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!