Brexit Exit - The Farewell Tour

Gérardmer is a small town that sits at the head of a lake (the Lac de  Gérardmer ) surrounded by the pine forests and mountains of the Vosges. It was to be our base for a couple of days as we explored this part of France, which lies close to the German Border. It had taken a few hours to drive to this part of France - around 195 miles - but this was because we got sidetracked, having  stopped for a picnic on the way and then walked into the forest following a trail that led to the top of some waterfalls. There was no obvious safe way to get down so we retraced our steps and simply admired the waters crashing down 30 meters or so into a stream at the bottom.  Our hotel for this part of the journey, Le Reflects du Lac (or reflections of the lake) was very pretty, a chalet style building perched above the lake.  Our room had a balcony with stunning views out across the lake with the town of  Gérardmer  at the opposite end from our hotel. After unloading the car we set off t

On the longest day of the year, and with the car boot packed, we set off on the first stage of our Brexit Exit tour - with a long drive to Folkestone. This was in preparation for boarding Euro Tunnel early the following morning. Our overnight accommodation was an old Victorian hotel, about a mile from the harbour. I'd never been to Folkestone before so after checking in we walked along the cliff top - towards the town. The English Channel was looking surprisingly blue and the white cliffs of the Normandy coastline were visible. Folkestone was a curious town. Like many English seaside resorts its clearly seen better days - but some efforts to regenerate the town had been made and were still underway.  The English Channel with France visible in the background A rather run down street had been re purposed as an artists quarter but surprisingly there were no studios or galleries open. Its hard to feel confident for places like Folkestone once the economic impact of Brexit starts

In a few months time, unless something dramatic happens in the world of politics, the United Kingdom will leave the European Union. This is something I personally regret. I have always felt that being part of the EU was broadly positive. I realise the EU has not been a perfect institution, but overall I felt, and still feel, that a structure that binds nations together, that breaks down barriers between nations and promotes unity, offers better prospects of long lasting peaceful coexistence, greater prosperity and well being for many peoples from different cultures. Perhaps we take for granted the relative peace in Europe over my lifetime.  One of the great joys that has existed for most of my adult life has been an ability to travel freely and easily throughout Europe. EU membership has made it easy to cross national borders without undue bureaucracy and I guess I've taken this for granted. I once picked up a hire car in Austria, assured the car hire company I'd only be usi