A birthday trip to Normandy - 14th to the 17th of January, 2026

A usual early start!

I had a bad night's sleep; I'm beginning to wonder whether it's the lights in our office, as this now happens whenever I go into work... I woke up at 2:21am and decided to check the route to Folkestone on Google Maps. Because of numerous road closures, it advised three hours and for us to take the M25 the other way, i.e., not the Dartford crossing side, which I was not happy about.

At 2:45am, I woke Sophie, and she had a shower. I went downstairs and checked Google Maps again, but nothing had changed! By the time we had both showered and dressed and made a flask of coffee, it was 3:40am. Keith had got up to say goodbye, and the cats were totally bemused by the goings on, especially as we didn't want to let them out until later in the morning. I felt a little off as I'd had stomach cramps since I woke up, so I'd taken some ibuprofen to help, but I have to admit I was a little worried about the journey!

We set off in the blackness and saw a fox and a muntjac deer before we got to the A43. There was very little on the road, and we drove to junction 15 of the M1 and joined the motorway. The left lane was a wall of lorries, but we made good progress until just after Luton, when all the lanes were reduced to one, and we were held up for a while.

The journey from the M25 to the M20 seemed to take forever! We passed Heathrow, and then Gatwick, and took the M26 towards Maidstone, a motorway I'd never been on before! I had never, in all the years of travelling to Dover and Folkestone, taken this route, but we had no further hold-ups, and we were checking in at 6:30am.

We could have taken an earlier train, but we both needed the loo, so we kept our booked departure. In Duty-Free, we took advantage of two bottles of vodka for £18 (well, we had to!) and then returned to the car for coffee, pastries and a granola yoghurt.

Very soon, we were called, and we were asked by a charming French border guard where our final destination was. When I said Ver-sur-Mer, he looked at me blankly! Le Shuttle was very quiet indeed, and we boarded quickly without having to go up the ramp!

We passed the crossing by napping, and we were delighted to see blue skies when we got to France! The roads were quiet, and we made good time to our first stop, the aire de la baie de Somme. We used the facilities (no toilet seats) and had a coffee and hot chocolate overlooking the cold canal. It had turned grey and misty, but we didn't mind! We like it like this!

Lunch with a frog

Our journey continued, and we spotted three buzzards on the fences and loads and loads of mistletoe balls in the trees. We stopped at two tolls and then drove over the Pont de Normandie bridge. Below us was the Seine and the port of Le Havre.

We had decided to stop for lunch in Honfleur and parked in the usual car park. As the time was getting on, we picked the first restaurant we came to, La Grenouille (The Frog). We had looked at the menu outside and picked the set 24 euro menu. Inside, it was warm, pleasantly busy, and the staff were lovely and friendly.

We both chose the terrine to start, followed by chicken in a cider cream sauce and frites. I ordered a 50cl pichet of Muscadet de Sevre et Maine to accompany the meal. By now, we were both hungry, and our breakfast at the shuttle terminal seemed an age ago! The food was very good - simple but delicious!

 

For dessert, Sophie had "floating islands", which was a dollop of meringue on top of a pistachio cream. She'd never had that before! I had liquid cream cheese topped with a fruit coulis. It was a lovely lunch, and just what we wanted!

We paid the bill, about 60 euros, and had a quick look at the harbour. The time was getting on, so after a quick look at the boats moored up, we made our way back to the car.

The Frog restaurant

My main objective now was to fill up with petrol, and I'd spotted two stations on the way in. We backtracked and filled up the car with fuel, so that was one worry alleviated. I could hear Keith's words in my head saying, "Don't let it get too low!" but we hadn't wanted to fill up on the autoroute because it was a lot more expensive.

Collecting shells

We then took the coast road to Deauville, as we did last year, and saw the sea and the industry around Le Havre, which I'm sure we hadn't noticed last year! The tide was a long way out, and we decided to stop at Houlgate again to collect shells.

We carried along the coast road, enjoying the beautiful scenery and stunning houses. This is just one example:

A lot of the beach houses were well and truly shuttered up; some of them were gorgeous! There was sand on the road, and when we stopped at the beach at Houlgate, a digger was pushing back sand from the promenade back onto the beach. We both felt it was because of Storm Goretti last week, as it must have affected this area quite badly.

We both found shells and crunched our way over to a large church that is being renovated into apartments. I took a photo of the estate agents handling the sale to find out more information later!

Back in the car, we carried on our way, and I asked Sophie to find a supermarket so we could do a quick shop before we arrived at the Airbnb. We found a small Carrefour in Lion-sur-Mer and bought some essentials to tide us over. It was a perfect little place, and we bought all we needed.

From Lion-sur-Mer, we drove to Ver-sur-Mer, and it took us about forty minutes. We crossed over Pegasus Bridge at Ouistreham and then headed inland, clashing with the rush hour traffic. The sun was very low in the sky, making for difficult driving.

It was a huge relief when we parked opposite our little house, and that was the driving done for the day! We had been up for fifteen hours, and we were shattered! We let ourselves in with the key from the lockbox and unpacked the car before putting our clothes away. The house was wonderful, with a wood-burning stove, a comfortable dining/living room, a separate kitchen, a downstairs loo (bonus!) and two bedrooms with an upstairs bathroom. When we'd arrived, a little grey cat had come over to say hello, and he/she almost came into the house! It was very friendly!

Plunged into darkness!

It was heaven to collapse on the sofa, open a bottle of wine and decide which Netflix series to watch. After about twenty minutes of a strange Polish drama, we decided to watch a documentary on the murder of a very rich man in Monaco, Edmond Safra, which was riveting!

As we were watching, all the lights suddenly went out and, after looking out of the windows, we realised it was a power cut... I was just glad we'd lit some candles and the stove was alight, but this gradually went out. It lasted about forty-five minutes, and it was a relief when everything came back on! I dreaded waking up in the night with no way of seeing how to get to the loo!

We watched the end of the documentary, finished our bottle of El Diablo, and went to bed. It had been a long day!

Ready for the off!

I had a horrible journey to work again, and it was just Sara and me in the office until Jo and Angela came in a few minutes before 10am. Angela was stressed again about parking and had found a space a fair walk away. Our MD was also in and came to say hello as he always does (the rest of our senior management team don't bother), but that was it... where is everyone? There's supposed to be about thirteen of us in the offices, so it was like a ghost town!

Sara and I had a lot of emails to deal with, so we answered them and worked hard. We are starting to get a lot of customers calling about the end of March now, and what's happening. It's a question we find hard to answer at the moment!

The weather today has been grey and dismal, and it took me a depressingly long time to exit the hospital grounds. The traffic on the A45 and A43 was awful, so I need another route home!

When Sophie arrived home, we packed the car so it was all ready to go tomorrow! We then found time to relax before an early bed!

The Monday blues!

The weather turned mild overnight, so there was no frost this morning. It's set to stay like this all week, which is a relief as I didn't fancy driving to France on Wednesday in a snowstorm!

Keith took me to work this morning and agreed with me about how miserable the journey is. It's so dark I need the main beam on the country roads. What an awful time of year to change our place of work! He dropped me off, and I had a busy shift trying to get as much done as I could in the morning, as I was answering the phone in the afternoon with Kathy. I gave up with the emails as the phones were almost constant! It was not pleasant!

When he picked me up at 4pm, I was in a bad mood, and we queued for ages to leave the hospital grounds, which made me worse! I am not the only one unhappy with the arrangements; Sara now has to leave thirty minutes earlier in the morning and has set her alarm to go off at 6am, like me! And then there's always the worry of managing to find a space...

To cheer myself up at home, I sat and watched a couple of episodes of Ever Decreasing Circles until Sophie got home. She didn't seem that happy either, and I'm just glad we're away this week! I know that traditionally January is a bleak month (thanks Mum and Dad, for having me right in the middle!) and I will try and think ahead to Spring, which will be here soon!

Sophie cooked a delicious chicken stir-fry meal for dinner, and while she was cooking, Keith and I played cards, something we haven't done for a while!

Sunday syndrome...

The weather was cloudier today, but it still felt cold when the wind blew! We had a lazy start to the day and spent the morning catching up with some jobs. Because of the miserable weather, I think we all felt a bit glum, and Sophie and I suffered with a bit of "Sunday syndrome"! However, we both have just two days to work next week, so it could be worse!

Just after lunchtime, Sophie and I went to see Mum and sat with her for a while. I managed to sort out her television, and we popped to the nearby shop to buy her some chocolates. When we left, we took the scenic route and stopped at our usual layby to enjoy a wrap before driving home. The countryside was a symphony of greys, browns and muted greens, but it was nice to sit for five minutes and have a small picnic!

Back home, Sophie made mugs of tea, and we sat and chatted and indulged in some chocolate of our own.  There are some days when it's really needed! The cats have been in for most of the day; they seem to dislike this chilly, damp weather, and the house has been lovely and warm for them.

Supper this evening was the soup we should have had last night, and it was delicious! Sophie had pureéd the vegetables and added the frankfurters, and it was a really hearty meal. Luckily, there was enough left for our lunch tomorrow at work!

Photos of Mooney, courtesy of Sophie:

A taste of Germany

We awoke to clear skies and a frosty morning, with beautiful patterns etched in ice on the conservatory roof again. We have been putting the heating on all day at the moment, and I dread to think what our gas bill will be! The house is horrible when it's cold, though! Keith ventured out to get a newspaper, and we settled down to watch a little of Saturday Morning Kitchen.

Sophie and I spent the rest of the morning packing and sorting out things for Normandy. The weather is going to turn milder with rain forecast, so it won't be bitterly cold.

Sophie also bustled about peeling vegetables for tonight's supper of German soup - we decided to go the whole hog and have frikadellen and dark rye bread to start as well! It was lovely to stay at home and keep warm and not go anywhere. I caught up with a lot of jobs and by mid-afternoon, we had time to indulge in a face pack while watching television. First thing this morning, I started watching The Roses starring Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch, so I finished watching the film this afternoon. It was enjoyable, and I didn't realise it was a remake of The War of the Roses starring Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas from 1989.

Before dinner, I sat and watched a couple of episodes of Ever Decreasing Circles, and Sophie finished her latest book. She then prepared our starter of Frikadellen and bread, served with mustard and cornichons. In the background, on the computer, she played a YouTube video of a walk in Berlin in the snow, filmed shortly after we were there. It was wonderful to see, and the walk went from Alexanderplatz to halfway down Unter Den Linden. It was fantastic to see the Nikolai Quarter in the snow and Museum Island, which we haven't really explored much. It was like being back there!

The starter was so filling that we decided to postpone the soup until tomorrow, and we continued watching Berlin videos all evening! 

Snow gone!

The snow had stopped last night, and overnight, the roads turned slushy. Sophie was able to work from home, and we sat and watched a documentary about a train journey in Norway with a coffee. I forgot I had to leave earlier and went screaming up the stairs to shower at about 6.45am! I was still able to leave on time with Keith, though, who needed the car to go shopping. He dropped me off, and I told him to go to the same place to pick me up at 4pm. It was a better journey today, with both of us in the car!

My shift passed pleasantly, and I seem to be getting used to the bright overhead lights and the mediocre view from the windows! One of our soft play centres was forced to close because of the storm overnight, but that was the only casualty for us.

I managed to clear all the emails and put on the February playscheme places at just one of our centres (one we're keeping hold of). The prices had been reduced and early and late pick-up times introduced to encourage parents to use it, so we made the decision to revert to the old system. I wish we had known earlier!

Keith was waiting for me at 4pm, and we trundled home, managing to arrive at 4.30pm, which was a bonus! I have quickly learnt to get out at 4pm exactly to avoid a queue! Sophie went upstairs to have a quick shower when she finished work, and I caught up with a programme on Discovery + about twin sisters who tackled unsellable houses in Seattle and made them look beautiful. How many programmes deal with this, though? I remember a similar format in the late 80s/early 90s when an American woman called The House Doctor did the same thing!

Keith went to the pub while Sophie and I watched a disturbing Netflix documentary about a female influencer in Utah who had such a hold over another mother that she committed terrible child abuse on two of her children. Both have been jailed, and I hope they're never released.

Dinner tonight was an old favourite: chopped tomatoes, bacon and crusty bread. Afterwards, Keith and I finally enjoyed the Christmas pudding we'd bought in Lidl ages ago. It was delicious with Brandy cream!

Sophie and I stayed up late to watch Graham Norton, which I enjoy, but I always find it a bit "luvvie", with a lot of self-congratulation and showing off!

Storm Goretti

Sophie went to the gym as usual this morning, and I left the house again at 7.10am, managing to park easily and walk in. My short shift passed uneventfully, but I said goodbye to Sue, who won't be working with us after today. She has taken on more shifts at one of our other centres, which will be operated by Everyone Active from April 1st.

The weather until 2pm was grey and cold, and when I left, I decided to go home first to see Keith before visiting my Mum. I briefly spoke to Vince and Sue from next door, who were getting ready to see their daughter and granddaughters back to Australia. They had been visiting since mid-December, and Vince and Sue looked a bit worn out!

I popped over to Kettering to see Mum, who wasn't with it today, and we had a long chat with one of the senior carers. I tried to sort out her TV set as she wasn't receiving some channels, but failed. It was turning out to be one of those days!

When I left, it had started raining, and the weather was awful! The storm was approaching! I had messaged my friend Sue, who was now living in Cornwall, as the region had a Red warning for wind! I told her to stay safe!

I was heartily relieved when Sophie arrived home, as the rain turned to sleet, and then big, fat flakes of snow, carpeting the roads and paths outside. If it had continued all night, we would definitely have had a snow day tomorrow!