Pretty Perfect Pezenas - The Journey Down Day 1

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Hi guys!

Sorry this entry is pretty late. I returned from my trip to Pezenas, France on the 24th and have been non-stop busy ever since!

As the title of this post suggest I had a fantastic holiday 😊 This had to do with the area, journey, accommodation as well as people and activities. After a stressful time dealing with things at home getting away was a perfect relaxation. We hired a Manor House in Pezenas, France as a group of 16.

For me, the holiday begins the moment the journey starts - in this case 4:30am Friday August 8th. I was awoken by my Dad and sleepily got dressed and loaded my final luggage pieces into our tiny old car (who deserves an award for getting us down and back from the South of France easily!). At such an early start time my initial idea was to sleep for the hours journey down to the port in the car with my Dad, his wife and my sister....this however did not happen. The excitement of the holiday was far too much for my brain to rest and therefore I spent the journey sorting the final adjustments to my ipods 'roadtrip playlist'.

Having arrived at Dover we presented our booking information and was directed to our waiting area for the ferry. We had paid an extra £10 for priority boarding which meant we were boarded quickly and first to leave the ferry upon arrival. Since we were early we decided to walk over to our friends truck, who was parked nearby. As we arrived at the Ports truck we found Dudley, Vicky, Dylan, Brandon and Alice all awake and as excited as us! Not long after chatting to them, the other Port family arrived. As well as being the first day of our holiday August 8th was also the 17th birthday of Grace! Because of this Karen, Graham and Grace, who still got the same ferry as us, had decided to travel separately down through France.

Once we had boarded the ferry, the Ports went for breakfast but in true Davis style we headed straight for the on board pub! 2 croissants and an orange juice later we were joined by the rest of our holiday friends. As a whole we are a group of 16 - the Davis' (Rebecca , Emma, Stella and Rob), the Ports (Dudley, Vicky, Dylan, Brandon and Alice and Karen, Graham and Grace) and finally the Jacksons (Katherine, Andrew, Elliot and Lewis). Although, we were not joined the the Jacksons on the ferry as they had decided to leave later and take the train to France.

The ferry journey consisted mainly of chat about what we had all been doing, how excited we were and what plans we had for the holiday. Due to this the journey went very quickly and soon we were all heading back to our cars! Once in and squashed between luggage, food bags and my minnie mouse cuddly we were ready to set off into France.

As promised our priority boarding meant that we were first off the ship, although the Ports who did not pay for priority boarding were a close third! Seeing the sights on the way down is all part of the holiday but since we had all been to Paris before we decided to drive around to beat the traffic...this however did not help. Around 3 hours into our journey we were sat in traffic around Paris. By this time Karen, Graham and Grace had begun their own route and Dudleys crew had taken a wrong turn, leaving us to ourselves. To keep ourselves entertained we cranked up the music and took some silly selfies as well as photos of the surrounding area.

After a few pit stops and random meet ups with the Ports we finally arrived at our overnight hotel in Chanac around 7:30pm local time. Chanac is a commune in the Lozére Department of Southern France and has little to offer tourists, although was perfect for an overnight stop. After dumping our stuff in the assigned hotel rooms we reconnected with Dudley, Vicky, Dylan, Brandon and Alice and headed to the only open restaurant in town. Upon arrival and several exchanges of bad and broken French we discovered the only evening open restaurant in town served only one meal - steak and pasta. As we were the only customers finding room for all 9 of us inside wasn't a problem, luckily as it had just started to rain. As usual kids took one end of the table whilst the adults took the rest, conversation turned quickly to the weird little town and the strange empty restaurant and was soon justified by the creepy man staring at the table attempting to talk to the youngest child in French. It turns out he worked there and was probably a normal nice man not used to tourists however when he entered the room and the increasing storm caused the power to go out leaving us in darkness it didn't help but encourage the thought in my head that when the lights turn back on at least one person is going to be missing. Fortuantly we all survived the meal without being kidnapped, murdered or getting food poisining and had to brave the 5 minute walk back to the hotel bar in the storm. At this point the rain was heavy but not torrential, so with nothing to cover me and bare feet as I cant walk in wet flip flops without falling we braved it. Just as I jumped under the hotels outside cover the storm took a massive turn for the worse as the rain turned torrential, thunder clapped and the lighting strikes were clearly visible in the sky. After watching the storm progress outside and chatting about the old times over a few drinks, we finally decided to turn in around midnight ready for our final part of the journey to the house via the Milau Bridge!

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