HenryBoo Travels to: Folkstone

Confined to the backseat, rewarded with Cod

Tamworth to Folkstone – 209 miles

Today’s the day—we’ve packed the car (after a major game of boot-space Tetris), put together the road trip playlist, and we’re off!

First stop: glamorous… Folkestone. Just a quick snooze spot before we zoom through the Eurotunnel on the LeShuttle bright and early the next day.
Does it count as part of the holiday? Of course it does. It’s on the schedule, and snacks were involved.

Holiday starts right now! 🚗✨

• Hotel – Grand Burstin Hotel Folkstone
• We paid – £59.00 (1 night)
• Pet charge – £10.00
• Parking charge – £5.00

After a few delays, we left our house at 2.45pm. What was meant to be a breezy 4 hour drive swiftly turned into a 6 hour plod thanks to a crash on the M1 – and with no way to divert, we were well and truly stuck, moving slower than a pampered pug on a hot day. Even Henry considered abandoning the car and sniffing his way to Folkestone but spirits stayed mostly intact thanks to one essential Costa Coffee stop and the Hamilton Soundtrack (you’re welcome, Chris).

We finally arrived at the hotel just before 9pm, just as the last bit of daylight disappeared. Any romantic plans for a sunset stroll along the coast? Cancelled. Replaced by a firm decision: fish and chips or bust.

Luckily, there was a chip shop just outside the hotel, so we grabbed dinner and took it back to our room. As someone raised near the coastal delights of Cromer and Sheringham, I’m afraid Folkestone’s offering didn’t quite hit the mark… but let’s be real: at nearly 9 PM, after 6 hours in the car, I wasn’t about to get picky. It was hot, it was salty, and it was exactly what we needed.
I was far too excited for an early night, so we settled in with a card game of Rummy and yet another run-through of my carefully crafted holiday schedule—for the 100th time, obviously.

The hotel itself wasn’t anything to write home about—dated wallpaper, creaky floors, and I may have heard the ghost of a fisherman dragging his boots down the hallway. But it did the job and it was CHEAP. Plus, we only needed a bed for a few hours to make sure we were in top shape for our next stop.
I will add, for a hotel with over 500 rooms, parking was surprisingly sparse when we arrived. There’s supposedly underground parking available, but it was closed off during our stay—so we had to circle the car park like vultures on a bank holiday. Eventually, we found a spot squeezed between a … double parked BMW and what might have been an abandoned ice cream van – though I’m still not convinced it wasn’t technically a loading bay.

And that’s a wrap on our travel day—chaotic roads, average chips, suspicious hotel vibes… but we made it!
Tomorrow: France, croissants, and (hopefully) less traffic.