Hit the road Jack - and out into the country

Saturday 21^st May

And so we move on to the next part of our holiday. We picked up our Peugeot this morning around 10am. I don’t believe they finished the paint job on the car – it is matte grey finish; must be a new style of finish. It’s a nice little 208 with just enough room for us and our luggage. Three K on the clock and has that new car smell. Complete with GPS and we were ready to roll. No dramas getting away from the pickup place; no scenic ride through the industrial area; just straight to the service station.

We gave Dora the name of the village where we were headed, hit the go button and off we went. Traffic was fairly heavy as we skirted around the North and West of Paris but once we finally turned on to the motorway headed west traffic thinned out and we moved along at a good pace.

We just decided with 480k to cover today the best option was the motorway (and we were right; you don’t see anything from the motorway) and zipping along at 130k we soon covered the distance. Stopped at one of the service centres for lunch and must have arrived just behind the tour buses as there was a long queue for lunch.

Toll booths – what a circus that was for us especially at the end when paying. The machine didn't like my debit card and I didn't have enough small money for the fee (28.80euro). The machine clearly said use 20,10 or 5 notes and I only had 50. Spoke to the lady on the help phone and she said to insert the 50. Well it was like the pokies paying out as the machine dispensed my change in 1euro coins. At lease we’ll be right for washing machines for a while.

We arrived at our gite just after 4pm and we are very impressed. We are in a nice rural area and it is very quiet. The owners are English so language is no problem. We have just heard from them that there is a fuel strike on so we will have to find out a bit more tomorrow and work out where we can get fuel.

We have just been in to the nearby village for some shopping and dinner and this small village feeling is what we have come to France to enjoy. We had pizza for tea which was really good (Mike and Annette – Mario has competition).

The village of Locmine. The facade of the old church has been kept and a new church built behind it.

The centre of Locmine.

Le Churrasco - where we had pizza for dinner.

A mural on the wall in the centre of town - will have a look tomorrow to see if there is any information about the meaning of the mural.

Nice to have decent wifi - today's blog episode has taken me less than a quarter of the time it was taking in Paris.