Our place in France Chapter 31
Whoops! Must have lost a day somewhere! I suddenly realised
that today was Monday and that I hadn’t written a chapter for yesterday. So sorry.
Mind you, there wasn’t much to say although that may well
change. The first part of the week was taken up with finishing off the TV installation
which took until Wednesday because of various disruptions which were minor but
took quite a long time to deal with. And then on Thursday morning there was no
time to lie in bed watching the news, as was our habit in South Africa, because
we had to start packing for a trip to the UK. We had originally planned to have
two weeks there starting from the 19th but when we were asked to
come earlier, we dropped everything to come. How nice to have no responsibilities!
It was quite a trip! We had decided to drive rather than fly as we knew there
were large bulky items waiting to be brought back to France, but we hadn’t
really thought about the distance. We left home at about ten in the morning and
seven hours later we had covered over 700 kilometres and had arrived in Caen
where we were to catch a ferry. The French motorways were brilliant and by
ordinary standards, not too busy. We then had to wait until ten o’clock to board,
so we sat in the little port-side café; had a nice meal and wasted several
hours just people watching. By the time we went back out to the car, there was a
huge TV screen above the entrance showing a documentary about cycling through
Normandy and Brittany. Fortunately it was on a ‘loop’ so we ended up watching
it about three times before the gates opened and they started loading the cars.
The ferry can take just a bit less than 700 cars and over 2000 passengers so
there was mild chaos when we finally got aboard and went to find our cabin.
Thank goodness we had been given a four-berth cabin! I hate to think what a two
berth one looks like. We had to stand sideways to pass each other. But we won’t
knock it – we even had our own bathroom!
By this time it was close to midnight so we made all haste
to crawl into bed and had a fairly good sleep until the public address woke us up
again at quarter to six – an hour before arrival in Portsmouth. Not much of a
rest before driving a much more taxing four hundred kilometre route. Really!! The
English drivers are something else – all going like mad; four lane’s wide; and
the same in the other direction. There are just so many cars and trucks everywhere.
Phew! Too many people!.
We arrived safe and sound at Carol’s house at about two in
the afternoon – totally exhausted. That state lasted until well into Sunday
which is why, I’m afraid, I didn’t get around to writing anything yesterday.
Hopefully this week will be more productive and next week will have some
pictures as well.
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