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France

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-- From 2015/04/11 to 2015/04/13
-- trip to Antwerpen, shipment of camion-2
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On the road again

Back from the escapade to Morocco and after having booked for truck-2 a space in RoRo from Antwerp to Halifax by Seabridge, I was to put it at quay at the latest on Monday, April 13. I programmed my cities GPS with the address indicated for a trip that it announced for around 1199 km highway I thus left on Saturday, April 11 at the forefront of day to arrive in the afternoon of Sunday at the harbor. For my peace of mind and by laze I followed it servilely noting that the road proposed was not that which I would have taken. For example it made me take east-by-pass of Lyon whereas I would have taken Lyon Center, but with final it avoided me most of the jam which I found at the tollgate of Villefranche and so on. It was thus the best choice in time failing to be it in distance covered.

On Saturday evening I bivouacked on a rest area for trucks close to Toul. In the small hour a string of customs and police cars blocked me as well as the close car arrived in the night. The police and customs gente made up with more than 50% of woman greeted me and told me that it intervened for the close car occupied by a coloured man, I left the spot without displeasure. In the afternoon of Saturday I wiped a spring drizzle and on Sunday morning a dense fog while crossing Luxembourg. I lunched on a service area of the ring of Brussels with a Wifi hotspot. With the approach of the North Sea the wind broad drove out the clouds and a hot sun heated the atmosphere. I arrived at the end of my trip around 14:30 opposite the PSA building. I establish my bivouac there on a space of parking in front of a truck. I sent my daily position report by ham radio then I prepared my truck, cleaning of the stains of the road and arrangement nothing to leave in the cabin. Mow, I finished the day while reading on my Kindle “The last day of a condemned” by Victor Hugo.

According to the excellent given documents by Seabridge, it was necessary to be presented as of 08:00 at the office of PSA-building but I noted that as of 06:00 trucks entered and left the enclosure. With the file under my arm I entered the offices on foot around 6:30 where a pleasant French speaking young woman dealt with my file; ten minutes later I arose with the requested document to go to the 869 quay where an electric car Zoe expected me! The finished inspection procedure with duration hardly half an hour from beginning to end. A taxi was ordered which arrived around 7:30 to deposit me at the Antwerpen-Berchem station around 8:00. I arrived around 9:30 at Brussels-Midi largely in advance to take the TGV to Nice at 12:06 with a stop at Les Arc-Draguignan where my brother expected me at 19:23.

I should mention the professionalism of Seabridge as well as PSA which dealt with the guarding and the transporting of my vehicle that I should find in Halifax on a still unspecified date, starting from April 29th. On Sunday, April 26 I will take again a TGV but to go to the Charles-of-Gaulle airport where on Monday, 27th I will embark on British Airways flights for Halifax in two stops via London and Toronto. Starting from the beginning of May 2015 I will take again my weekly log books by beginning with Canada then the USA for returning where I left the truck-1 in the break-in Lopez, Baja-California.

The challenge of this second part of the trip round the world is of very another nature. I am older with a weakened health. Moreover my cardiologists formally disadvised to me a fortiori taking the road again via Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru and the Andes Cordillera. In the life it is necessary to be reasonably reasonable. I should quote, for the nième+1 time, Clint Eastwood: “The wise man knows his limits”. But is it necessary to be wise? The world tour is not an end in itself, on the other hand the discovery of new landscapes, new civilizations, new human contacts there is one of the finalities of the life, intellectual enrichment, transmission of knowledge and respect of the other. The take into account of the other is a lesson of humility. “To be, it is to strive to be open to all.” by Philippe Bilger.