The wheels have come off the bus…

Well not literally..but the camper van is sadly not well.

We left our campsite on Friday to travel south and after 30km the van’s engine suddenly decided to die on us.

Fortunately, we were able to safely stop as the engine lost all power and the steering went.

In France most things come to a stop for the weekend so 4pm on a Friday was not ideal but we prayed (the SOS we need help Father God prayer) and the breakdown truck came to rescue us within the hour.

We were loaded onto the recovery truck and taken to a small village. The garage was shutting but told us that the van would not be collected from them until Monday and then take to a different garage for inspection and repair. We have limited French but managed to understand.

Ok so it’s now late Friday afternoon and we are in a small village with no accommodation or transport but…as good fortune would have it directly opposite us was an Auberge and we were able to get a meal.

The Auberge had no room at the inn (couldn’t resist that pun) but after enquiring about a taxi, the owner tells us that his son owns the village taxi and he can borrow it and take us to a nearby hotel for the night (plus the dog!). Thank you Lord.

We arrive at the hotel and the heavens open and there is the most incredible thunderstorm with forked lightning! At this stage I’m so grateful that we were able to get a bed for the night as sleeping in the van on the road in the storm would not have been a great experience.

It hits home and I realised how blessed we are to be part of a community that is willing to help us. Others are not so fortunate.

In this area of France, we have seen groups of migrants and refugees walking towards Calais and the nearby beaches looking to cross the English Channel illegally at night under cover of darkness in rubber dinghies. Their possessions in carrier bags..family groups and groups of men. It’s a sobering sight.

The coastguards and police are on constant lookout here and at night you can hear the helicopters scanning the coast to spot where the dinghies will leave. The sand dunes which dot this area are the nightly hiding places.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of their situations you cannot help but feel sorry for their plight. It must be very distressing to know that no-one wants them here or over the channel either.

Our current situation pales in comparison to theirs and we count our blessings for a bed and a warm meal for the night.

Our adventure continues in the morning (which happens to be my birthday) and so more of our French adventures to come as we get into difficulties with finding a car hire!!