We slept well even though we had to have the fan on all night as it was so hot. It was easy to get ready quickly and load the car up before we went for breakfast at the same place we had eaten last night. Another good meal - self service buffet and lots of choice although I wasn’t starving hungry after last night.
Then it was a short drive to Folkestone shuttle terminal and although we were told we were on an earlier train as we ourselves were early, in the event there were delays and so we set off around the time we should have done. Colin drove on and it was very tight and we were up level which was rather daunting. I actually found it rather claustrophobic - more so than the Eurostar. It take 35 minutes to cross and once in France, as all passport checks had been done in the UK, it was simply a drove off and heading for Rouen (first big place). Our neighbour Jamie had lent us his toll gadget so initially being concerned whether it would work, it did perfectly so we could simply pass through them when it beeped and the barrier went up - much easier than faffing around with credit cards or notes.
It was quite a busy drive to the cafe and hypermarket we had selected in Louviers as being around half way. It was very disappointing to find everything as planned but the fact that the cafe had stopped serving food early. We had to make do with food from the hypermarket although the woman was kind enough to let us use her table and chairs!
Next it was my turn to drive towards our final destination. What should have been about 2.75 hours stretched well past 3 hours as we were stuck behind a lorry for over 1.5 hours which refused to slow down, pull in or let us pass. We finally saw it signal left and leave our route precisely 2.5kms before we reached out final destination! We found the place fairly easily and also parking off road almost by the entrance gate which was handy. We have an entire little cottage in the arounds of the owners house and near to their swimming pool. Rather unusually we have had to bring bedding and bath towels - an odd situation which I have only ever come across in France.
There are rather steep stairs to the mezzanine level where the bed is located but otherwise it is very nice and private with our own decked ares and outside seating. We were absolutely shattered - this is about the maximum that we would want to drive in a day. Our plan had to be to go out to eat but in the event we were both so tired that we got back in the car and rove frisky to ta Carre Four Express before ti closed at 9.00pm and bought some bread, cheese and pate for a dinner outside on the table with chilled beer and a tabby cat begging for food in the manner of Whisky the cat back at home!
