This year, I was heading to the ferry port in Calais, with a pre-booked ticket for the boat. I left plenty of time for my trip; so much so, that I would have a chance to get some footage for my new film along the way. But I failed to account for my itchy feet, which prevented me from chilling out for extended periods, lest I lose track of time and miss the boat. Accordingly, I arrived 28 hours early for my boat, and had nothing to do but float about in Calais, like a lost soul.

I made it this far with a ten-year-old road atlas and a pair of eyes. This used to be enough to get from A to B, and I was sure it still was. But when I found myself approaching the morning of sailing, I decided it would be best to get as close to the port as possible, so I could rest lightly and be ready to sail at a moment's notice, and for this, I deployed twenty-first century technology. You can see how that went, over here: Taking Back The Map.

Once I made it to the ferry, completed five police checks in a row, and finally made it out to Dover, it was more or less a given that I would immediately get lost, so that's exactly what I did. Normally, Usually, I find this extremely irritating, and soon begin losing my temper and issuing creatively-chained profanities towards inanimate objects, but this time, I was chilled about it, because I was already over the hardest part, and just needed a place to sleep. As soon as I took the third exit from that first roundabout, I knew it was a mistake, but the road was narrow and the traffic was moving fast. There was nowhere to stop, and turning round was impossible, so I just kept on going. When I finally did come into a town, it was so pretty, I didn't want to leave. That town was Deal. And the next town was Sandwich. And yes, I did think of this video.

During my hour in Deal, I managed to enjoy being in England. That was new. And I even managed to shoot the closing shot for Junction 10, which wasn't even on my list until my return to Czech. So far, so good. The beach was pretty, the boats were pretty, the girls were ... foul-mouthed. It was exactly what I needed.

And so, it goes. Onward.