To the north!
We were both up, showered, dressed and ready to go by 7:45am this morning, and before taking to the road, we deposited all of the recycling in the bins opposite the school. Our route back to Caen would be slightly different to the route down; I wasn't keen on the long drive on the A10 or the roads around Bordeaux, Nantes and Rennes. Instead, we used the D709 (our road!) and then the D708 from Riberac. We would then follow a succession of D roads to Angoulême before joining the N10 to Poitiers. From Poitiers, we would take the A10 for a short while to Tours and then the A28, passing Le Mans, followed by the A88 and the N158 up to Caen, where we were staying overnight. We estimated it would take us about eight hours, factoring in stops on the way.
The road from Mussidan to Riberac was quiet, but I had a "Convoi Exceptionnel" lorry in front of us. He was travelling at a fair pace, though, so there was no need to try and overtake! We lost him in the small town of Riberac, and from then onwards, almost to Angoulême, we had the road to ourselves. It truly was French driving at its very best, with long straight roads, which cut through fields of sunflowers, and quiet little villages. At one point, we could see for a fair few miles in the distance, and there was nothing on the road at all!
We'd decided to stop for coffee and pastries once we'd driven past Angoulême, and we pulled off at a Village Étape called Mansle. First of all, we missed the signs for parking as I spotted a squirrel crossing the road using a pedestrian crossing, and was quite understandably distracted! Sophie was not amused!
We retraced our route and ended up parking outside an Aldi, where we had a much-needed coffee and ate the two pastries we'd cooked last night. There were no toilets in Aldi, so we had to use the satnav to find public toilets. I was directed off the main road in Mansle onto a tiny residential street where the local cats thought it was a good idea to sit in front of the car and not move...!
We abandoned finding the toilets, and we both vowed never to use the Village Étapes again, as they are just villages and the search for parking, toilets and cafés is solely down to the driver and passengers. The locals seem to think it's fun to hide all the important signs, and they are definitely not clearly marked! We rejoined the N10 and stopped to use the loos at the next aire, which was a much better decision!
Pushing our luck?
As we neared Tours, a little idea popped into my mind... Amboise was close by. Why not make a detour and have a drink in the town? I suggested this to Sophie as going straight to Caen would see us arriving at about 2:00pm. She agreed (although to this day I don't think she was really into it) and put in directions for Amboise.
As we approached the town, we could see huge thunder clouds in the distance, and we saw lightning several times. I imagined arriving in Amboise in the middle of a violent thunderstorm! It was about 32c now and not as cool as we'd hoped, despite being further north.
The route into the town was not an easy one. We had to navigate several sections of the road where oncoming traffic had the right of way, and I managed to severely annoy a convoy of French cars when I abruptly stopped just as the road narrowed. I was going to go, but then I saw a car approach, so I stopped. Talk about being dramatic! Grown men (for they were all men) gingerly inched past me as if they were driving juggernauts instead of normal cars, and the only driver who had any sense was a woman who waved me into a driveway to ease the congestion. It was not pleasant!
We parked on the outskirts of the town and had a hot walk to the centre, where we'd had a drink in previous years. We sat at the first restaurant we came to, which we initially thought was just a bar. It was an Italian restaurant, and when we asked for just drinks, the waitress snatched the cutlery and napkins off the table in a huff! Whose idea was it to visit the town? Was the grumpiness due to the heat?
We ordered a glass of wine each and didn't specify which one, so we ended up with two unpleasant drinks that cost us 14 euros. We couldn't wait to finish them and go!
Very nice in Vouvray
Before walking back to the car, we popped into a Carrefour City, and I bought two bottles of sparkling Montlouis wine - the wine that Keith and I had at our wedding. I've never seen it in the UK, so the French must keep it all to themselves! How we had it 34 years ago is beyond me!
I said to Sophie that we'd stop in Vouvray before heading back on the road, as I wanted to try and squeeze some enjoyment out of our impromptu stop! We pulled into the car park of the wine merchant we'd stopped at in 2023 when it was closed, but it was very much open today. Hooray!
I suddenly thought about buying a Vouvray from 1996, so I asked the very helpful man serving if he had one. He had a good look, but no, he had no wine from that vintage. He was lovely and chatty and spoke excellent English, so we were able to explain why we loved the wine, and we tasted two bottles, both on the sweeter side. I told him about the 1970 and 1971 Vouvrays that Keith and I had bought in the 1990s, before the children came along.
We had a wonderful chat with the man who looked like Jamali Maddix, so this was another man for Sophie to flirt with over wine! He mentioned that the locals in Amboise hate tourists, so this might have explained the hostility we encountered. I think it'll be a long time before we go back! We tore ourselves away after buying two bottles (24 euros) and joined the A10 north of Tours for a couple of miles, before taking the A28.
The A28 was beautifully quiet, and we made good progress up to Le Mans, stopping at a baking hot aire to eat our sandwiches, drink lots of water and use the loos, which Sophie said were disgusting. From the A28, we took the A88 towards Caen, following the N158 for the last part of our journey.
Hot and bothered!
I had been dreading the last section of our journey to the Airbnb on the outskirts of Caen, but it was surprisingly easy, and Sophie expertly navigated me to the house on a quiet residential street. Our host had insisted on meeting us, which we hate, as the last thing we want to do after a day's travelling is try to make small talk (in French) with our host while they show us where the spoons are and how the light switches work.
Florence met us, spoke French rapidly to us as we followed her around the tiny Airbnb and made no mention of fans to alleviate the heat in the house. I had expected this, but the reality was terrible. The house was baking, so once Florence had gone, we threw open all the windows to try and cool the rooms down a little.
I managed to bring the car around to the front door of the house so we could unpack what we needed. By now, we were hot and sweating and not looking forward to a night in the house! To make it worse, there were still furry throws on the beds, and an itchy blanket on the sofa. Ugh!
The first of the three ejections... read Saturday's entry for the third!
As we were putting things away, Sophie screamed and then managed to trap a huge spider which had been lurking in her bedroom! The open windows then attracted a monster cricket, which seemed intent on staying in the house despite my efforts to eject it! I had no idea they were so huge!
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| No, this isn't AI-generated! |
As the days led up to our stay in this Airbnb, we had toyed with the idea of going to one of our favourite towns on the Normandy coast for dinner. We hadn't shopped for anything to eat tonight, and the prospect of staying in the swelteringly hot house did not appeal in the slightest! We decided to head for Houlgate, perhaps our favourite town of all (and where we're staying next January) and have dinner there. There were two problems: it was June, not January, and we were fully expecting to find it difficult to park and get a table.
We both had cool showers, and I ironed a pair of light trousers and Sophie's dress. We then shut the windows and, before going to the car, had a look at the other three little houses next to us, as it was obvious that they too were Airbnbs owned by Florence and George. There was a lock on the entrance gate, and we wondered if we'd have any neighbours when we returned.
To get to Houlgate, I had to briefly use the hated péripherique but then we joined the A13 to the coast, reminding ourselves to pay the Sanef free-flow toll tomorrow when we arrived home. We stopped for petrol in Dives-sur-Mer, and then carried on along the coast to Houlgate. It was certainly different from the freezing cold days of January, but there were still parking spaces along the coast road.
Once in Houlgate, though, the spaces were all taken along the road, but we found a large car park near a beautiful church. We made a note of this for January! We took a short walk to the town centre and chose the first restaurant we came to, an Italian called La Dolce Vita.
They were happy to welcome us and sat us on the terrace overlooking the street, where we could watch a continuous procession of people looking for somewhere to eat, or going back to their accommodation after time spent on the beach.
Tonight, for some reason, I felt homesick. Whether it was because I was tired and hot, I don't know. We ordered a bottle of Sicilian Nero D'Avola, a large bottle of water and a platter of meats and cheeses for a starter. I followed Sophie's lead, and we both chose pasta carbonara for a main course.
The restaurant was pleasantly busy, and the staff were lovely. The food was delicious, and the carbonara was just as it should be, with the egg making the sauce lovely and creamy. We managed to find room for dessert and ordered panna cotta topped with a red fruit coulis, which I think took us over the edge! Phew! It was certainly cooler here, though, with a lovely breeze blowing.
We paid the bill - 96 euros, the most expensive of the holiday - and set off for the car. On the way back to Caen, we parked at our usual little car park so Sophie could dip her toes in the sea. A lot of people were still on the beach, playing ball games or just soaking up the cool night air. It was still light, as the sun wasn't due to set until after 10:00pm. In the distance, dark storm clouds had gathered, and we saw several lightning flashes.
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| Beautiful church |
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| Storm clouds gather |
It took us less than half an hour to get back to Caen, and the roads were very quiet. We parked right outside the house again, and the heat inside took our breath away. I had a feeling we were in for a bad night...
To be continued!
