We agreed with the AA we’d drive to the Eurotruck Iveco dealer in Saint Martin and then call them from there after the mechanic had inspected the handbrake.

My French is poor and the mechanics did not speak much English so with the help of Google Translate I tried to explain the fault with the handbrake. The garage were very helpful although they explained they did not have the handbrake cable in stock.

With hand signals and goodwill the mechanic and I communicated and explored the fault. I was a little embarassed to find the handbrake cable termination had become unclipped from the bracket due to slack in the cable. The mechanic clipped it back on and tested the handbrake. We were fixed in 10 minutes and the garage refused to take any money. Wendy donated a €20 contribution to their tea/biscuit fund and we were on our way – relieved.

On hindsight I should have investigated the fault at the Boulogne sur Mer aire. The slope of the aire with no handbrake put me off on safety grounds, but I might have saved us the concern and the trip to the garage.

We drove from the garage in Saint Martin to the aire in Le Crotoy. Whilst at the aire I adjusted the handbrake cable to ensure we did not have any more problems.

The aire is located between houses and a mussel/oyster processing facility. It has a very short walk to the beach, although when the tide is out it is very far out with a long walk to reach the water.