I can't belive I did that !!!

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Geo: 42.0534, 3.19767

06/07/11 Sunny 21 oC

Today we're returning to our dear friends Chris & Julia in Chatillon-sur-Indre We had decide to play a joke on Julia when we arrived, as nearly every time we visit I have some ailment or another, so after a beautifully relaxing drive through the French countryside (it's not often you can say that these days in England , but we avoid the motorways whenever possible) we pulled up in a lay by some 5Km from their house; where we dressed my arm up in a sling, attached a neck brace, a wine soaked eye patch, and a bandage for my thumb.

The drive into the village was interesting with the occasional motorist doing a double take, but as we drove through the village itself we alarmed quite a few of the locals who couldn't believe their eyes. As usual we arrived to a warm reception and then there was that moment of realisation that something was horribly wrong, the look on Julia's face was a picture, and then the penny dropped: laughs all round as she shouted Chris to come look at the invalid.

A month before our return Chris had agreed to put up guests for different functions he's involved with within the town, as well as hosting a surprise birthday party with guests staying over, as well as a dinner for 16 visitors who were to visit the town. That in its self doesn't sound too bad except for the fact that he's still in the middle of converting what was an empty space upstairs albeit that he's now got the stairs in and the bed rooms and bathrooms pretty much completed, with the exception of the connection to the water and waste systems! That may not sound too much of a problem but the farmhouse currently doesn't have mains water the current water source is from their own bore hole, with waste going to a Fosse Septique (http://www.brittany-property-direct.com/france-septic-tanks.asp). The installation of a new septic tank in the adjacent field and connection to mains water is imminent so all work regarding both water and waste needs to take into consideration the pending water and septic tank installation to avoid duplication of work and effort. Not a problem in the normal scheme of things but Chris has now committed himself to a number of deadlines, failure isn't an option! Fortunately we're completely self reliant and hopefully neither increased their stress or workload (I sincerely hope that was the case, Chris & Julia).

07/07/11 Sunny 21 oC

Tomorrow afternoon the Tour de France passes close to the village so it had already been arranged that a number of Chris's friends were meeting at his place at 12:30 and everyone was bringing different items of food for a planned picnic on route to the place where the cyclists where scheduled to pass around 16:00 so it was off to the supermarket in the morning to buy our contribution (sorry nothing home made, too short a notice)

In the evening we invited Chris & Julia joined us in the caravan for an evening meal of Mushrooms a La Grecque, swordfish with salsa, followed by melon and Licquer coffees, a great night with great company.

08/07/11 Sunny 21 oC

By the time I'd gone to the boulangerie and we'd had our breakfast there was little to be done before guests arrived ready to set out for the picnic. Off we set in four cars, the selected picnic site was already occupied when we got there (someone else had the same idea) we eventually discovered a place to stop adjacent to a small lake and set about setting out tables and chairs, as well as the food and drink, every car that passed honked their horn, with numerous people shouting out " Bon Appetite" oh how it's so different from home, where abuse, a two fingered salute, or worse would be the norm, certainly never the friendly free spirit extolled by the French.

Whilst the Cyclists were due to pass around 16:00 there's a caravan that passes for up to two hours ahead of the riders, by caravan I mean a never ending procession of bedecked cars of the local authorities, fire, ambulance services, police, and gendarmes, all with klaxons and horns sounding off. In addition there were numerous floats from the sponsors, who were throwing out all sorts of goodies from hats, key rings, free samples, of sweets, biscuits, and drinks, newspapers , fridge magnets, spec cleaning cloths, and numerous other items which flew about me whilst I was trying to film. I managed to get a free sample from Vittel sprayed all over me and the camera. Some of the staff throwing the stuff out were having fun deliberately hitting people with the items being thrown, it was really good atmosphere. I should add at this point that there were ten of us sat at the roadside all with union jack flags surrounded by about a hundred French, most of the sponsors either came across to us our passed comments about us on their PA systems, it was a truly brilliant atmosphere.

09/07/11 Sun & Cloud 21 oC

This afternoon it's a surprise birthday party for Janet one of Chris & Julia's friends who's moving to France next week. Everyone's bringing a contribution for the buffet so this morning we're off to the town of Loches which has a good market on Saturdays so it'll be nice to browse for last minute bits and pieces, as well as getting a couple of flans for the party tonight, as well as getting cheap diesel from the larger supermarket there. When we got back there was one very pleased Chris, two of the bathrooms were now connected up, so running water was available, as were the toilets!

I'd promised Chris I'd cut the grass when I got back so after due instruction it was off on the ride on mower for a couple of hours grass cutting, followed by cleaning out the lean to porch which is to going to be the food area, with informal seating in the gazebo, and tables and chairs dotted around the back garden, I was ready for a shower after all that, as I was covered in dust and grime and bitten by all sorts disturbed whilst working.

By the time guest started to arrive the lean to was bedecked in bunting the food was all out, everything was ready and it all looked great. Slowly more and more guests arrived until finally Janet and her husband Nick arrived, she was completely taken back it was such a well kept secret. The wine flowed, the food was a treat, and the company was convivial to say the least, some of them we'd met before but the majority were new to us, in next to no time the singing started, well we sung everything from Northern ditties (two of the couples were from the North East) to rugby songs, the music man etc.

Half way through the evening Yves arrived he's the local mayors' adjutant with responsibility for sport and children a really nice bloke who despite his limited English entered into the spirit of things straight away joining in with the songs, singing his own French rhymes and songs and generally enjoying himself. It was interesting to hear him say that's it's the Brits who have revitalised the town. For the local European week a number of Brits are organising a Jeux Sans Frontiers event which should prove to be good fun, everyone just mucks in it's a wonderful environment. By the time we staggered back to the van it was 01:00 but what an enjoyable night.

10/07/11 Overcast 20 oC

We set off around 80:30 for an uneventful but thoroughly enjoyable drive to the village of Licques some 20 mls south of Calais. We had all ready decide to pop into our favourite seafood restaurant in Calais to mark the what was in effect the end of our travels and holiday, so after setting the van up and unloading the boxes of cheap Spanish spirits ( 1 ltr Grants whisky £8.75 !! & Pastis £12 a ltr ) we set off a a gentle drive into Calais.

We were really surprised at just how busy the place was , we'd never seen it as busy as this, to be fair it was now a very hot but pleasant Sunday afternoon, as well as the fact that the French school holidays had already started. Both the roads and the pavements were full, so we decided to drive down to the car park by the pier, we often park here as it's nice to stroll along the pier where you're so close to the ferries arriving and departing. As we approached the height barrier to the car park Linda said " the limits 2.1m are we ok?” Of course we are I said as we approached "we've parked here many times so unless they altered the barrier then” CRASH what the b****y hell I managed to get out before we both realised we'd still got the roof box on!!

Now the cars 1.98m high so I never go under any barrier that's less than 2m just to be safe, but with the box on the car's effectively 2.45m and 2.45 doesn't go into 2.1 without something giving way. In a complete state of denial I got out to see what I thought was going to be a scene of utter devastation, certainly of the roof box and probably the roof bar mounting points. Still in a state of shock a woman came running up to us saying “keep going you're through it”, how the hell can I be through it I thought, but sure enough I was!

I turned around to get back in and as you can expect everyone was looking at the stupid Englishman who smashed through the barrier, a meteor strike couldn't have made a hole big enough for me to crawl into. I was still in a daze trying to figure out why the roof box wasn't splintered into hundreds of pieces with the contents strewn all over the ground.

I was embarrassed to say the least; incredulous that somehow we'd got through the barrier and was now carolled in the car park with no way out as both the entrance and exit have 2.1m height barriers and bollards define the perimeter. The exit barrier was solid 4” steel bar affair so there was no way I could force my way through there. Nervously walking back to the entrance barrier the uprights were also 4” steel uprights but the cross bar was a 6” red and white plastic coated affair (with great big black streaks underneath!!) presumably with a 4” solid core. I really didn't fancy going back out through there as surely the roof box would just disintegrate after a second assault.

There was little else for it but to find a space and park the car up, there was no way I was going to examine the damage in the car park and bring further attention to myself. Linda suddenly said those ice cream vans are on this side of the bollards so how did they get in? A nonchalant walk around the cars park revealed a low single bar gate between the bollards sufficient wide for me to get through and unlocked. One of the funniest things was watching the faces of some of the motorists who looked at our car and couldn't work out how we'd got in as there was no apparent damage!

The plan of action was to drive down the lane nearest the ice cream vans stop suddenly, Linda would jump out, open the barrier and I'd by through before you know it and she would jump back in, we had to be careful and quick as the local police patrol this area very frequently, and sure enough just as we turned away they did their circuit.

The car park has alternating lanes going up and down but in true French style all four lanes had cars driving down towards the exit, but I need to drive up so we had no choice but to walk around for a while until the traffic reduced and then we made our way back and started up the lane only to be met with a car coming down again, anyway we soon resolved that (he gave way) and we made out escape just as planned, oh to be free.

We made our way to the restaurant which has a very large car park opposite it ( no there's no b*****y barriers on this one) we had previously decide to park there as with the car full we could keep an eye on it whilst dining, fortunately we managed to park opposite the restaurant which was perfect. We examined the car and the roof box but the only damage apparent was a crack across the rear of the top and a couple of cracks above one of the locks. So with that we retired to the restaurant for a dammed good drink and a fine meal, before returning to site.

11/07/11 Sunny 20 oC

Still reeling from yesterdays shock I examined the roof box but decided against open it up just in case I couldn't get it closed again; all the mountings seemed secure so I was happy that we could make the journey home tomorrow without any difficulties.

We decided to visit the “Ascenseur à bateaux des Fontinettes” (Fontinettes boat lift) which was built in 1887 linking the rivers Lys and Aa.There's a height difference of 13.13m at this point and it replaced the previous 5 locks which took between 70-90 minutes to traverse and at peak times it could entail a wait of up to a week .The caissons each weigh 792 tons inc. the caisson, water,and piston to which an additional 64 tons of water is added to the higher caisson. We spent a delightful couple of hours looking around the place, along with the new lock which replaced it as it's only a short walk away . As we approached the new lock a large barge exited, I walked back down to the canal side to take some photos when I noticed the last hold was being filled with water, curious I though he must be washing the hold out. As I walked along the canal it became obvious that there was no way it was going to be able to pass under the railway bridge so I had to follow it to see what ensued.

The front of the barge went under OK but then it stopped as the wheelhouse was clearly too tall so the barge came to a halt I waited and waited but nothing was happening so I decided to make my way back. When I got to the lock all became obvious the reason he was filling the last hold was he was ballasting the barge so that the front rose up and the rear dropped down, really clever, so I raced back to the bridge just in time to see the barge disappear in the distance having successfully passed under the bridge.

Back at the lock there was another large barge coming through so we watched it transit the lock and monitored its progress from the top of the lock. Like the previous one he was ballasting the barge but some distance from the bridge rather than with his bow under the bridge, presumably because he wasn't as tall overall. After a couple of minutes the engine roared into life the water at the stern was giving off a wild wake and he charged the bridge, clearing it by a small margin, that's one experienced bargee.

Just time for the final shopping of perishables French cheeses, butter, smoked garlic sausage, and croissants for the morning, on the way back to the site.

12/07/11 Overcast 17 oC

Hitched up and off for 06:30 for the 08:20 crossing, which was, as usual calm as a mill pond, no problems at customs, arrived home safely after a 3 ½ drive.

Now to catch up with the backlog of mail.

Hope this blog has given you as much enjoyment as it has us.

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