music] I’ve got a thing on the end of there I can just yeah we see [Music] so I’m finally at the hotel in ild and um I got here about what was the time about an hour ago and it was too late for dinner really but I ate at 6:30 at that stop so I’m not hungry yet anyway so I decided to skip dinner um but it’s a really nice evening I’ve just been out to get get my laptop from the car and it’s still light out there it’s the sun’s going down but it’s really nice evening it’s quite warm you can hear the waves on the beach literally just walk across the road there and the beach is there I’ll show you that in the morning it’s beautiful but yeah it’s been a long day 14 14 and 1 half hourss I’ve been traveling so I’m shattered but it was interesting and actually pretty comfortable in that car so I’m very happy made it a lot easier I would never have been able to that I would never have been able to do that journey in my little um video W Polo I’m struggling for words now cuz I’m so tired so ilder Ray is just it’s it’s a big island to the west of lar roell and I had to cross this massive Bridge uh to get here which is pretty epic it was a toll bridge though so it cost me 8 to get across but as soon as I got over to the island though it was just sandy beaches and I was like I just I can imagine this place is rammed in summer in in the holiday season but at the moment it’s empty so it’s lovely it’s a shame I’m only here for one night but I must push on so I’ll have to leave in the sometime in the morning got breakf breakfast is between 7:30 and 10:30 so I’ve got a little bit of time and I think the journey only takes about 4 hours so I’m thinking if I don’t have to stop for a pee I might try and do in one but we’ll see but hopefully I can come back here to larelle and ilder in the future and spend a bit more time here cuz I think it’d be pretty chill place to hang out and have a little holiday so hopefully going forward that’s what we can do anyway I need to get an early night so I can get up early and prep and make some videos and things so I will bid you bons and see you in the morning a a really nice Sparkle I was about to focus but you on your way to remember like a
Driving 600 miles to the South of France in my car – Part 1
Join me on this exciting journey as I drive 600 miles to the South of France in my car. In this video I cross the channel and drive all the way down to La-Rochelle for a pit stop. This is my first time driving such a long distance in Europe and it was a great experience!
What’s the farthest you’ve ever driven?
Please click this link for part 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg2PcZbv6tA
Music courtesy of Epidemic sound:
1 – ES_Looking for Someone – Giants’ Nest
2 – ES_JETLAG – BLUE STEEL
3 – ES_Let Us Go Back – Tomas Skyldeberg
4 – ES_Riding High – John Runefelt
5 – ES_Seja Gentil – Molife
6 – ES_Voyage – PW
7 – ES_Takes Two to Tango – Ryan James Carr
8 – ES_Mayflies in the Fading Sun – Velvethead
To try epidemic sound, follow this link! – https://share.epidemicsound.com/ujfe40
My gear:
📷 DJI OSMO Pocket 3
🎙️ DJI Mic 2
Tripod – SIRUI Compact Traveler 5CX Tripod
💡 Vevelux Softbox Lighting Kit LED
🎬 Edited in Abobe Premier Pro
If you enjoyed this video and would like to see more, please feel free to subscribe to my channel by clicking the following link:
/ @jaymacray
And remember – Life is an adventure, so go and live it!