Summer Vacation, Day 3: New Romney

July 13, 2026 · 3 min read · 5 visits

From Orcq we drove 140 km to Calais, took the ferry to Dover, 1 hour and 40 minutes across the Channel, and continued 40 km to New Romney.

California with the roof up and awning out under a tree

Before we left in the morning, I took Aika for a walk through the fields. The night was short, there was a techno festival 10 km away and if you know how these kinds of events go, the main act is only after midnight - the later the better. At 4am the music got slightly less loud and annoying. After a very hot day the cold morning air was enjoyable. During our walk I spotted hares, herons and a black kite. Then we packed up and left around 9am for the ferry.

We arrived a few minutes too late to get the 12pm ferry and got booked on the 1:20pm one. The check-in procedure was very similar to what is done at airports. No surprises this year, border checks worked well and everyone was pretty friendly. I assume this is part of the job, no one wants angry people at the border or on a ferry. We waited for 45 minutes before driving up the ramp into the ferry. I didn’t take many pictures, the interior of a ferry looks like a cruise ship. Earlier outside a rally car queued with us, and during the crossing we passed another ferry that was pressing through the water.

Classic Ford Escort rally car on a trailer in the ferry queue

If that was not obvious, in Germany we drive on the right side of the road, our steering wheels are on the left side inside the car. Tilian said the UK is now all upside down and mirrored, so we drive on the left side of the road. The roads leading out of Dover and along the coast to the west are pretty straightforward and do not challenge the new orientation, closer to our destination there were situations where I was evidently, to the disadvantage of local drivers, not fully on top of the new reality of left-side driving.

The plan was to stay at a campsite close to the beach in New Romney, it is one of the places where you are supposed to show up and they’ll tell you if there are vacancies or not. A sign greeted us that they were fully booked. Nadine quickly found an alternative place - we are staying at Romney Meadows Caravan and Camping Park just outside New Romney, on the Romney Marsh, around 50 pitches. It is very windy on the site, we had to improvise a windbreak out of tarps. After arriving we went for a walk in the heath, and back on the site we spotted a chaffinch and a goldfinch.

Dried thistles gone to seed in the heath

Weathered fence post in tall grass in front of a corn field

To our surprise, Tilian got sick tonight. Fingers crossed it was a one-off. The boys are yearning for the beach, the plan is we go to a new campsite with beach access further west past Hastings.

Topics: Travel, Photography