Hopping North and Skippy the French ........

Better in the real summer!

We found the site fairly easily, arriving around 5pm to find desertion! Finally a guy appeared and said we were very early:- check-in was at 6pm, but we could unload a bit and come back then. He said he was relieved to see the car GB plate as his Spanish isn't very good! It had stopped raining but it was cold and wet underfoot. We took ourselves off to St Florentin for fuel and supplies and when we returned were made very welcome. We had expected there to be numerous chalets, but there were two - with a large group of workers with white vans in the other! The site itself was also smaller than expected and virtually empty:- hence the restricted hours of attendance!

Even Bob had to take to jeans and trousers!

Our chalet was newly equipped, clean and quite well laid-out, but ....given the weather forecast had two serious problems! First, it was very, very cold. The nice guy in charge went out and bought a small portable heater that stopped ice forming on the bedroom window, and with extra layers and a warm duvet we coped. The other was that the WiFi did not stretch to the chalet, so there was no live TV and to get on-line we had to either catch the office when open or sit (suitably wrapped) outside it. This isn't exactly a desperate problem, but with thunder, rain pounding down on the metal roof and nowhere to go Greyrocks longed for "home" comforts! As the days passed and the grim weather prospects for the weekend became clear we discussed the unpalatable plan of booking into a hotel!

Not as pretty as the du Nivernais

But for a few days we did our best to enjoy what this section of the Canal du Bourgogne had to offer. Brienon itself is a staging post and has some interesting old buildings, St Florentin is larger and we watched some boat action there. Migennes is its end and it joins the River Yonne there. We had a day there (around the newly developed station) but got caught in a thunderstorm and took refuge in a Chinese restaurant for lunch. We liked Tonnerre and spent the only sunny and dry day there, including a late picnic lunch beside the canal, where Ruth had a session on an outdoor cycling machine!

The meteo however was insistent:- Saturday would be foul, and we couldn't face a Bank Holiday weekend en chalet, so we bit the bullet, made our excuses to the nice camp manager, packed Yvette in the rain and set off 20km down the road to a Campanile hotel near the city of Auxerre! Its location - amongst other "modest" and worse hotels - on an industrial estate is nothing to rave about, but within minutes of entering a warm room with a TV and fast internet we knew we had done the right thing!

On a day that was mostly dry, but very cold we retraced parts of last year's Burgundy stay by following the Canal du Nivernais from Auxerre. this confirmed that it is a more scenic and interesting canal than the Bourgogne.

Our Sunday lunch was in Auxerre city itself - in the rain and wind! Before and after we managed  some strolling round the central area and along the quay. Back at the hotel we monitored the count of the second round of the presidential election. We raised half a glass to Macron and heaved a sigh of relief!

The last full day in France meant a straightforward drive - almost entirely on autoroutes - to St Quentin. We ere booked into the new Kyriad, and on arrival found the car park bustling with two busy groups:- one presparing publicity materials and activities for the region of Hauts-de-France, and the other for the cycling team of Shimano. It seems there was to be a major race the next day, and indeed at breakfast we saw many, many bikes in different states of assembly. It was an early rise for Greyrocks too as we had been disturbed since 3am by a great deal of noise from the kitchen next door to the room. (When we appraised management of this we were given our breakfasts for free!)

But we had a delightful experience for dinner the evening before! Following up a lead from last year's overnight in St Quentin we ate early at Crocodile - one of a chain in Northern France - being given seats in the iconic railway carriage outside, relishing the inclusive wine and one of us (guess which!) giving kangaroo a try. Not very French, but good fun!

As we headed further North in the morning the weather improved, and we made a dash into Carrefour fo supplies requested by Chloë and then took a smooth crossing back to the depressingly self-destructive nation that is Greyrocks' place of birth!

May Day:- Bring out the warm clothes!!

 Greyrocks has previously noted the accumulation of Bank Holidays in May in France. This year May 1st and 8th were  Mondays, so we have two consecutive "long weekends", and it was pretty dumb to plan long motorway journeys on the Saturdays, but we did!

"Fete des muguets" & freezing!

The second was from Lattes to our overnight in Cahors, and involved passing round Toulouse at lunchtime, but we survived - missing some "nasties" reported close-by on the radio. In fact we put the stay down as a great success. (We have bad memories of unintended encounters with Cahors, and the weather forecast was bad!) We arrived early and sat in the sun outside the Campanile hotel with beers and sandwiches.  It was hard to believe we were on our way North! The topography of the Tarn area is stunning.

By next morning the meteo was insistent: orange alert for two-thirds of France, with high winds, rain and hail. we set off in fear back up the A20:- destination Confolens and our old friend George! it was a smooth (free) run on this scenic road, and even the non-motorway bit after Limoges was fine - with threatening skies, but no weather events! We met up at the brand new house (occupied for only a couple of weeks!) and during an extended lunch the storm started with a vengeance - including the hail! During a slight let-up we drove down into town and checked in at the hotel: L'Emeraude. It is known by an almost rhyming and medical name by the local ex-pats, and it is - indeed - past its golden age, but friendly, adequate and we had a good dinner there!

Next day we had a lunch date with George but beforehand girded the loins with freshly unpacked warm clothes and headed off to beat the bounds of Confolens. We bought a bunch of lily-of-the-valley as is traditional and stopped on the old bridge for a photo opportunity. Five minutes later we were running back to the car as another thunderstorm started. Lunch was at Lesterps where we have been twice before - and the food was well up to standard!

It rained for most of the day and we had a long drive the morning after (in Greyrocks terms) that was also mostly in the rain - frequently torrential! Frustration was not helped by a major diversion adding 20 slow miles North of Limoges and more HGVs than normal after the Bank Holiday. We were bound for Brienon on the Canal du Bourgogne and had a booking for a week in a chalet on their campsite. We hoped there would be good heating!