Welcome back

 Tuesday 15th April 

It's 3am here and body clock has no idea. I feel like I've had enough sleep for now but it will be a different story at 3pm. 

Our stopover in Singapore was OK. The airport hotel was at the other end of the airport so it was a train ride and a long walk. We had the room for 21 hours (a prostitutes room I said - paid by the hour). We filled our time there with a visit to the Butterfly House and 3 meals. We found the hawker food court and were happy to eat there - cheaper and nice Asian dishes. 

The flight to Paris was OK - just long, 13 1/2hrs. We arrived at 8.15 am ready to pick up the car and hit the road. A nice Peugeot 308 - same as my old car but current model. We got an auto this time which makes for 'smoother' driving. Thankfully all our cases fit (one in the backseat) - was worried about that - the car was booked for 2 and now we are 3.

So off to Le Mans for our first night. No special reason for being here except it is about half way to Nantes - our next stop. Lunch on the way at a roadside relais where we introduced Kerry to what we call a tradies lunch. For the uninitiated - these are cafe/restaurants where at 12noon you can find lots of tradie vans and trucks stopped for lunch. Apparently the government give some sort of allowance to workers to stop and have a good lunch - and also a way to keep these smaller businesses open. Usually a set menu with 2 or 3 courses and sometimes cheese  coffee and wine. A couple of families with kids at this relais - we're not sure if it's school holiday time here because schools seem to be very quiet.

The drive around the top of Paris was on the main peripherique road - lots of traffic and quite nerve racking and we were happy when we finally left the traffic behind and hit the open road. Passed through a lot of cropping country. Everything is so lush and green here as they come out of winter. A lot of wheat and canola.  Looks very different to farms at home - they sow right to the edge of the road and there are no fences that we saw anywhere. 

We took a detour to a village called Montagne au Perche, to show Kerry a little taste of the older villages. Just a quick stop for a few photos.

Very healthy canola crops.
Such a change from the drought colours of  Shepparton.

The village of Montagne au Perche.

So here we are at Le Mans. A very basic hotel but beds are comfortable and showers hot. Dinner last night was a trip to the supermarket then heat our food in the shared kitchen. Le Mans is a big university town and lots of young people at the hotel. 

Today we will do a quick visit to le Mans racetrack before moving on.