Back in Blighty

Well, that was an interesting day.  At the time of posting this entry, I have yet to upload the post from yesterday, and this will make more sense when that is done.

Waking up with a full belly turned out to be important.  After getting ready, we went downstairs to find that breakfast was being served before we had been told it would.  We met up with the others staying at the B&B a family travelling to a similar area to us, between Bordeaux and Bergerac, they had brought the grandparents (I presume to baby sit).  This was over breakfast, which was in essence, a croissant and a brioche as well as a café au lait.  The setting of the B&B was amazing, but when it comes to value for money, and the stress we had, the Ibis would have been a much better place to stay in.  But hindsight is one thing and on paper, this place did look wonderful.

We left Tours today, to return to the garage and have our wheels replaced.  Having had the chance to look at the maps in the morning and last night, I realised that we had not been taken along the most direct route to our B&B.  A slow trip through Tours took us to the garage and I got us there 30 minutes late, but they were great and if you ever are unfortunate to break down around Tours, visit them.

When on the road, the issue of contacting EuroTunnel was raised.  My wife was driving, so when I was sure that I would not be needed for directions, I made the call to them.  Unfortunately, I did not ask the questions the way she wanted them to be asked, but before I was cut off with poor reception, I found out that we could delay our departure, but that there would be an additional fee to pay.  Again, once past some more navigational hazards, I rang again, but this time was placed on hold and once going through a poor reception area, lost contact with them again.  However she pulled over at a service station, which we had been to earlier this holiday when heading south.  But this time, as it was not when we usually went to them (i.e. before lunch) there was an issue with car parking as well as having to wait in line for food and the toilets.  But my wife got the food while I hunted down a parking space and then found them.  While eating lunch she made the various calls that were needed to delay our departure so that we could actually arrive on time and then we set off in good time.

But then we had decided to fill up with petrol in Rouen.  Which on paper sounded great, but my iPhone, which would direct us to the relevant petrol stations was out of action, and the iPhone of my wife was using Google Maps as a SatNav,  While this is great, it is no competition and due to a few more failings on my part, we wasted a lot of time there searching for petrol that we had hoped would be cheaper than on the motorways, but ended up paying more as well as losing time.  And that was a big issue as now we had little margin for error.  Fortunately, traffic was on our side and we made it with time to spare.  We thought that we would be able to visit Duty Free, as my son had saved his holiday money to buy something there, but were ushered straight to the train.  Cue a nap there, and then on the other side, freedom in England!

I am now at my in-laws house, with still no internet access (I am using the iPhone of my wife for this), and hopefully, if all goes well, it will be a trip to see my mother and then home.

Day Eleven in France - Flat

Just in case I have not said this often enough, my wife is amazing and is our hero.



We left La Batellerie today, our hosts being helpful with our departure. My wife and I had a disagreement about which route we should take to Tours and our next destination but she won. She had hurt her foot yesterday so I did not want her to drive so we went through the French countryside. I had wanted to make for the motorway and return by the route that we had come by, but Google said that it would take longer. A problem with this was that the SatNav, on my now malfunctioning iPhone when we came, had the ETA wrong due to the villages that we would have to drive through.  But, the scenic route it was.  



When we were almost at the dual carriageway, we stopped for lunch, just before a diversion due to roadworks blocking our route.  After this excellent lunch, we took a different route than initially planned and ended up driving near to Châteauneuf, my wife not being allowed to stop though (which was good as it was the wrong one)!  Soon we were on the dual carriageway and then later the motorway but after stopping at a service station we developed a flat tyre.  That was fun. My wife, the French speaker, had to walk to the emergency phone while we waited to be picked up. Our breakdown cover did not allow them to collect us from the motorway and while waiting a motorway service vehicle but some bollards around us and the police stopped to see how we were doing. The kids coped well with this but did love seeing our car being pulled up onto the recovery vehicle once it arrived. They were not going to change the tyre on the hard shoulder and instead took us to a local garage.  Who spoke no English! Fortunately, my wife, finally managed to get through to someone in England who could speak French and a lady there allowed us to use the Google Translation service until a local lady came around who spoke English.  Our tyre was changed and a new one ordered for the morning (hopefully).




Then it was a journey through Tours trying to drive below 80Kph (50mph) which meant avoiding as many dual carriageways as possible and driving close to the Ibis where we had stayed on our journey south. We arrived at our destination, a B&B on the other side of Tours to find no one here and no way in!  A lady came around later to let us in and show us around. We were told (in French as she spoke no English) about a local place to eat which was very close by. With no internet access we walked only to find that they were fully booked and did not have the dinner reservation that my wife had been told had been made for us (my fantastic wife found is out as they spoke no English either).  We walked to a hotel that the local signs said had a restaurant to find it was closed and then walked back home, my son despondent that he might not be fed, and my wife, who had been through a lot, started to show the strains.  How we wished that we had stayed at the Ibis in Tours now!  Fortunately, when we got back, one of the families from the restaurant arrived at the B&B, which meant that we knew that a table was now free. We returned and they took pity on us and let us dine there.

And the food was worth the visit, so long as you like crepes. So now we are back and have a journey back to the garage in the morning, but it should be more direct, and if we are lucky, less stressful and if all goes well, our only issue should be not making the EuroTunnel train that we have booked to travel on.

And while the kids showed admirable resilience during what must have been a scary time for them and deserve heaps of praise, my wife deserves most for dealing with this and keeping things together when everything seemed to be going wrong.

Day Ten in France - up and down again

Today is our last night in this area before we journey back north.  We woke and ate at a local patisserie and then travelled, as planned to Saint-Émilion.  We had heard that it is best to visit the town in the morning, but due to one reason or another, we did not arrive until about 1100 in the morning.  The reason for arriving in the morning is that we had been told that in the afternoon, tour buses containing loads of Chinese and Japanese tourists descend upon the town.

Unforutnately, we just missed some tours, but in a way, this was a good thing.  The town is pretty and certainly worth visiting.  I had the chance to take the children on a 90 minute journey around the town on a tour, but I decided that they would not appreciate this, something when they were told, they agreed with.  They were interested in the ideas of entering the catacombs below, but settled for a journey up the bell tower.  And they loved it there.  We spent over an hour as they enjoyed the view, something I fail to understand that others do not try to experience.  In a town where so many experiences appear to cost so much, this was €5 for the three of us (I think that we were charged for four of us to explore, but my wife decided to learn more about the local wines).  By the time my wife was ready to meet up, the kids were starting to get ready to leave the tower.

After this, it was a trip home, with a detour to buy biscuits for our respective workplaces and then lunch.  We had aimed to take the children to the river beach, but an injury to the toe of my daughter prevented that.  Instead we watched a film and then went out for dinner at the amazing restaurant that we had been to before.

Anyway, packing has commenced and I have to get to bed to finish this with my wife tomorrow morning before we journey north to Tours.

Day Nine In France - An Amazing Meal

Today was another easy day.  I woke late to the smell of bacon.  My wife and kids and woken up earlier, but I was so tired, that I had slept through them getting ready and then leaving and returning with breakfast. 

After this, we went into the town and wandered about.  I wanted to explore some of its history and my wife let me (I will post this to YouTube when back in the UK).  I found her in the central square and completed my quest which had started aided by my son, instead, with my daughter. 

After this, we returned for a light lunch and then a trip to taste some of the local wines.  My ability to do this was limited by my driving and also my reluctance to spit out the wine rather than drink it.  My wife, who was being the passenger, was making the use of her superior knowledge of wine to the benefit of us both. 

After a trip home to relax, we went out to eat later and had an amazing meal.  I feel that this was one of the best that we have had in ages, not just in France this holiday, and neither of use expected it.  They were great with our kids and now we are in bed recovering from a busy day.

Day eight in France - The Cleaning Fairies

Today we have been to Bordeaux and I have to say, what an amazing city.

Our journey was forced due to the illness of my friend, or as others may term it, my iPhone.  I had it fixed last month after a few intermittent issues that it had, and got it back in the last week of July, but when in Bergerac, it sort of died.  Well, that is what I thought at first, but the screen had gone.   It was able to receive calls, and texts, as well as messages on Twitter, but there was no way to use my screen.  I tried the normal advice on a forced reset, but with no message on the screen, and limited internet access here at La Batellerie (I have it for now), there was no way to get it working.  So this morning, we travelled to Bordeaux.  We thought, from searching forums, that the issue would be with a connection to the screen, but on getting it there, we found that this was not going to be the case.  They offered to repair it, and they did try a low cost repair, but alas, this was not possible.

On the bright side we got to see the city of Bordeaux.  I had not expected it to be so pretty and it was great to see some of its sights.  We did not get the chance to explore it as much as I would like, but it would be great to return in a few years time.  My daughter took loads of pictures and did a bit of shopping while my son was patient and spent time with my while his mother and sister had other bits of fun.

Anyway, we are back at La Batellerie and it was great to come back to find that the cleaning fairies had been in.  My wife always said that they did not exist, but I now know otherwise!

Day Seven in France - the Market

Today we went after breakfast to Issigeac, where there was a market being held.  It was different to the market in Sainte-Foy-la-Grande opposite the river from where we were staying and in some ways better.  We did spend more money there, including spending some Euro's on a game of Chinese Chequers.  After this, it was lunch in the town, which I loved (the choice of my wife meant her meal was not as good as mine), and then on the way home we bumped into a place where we could taste some wine.  As I was driving, I did not sample any of the wares, but we did buy.  It was a great place with great service and had catered for children to be entertained allowing adults to spend time appreciating wine!

Once home, the kids were knackered and although I had intended to take them onto the river bank beach, they were not really up to it, and instead we relaxed watching the Simpsons.  After dinner, playing another game of Chinese Chequers (my wife won the game today) it was a trip to the river back with my daughter to feed the fish the bread that we were not going to be able to eat.  Anyway, it is time for me to read to them.

Day six in France - Pistashoberry

Well it has been interesting today.  We went to the market in the morning in town and bought fruit and vegetables for the next few days.  After returning home and having breakfast, it was a trip out, initially, we were thinking of travelling a while, but in the end instead went to Bergerac.  However, once there, my iPhone died.  It had been out for repairs before we came to France, but it may have developed a new fault, or it was not fixed properly.  But, other than that, the day in the town was great.  Lunch was good where my daughter made Pistashoberry ice-cream, a mixture of pistachio and strawberry which I was not allowed to eat.  Following this, it was a walk down to the riverfront and a trip on the Dordogne River with a lesson on some of the history of the river and town.  An ice-cream again and then it was a trip home.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to fix my iPhone, but we did have a great dinner made by my wife and played Chinese Chequers.