This photo should have been in the last chapter. The evening meal in Mirepoix was mentioned, but the photo didn’t get inserted. Michel and Diana are sitting diagonally opposite each other; the man raising his glas is their friend, Hugh:

Harry?

Ja?

Do you want to do it?

What?

Write the diary.

Why?

Dunno – I thought you might like to.

So … Aber nein – you do it; I will just, what you say, chip in, when I will.

OK. So it’s day 16, Good Friday, 14th April, and we’re leaving Sonnac at 1.50pm.

You did not seem very sad.

No, I wasn’t. I’d been looking forward to it.

In fact, you drove along saying ‘Bye-Bye’ to everything and everywhere.

I did. ‘Bye-Bye, Camplimoux; Bye-bye, Camon,’ and even, (join in everyone!) ‘Bye-bye, La BASTIDE de BOUSignac!’ And, of course, the Hers, which, incidentally, was not much more than a lickle trickle compared with the full river of nearly two weeks ago. The ‘Piebald Pyrenees’ were different, too, with much more black showing through the snow.

Good Friday is not a public Holiday in France, so I overshot the motorway in Pamiers to go to the Orange shop –

You went to buy oranges?

No, you daft goose, Orange, capital O. I’d been told on the phone that I was NOT to leave the IT equipment in the house, but to take it (livebox and TV decoder) to an Orange shop. That took longer than you’d think! Then back round the roundabout to Intermarché’s fuel station, and so with a full tank and a seriously cluttered interior, not to mention a full garage, with the bed at its highest, we headed north, but only as far as the first aire for a quick, late lunch – just a sandwich. (It was already 3.30) Then the serious travelling began …

However, at Aire Jardin des Causses du Lot I had to stop for a rest, but in the end we did make 351 kms to arrive at the old favourite, Porte de Correze, at 8.30. Supper from a tin, and a good night’s sleep – even on a service area!

 (That’s a photo from a previous journey, but the location and the view are the same. I can’t imagine waking up to a view like that on a British service area, having parked overnight for free!)

Ja; sehr schön.

Day 17, Saturday 15th April. Porte de Correze doesn’t only have scenery and pleasant facilities, but it has an excellent gift shop, with lots of local produce and a wide range of possibilities for presents. Maybe that’s an advantage of not charging for parking – folk go in and spend! So I did that, and bought a croissant for breakfast as well, but drove on the 20kms (15 minutes) needed to get to that other favourite, Briance Ligoure, before enjoying it:

Hey! Why is here little Sally?

Well, if you remember the weather was poor, – cold and showery – on April 15th, so I searched for an earlier photo, and thought a reminder of the ‘old’ days might be fun.

Na, gut.

Of course, I didn’t get out to enjoy my café-croissant at a picnic table! That would have been taking nostalgia a bit too far!

I have table, where you often enjoy many things.

I know – I love it. Anyway, another short hop –

I don’t hop!

This is taking ‘chipping in’ too far! Another short drive got us to J 37, the usual fill-up point at the Centre Commercial just off the motorway. But something had changed – there had always been height limiters approaching the petrol station, and we’d always passed under them, but they used to have ‘dangly-jangly’ bits on them, which weren’t there any more, and they looked lower than before. They were signed at 3m, and Harry is 2.7, but that’s without the TV aerial. Also, there were no vehicles of similar height already on the forecourt, though it was busy. I didn’t want to risk it, but I parked up and went to do some shopping – another place undergoing major reconstruction, then I had to use the SatNav to find the next nearby fuel station, which gave me an interesting ride – not a hop! – round the outskirts of  Limoges – so interesting, in fact, that Carol would have loved it when we passed one verge covered in wild orchids! (She’d have wanted me to stop dead and let her out to take photos – on a ring road!)

I’d allowed an extra day for this journey, to give time to visit Montlouis and Vouvray in the Loire valley, so somewhere between Limoges and Orléans I left the motorway –

So also did I –

WE left the motorway, and since I realised it was probably going to be too late for wine-tasting that evening, which may or may not have been a good decision, we headed for a camp site I’d found in the guide book. This was in the village, or small town, of Salbris, and we got dead lucky – a lovely little lakeside site, with a warm welcome and nice facilities, even a water tap at the pitch. (250 kms driven that day.)

It was remarkably unbusy for Easter weekend. In summer there would be a swimming pool and a bar-restaurant, but never mind, a tin of Cassoulet made a nice enough supper. (It’s a speciality from Castelnaudary, and having never tried it when living nearby, I thought I should before leaving. …. It won’t be on the ‘must have that again’ list. It consists mainly of sausage, other meat and beans.)

Day 18. Sunday 16th (Easter Day) I wasn’t in a hurry to get away that morning, so I took my time using the campsite facilities to attend to Harry’s “water” jobs, and it was 11.25 before we moved off site. Approaching from the south, it made sense to head for Montlouis first (I wish I knew how to put maps on here …). Getting to the town was no problem, but the centre stands high above the river (the Loire) where the wine centres are, and finding the way down was a nightmare! –

Yes, you drove round in the circles, no?

Well, we certainly did do one or two streets –

Very narrow streets!

– we did one or two very narrow streets more than once, but this was because of road works and closures. And if we did drive through a pedestrianised area (it certainly looked like one) it was because I couldn’t find any other way. Still, finally we did get down –

Very steeply down!

– to the riverside and on to a familiar road with a number of wine tasting / selling outlets – BUT! Big disappointment – everywhere was closed! I was assuming that there would be lots of holiday traffic to attract, but apparently not, or maybe strict Sunday laws were in force.

So we moved on to Tours, as we had to to cross the river. After a brief lunch stop – at Harry’s table – on to Vouvray, but fearing the situation would be the same as in Montlouis. But no – maybe not all, but several wine centres were open. I only needed one anyway. Why the North and South banks of the Loire were different with regard to Easter Day opening, I didn’t find out, perhaps the river is the boundary between départements or other administrative areas, but anyway, loaded with 2 six-bottle boxes of still and pétillant (bubbles!), and nowhere to put them, we headed back to Tours to join the motorway to drive north via Le Mans and Rouen.

The rest of the day’s drive was uneventful, even Rouen was free-flowing, or ‘fluide’ as it says on the signs. The season was considerably advanced from just a fortnight before; most of the white blossom was faded or had dropped, but the cowslips were even more prolific. Rape fields and sections of gorse were brilliant yellow, but green was dominant.

I know I go on a bit about it, but I am still amazed by the variety and design of the service areas and lay-bys on French motorways. Pulling in to a previously unvisited layby south of Le Mans, the Aire des Croiselles, I found we were in a sort of mini nature reserve! In fact, the construction of this section of the A28 had been delayed till 2004 because of the habitat of the protected beetle, Osmoderma Eremita, (Hermit Beetle?) Why the French call it the Pique-Prune (Plum Stabber) I can’t work  out since it lives on dead wood, not plums, but this ‘rest area’ has a sector designed to provide habitat for it:

There were also: (click on the photos for titles)

a water meadow

a fragrant area for relaxation

and walls made for lizards to hide in.

However, there was still ground to cover, and we actually got as far as Baie de Somme before stopping for the night. It was 9pm and we’d done nearly 600 kms. The more scenic parking areas would have been out in the wind, and I wanted to be near the facilities, so I parked near the building, and since the restaurant was still open, I had a meal of chicken in white sauce with ratatouille and new potatoes, which was actually much nicer than it looked, having been on the counter for some time, I guess. I also used the wifi to book a ferry crossing for the next day.

Day 19. Monday 17th April Café-croissant for breakfast, and a check on the email, and, of course, a visit to the gift shop – like Porte de Correze, Baie de Somme has an irresistible selection, so a bit of shopping was unavoidable.

Since the break at Limoges, I’d been trying to exchange Harry’s spare gas bottle which was (is) empty. But I should have done it a long time ago – I’d left it too late! –

He called me the dumme Gans!

OK – chalk that one up to you. The petrol stations were all unattended (Easter Sunday / Monday) – pay by card at the pump, but no-one on hand to open the cages of gas bottles. But I didn’t give up – using satnav I found a small petrol station, open, just off the motorway in Calais, and the young man at the till was quite happy to get a bottle out for me – there were six bottles of the right type visible in the cage …. every one of them was empty! But we only found that out after I’d pulled loads of stuff out of Harry’s garage to get at the spare bottle, and spread it around his back wheel on the forecourt (the stuff, not the bottle)!! (There’s no-one to take the best photos!) I did give up! So I have no reserve gas. (The point is that the bottles in question, and the regulator that fits them, are French, or European, so to change to British ones will involve expense and leave me with two unreturnable bottles, one of them with gas in.)

Pleasant ferry crossing, and as we approached Dover (I’ve posted so many ‘White Cliffs’ photos over the years.) I texted the Offspring “The cliffs are very white, the sky is blue and white, and the sea is blue-green. The litter will be ‘orrible.”

I could leave it there, but there are two days to go before Harry gets ‘home’ (i.e. Wakefield) and I resume babysitting duties. We got to Porton Court (Surbiton) at 5pm, 269 kms driving from Baie de Somme, and a familiar yellow Corsa was guarding the most convenient visitor’s parking bay for Harry. Christine and Carol provided a nice evening meal and I found a bottle of Vouvray somewhere. (It wasn’t hard – the two boxes were – and are – still on the top step just inside Harry’s hab. door.)

Day 20. Tuesday 18th April  Harry had a rest day! I spent some time choosing a few – quite a few – of Philip’s clothes to keep, before the family decide what to do with the rest, then later Carol drove us out in the yellow Corsa to Richmond Park when we had a light lunch – fine enough for al fresco. I knew nothing about Richmond Park, although it’s the largest royal park in London, about 2,500 acres and home to over 600 deer (google it for more info).  From King Henry’s  Mound there’s a remarkable view, with an amazing long-distance sight of St. Paul’s through a well-kept gap in the hedges, trees and buildings all the way to central London:

(I didn’t take that – I ‘borrowed’ it from a website) I took these – the first one points away from St. Paul’s and includes (the viewpoint diagram says) Heathrow and Windsor Castle:

Then we went down into Kingston to do the return river trip to Richmond and back – a section of the river I hadn’t done before. This is approaching Teddington Lock:

Back at Porton Court, Judi joined us, which was nice, before we went out for a very enjoyable Chinese meal. The restaurant we’d been to before was closed, so we tried a different one – I think it will stay on the list of options.

Final Day. Day 21. Wednesday 19 April Not a lot to report, really. On the road at 10 am, and took the M42, which enables a stop at Beaconsfield Services, where there’s a Weatherspoon’s for brunch, as well as avoiding any traffic problems around Watford and South Mimms. Then a bit of the A43 gets you to join the M1 at Northampton. No problems anywhere, and arrived at Oakleigh Close at 4.30. 355 kms from Porton Court.

Total round trip in these three weeks, 2336 miles – well done, Harry!

Lots of hard work, one big setback, one major job done, and some nice moments mixed in. I wish I could say ‘back to normal’, but radiotherapy starts tomorrow; return drives to Leeds (about one hour each way) every weekday for the next month …. but that’s the next story.

(Photo by Judi on a previous visit.)