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Published: October 5th 2012
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Honfleur
Storm's a-brewing! Tuesday 25th September, 2012 Instead of spending a lovely day sightseeing between
Ploumanac’h and
Roscoff, where we were to stay in a hotel overlooking the water, we spent the day driving the 650 km to
Calais where we stayed in a very standard hotel with a view of the roof! However, it wasn’t all terrible – even though we were on a motorway most of the time, we had some lovely views of country that was new to us (we drove the length of
Normandy and into
Nord-Pas de Calais).
The highlight of the day was definitely our lunch stop in
Honfleur. We were so lucky - we just picked a spot off the map! Although it's obviously well on the tourist route, it had character. The inner harbour was lined with tall, narrow buildings (to us, reminiscent of the 'low countries'😉, bustling restaurants and the sun was shining. We took our
sandwichs to a spot by a large canal but were soon very grateful that we'd brought our umbrellas - it bucketed down! We scurried under a large tree to finish our
sandwichs before making our way back to the car. By the time we got there the
sun was shining brightly (Melbourne much?).
Once in
Calais, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the restaurant in the hotel served really good food.
Wednesday 26th September, 2012 Catching the ferry was surprisingly painless. We had allowed loads of time for mishaps, none of which eventuated so ended up catching the earlier ferry! The crossing was moderately rough so we were glad to see the "white cliffs of Dover" after only an hour and a half.
Today, we only had to drive 530 km, much of which was on the motorway. Unlike the previous day's trip, John didn't enjoy the motorway driving at all - the heavy rain and the congested traffic, combined with having to become reacquainted with driving on the left, made it rather unpleasant. The bright point of the trip was a very quick stop to admire Stonehendge (from outside the fence). We stopped for lunch in a town that Ali refuses to remember the name of and ate in a pub that she also refuses to remember the name of - because, while the beef and ale pie was OK they served it with frozen vegies! On the up side, John
Lunch in the rain
It got heavier after this. was impressed with the barman for offering a taste of the different beers on tap before buying.
We stopped at the Tesco in Launceston for supplies. While we were impressed by the range of goods, the amount of packaging is appalling (as is the dominance of generic branded products - John's pet hate). There were shelves and shelves of 'ready to cook' lines and so much of the fruit and veg was packaged - way more than we see in Australia (although, that is undoubtedly where we're heading).
North Hill is just 6 miles (yes, "miles") down narrow roads lined with hedges and trees (occasionally forming an arbour right over the road). It's a very pretty drive with occasional glimpses through the odd farm gate of the verdant green fields beyond. The village is tiny - there's not even a shop - but of course there is a church and a pub! The houses are almost all made of the local granite as is our cottage (Ingledene). The fire in the cottage was set and there was a good supply of logs and an unexpected supply of food in the fridge (eggs, butter, juice, milk and bread). It
The "white cliffs of dover"
Rubbish photo, but had to include it! felt very welcoming and home-like with family photos on the walls and the shelves bulging with books, maps, games and such. It's a narrow three-storey cottage with exposed beams and very low ceilings. The applicances, however, were state-of-the-art. After a glass of wine and bowl of nuts for dinner, we hit the sack!
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