title An Olympic Road Trip from Diss to Marseille, France - 3rd August 2024 intro It's almost a school reunion as Nosher, Sean, Hamish - plus Rowan - head off on a road trip to Marseille to catch some of the Olympic sailing, as Sean's girlfriend Hannah is racing as part of Team GB in the ILCA 6 class. Hamish and the rest are driving up from New Milton, which means getting the train from Diss to Ashford where we meet up and continue in Hamish's van via Le Shuttle across the English Channel followed by another 600 miles or so on the road. As it's quite a long way, we stop off on the way down at Guignicourt, near Reims, for a night in a campsite, and as the accomodation isn't ready for another day, we stop again in Chateaurenard near Avignon for another night under canvas, catching the racing as we go. Finally, we get to the villa which Sean booked back in February. It's very impressive, although it's also at the top of a steep hill, which in the very hot weather is more than hard work. imgp4638 A wide tunnel at Stratford Station imgp4639 The concrete bowels of Stratford International imgp4646 A Class 395 Hitachi Javelin rolls into the station imgp4649 There's a stack of escalator steps at Ebbsfleet imgp4651 We reach the LeShuttle terminal imgp4653 Rowan plays the piano at La Gare café imgp4654 Hamish roams around with a coffee imgp4655 Sean shows something to Rowan imgp4658 Sean's on his phone again imgp4659 We watch one of the ILCA 6 races in the van imgp4661 A paraglider sails over a chalk horse imgp4662 We head down to our train imgp4667 Driving inside a train carriage is always weird imgp4668 France is full of wind turbines imgp4669 Rowan and Sean set up their tent imgp4672 A sweet beer at Camping Au Bord de l'Aisne imgp4674 A fancy French stable block imgp4676 We wait for an outside table at Le Relais café imgp4680 Our charcuterie board arrives imgp4683 French houses in Guignicourt imgp4687 Hamish, Sean and Rowan walk through Guignicourt imgp4691 The sun sets near the Église Saint Pierre imgp4695 Hamish has an actual coffee machine for his van imgp4696 Sean has a coffee in the morning imgp4698 Hamish potters about imgp4701 Donald Duck graffiti on a farm building imgp4702 A woman cycles past a field of sunflowers imgp4703 We stop at another services for a wee imgp4704 Fancy wooden structure at the Aire imgp4705 Sean, Rowan and Hamish get some food imgp4707 Hamish and Rowan in a car park imgp4709 We're deep into wine country near Dijon imgp4710 It lashes rain briefly imgp4712 We drive through yet another toll plaza imgp4713 Work and Respect on a hut imgp4715 A heavily-graffitoed building imgp4717 A cartoon bird/pig on a building imgp4721 More graffiti in Lyon imgp4725 Some sort of French Colonel Sanders on an oil tank imgp4732 Hamish fills up the van imgp4739 A quaint village on a river imgp4741 We drive throuigh a nice tree tunnel imgp4743 A derelict garage imgp4746 It's quite industrial near Cruas power station imgp4747 The cooling towers of Cruas nuclear power station imgp4750 More post-apocalyptic scenes near Cruas imgp4754 Some anti-Macron graffiti on a road sign imgp4756 A Mr. Bricolage imgp4757 Sean and Rowan in a supermarket imgp4760 The Donzère-Mondragon Dam imgp4762 The A7 is hosed southbound, where we're going imgp4764 We make it to the next campsite imgp4766 The campsite even has its own wine imgp4767 Camping La Roquette in Chateaurenard imgp4769 The bucolic campsite of La Roquette imgp4770 We hang out by the van for a bit imgp4775 A ruined castle on a hill imgp4778 Our first glimpse of Marseille imgp4780 Giant graffiti on a Marseillaise building imgp4784 The old abandoned port area imgp4788 Heavily-graffitoed aggregate rail wagons imgp4789 A goods yard near the docks imgp4790 People sunbathe on the rocks imgp4791 An impressive 1930s house on Avenue de Monaco imgp4792 We get our first look at the impressive house