Our man in a van: Sore Irish heads contemplating the trip south

Here we go: On the road again. Today, we take on the longest drive of our trip in France, writes Joe Leogue

It’s a 654km journey from our campsite in Paris to a park in Arcachon on the west coast where we will remain for the match against Belgium on Saturday.

After our minor mishap on Friday — clipping the wing mirror off a stationary bus — we’re naturally approaching this undertaking with a great deal of caution.

Thankfully, though, our route avoids the centre of Paris and hopefully we’ll be out on the motorway quickly enough, where we can go at our own pace in the slow lane.

Unfortunately, working commitments mean most of our group is going home today, so only two of us will carry on following the Boys in Green and share the driving.

The campsite has been full of football supporters, mostly Irish, but Sweden is well represented, and those who made the trip south from Scandinavia will now be well versed in all aspects of Irish music, given their surroundings.

Judging by the sounds emanating from some of the Tricolour-covered vans here, it appears the criteria for tune selection is “if it’s Irish we’ll play it’”.

Groups of men sitting outside their vans, cans in hand, are as likely to be listening to B*Witched as they are to ballads, Eurovision or U2.

Our long drive means an early start, so no late night in Montmartre with the hoards of Irish who have adopted the neighbourhood as their home.

The Moulin Rouge has had more than a tinge of vert over the last few days; the crowds have poured out from O’Sullivans and The Harp Bar onto the streets for an all-night singalong.

One canny hotelier opposite the Moulin Rouge made a small fortune charging for use of the toilets, and seemed to be enjoying the spectacle on his doorstep.

Unfortunately he was unable to oblige this reporter’s request to borrow an upstairs room to take a bird’s eye view shot of the crowd below.

All his rooms were booked out, it emerged, the same story all along the street.

Today, of course, many many sore heads will be contemplating the trip south, and the Bordeaux neighbourhood that is to become the social hub for the next five days or so.