V pleasant evening at Ian and Michelle’s on Tuesday followed by a full on Wednesday. We visited the Historic Royal Dockyard for the first time. Truly impressive. HMS Victory was stunning and the Mary Rose v interesting. Even bumped into @Sue Black having a day out with one of her many grandchildren. Afterwards to Gunwharf Quay for a Nandos then hung around to see the eclipse before getting into the queue for the 23:00 Brittany Ferries boat to Caen. Time passed quickly enough and were one of the first on, having paid for the privilege. Our cabin was also ready and we were straight in despite many announcements asking people to wait in the public lounges as their cabins weren’t ready. They did ours first obvs. Queued for ages for a pint of Lagunitas. Longer than it took me to drink it. Everyone waiting for their cabins were in the queue. Bed by the time the ship set sail at eleven.
The wake up call this morning was a brutal 04:45. We had breakfast delivered to the cabin and were one of the first off the boat and through passport control by seven. This is when we found that if THG brings our marriage cert next time she could stay indefinitely despite being a Brit. Irish passports ftw. Lucky girl. We are unlikely to want to go to Europe for over 3 months in a year which is the current allowance.
We made good progress on a fairly empty French motorway system. 267 or so miles from Ouistreham to Les Sables. Couple of pit stops to fuel up on caffeine. Was quite tired after the overnight voyage. Arrived in Les Sables D’Olonne by twelve thirty ish. The room was not ready, natch but we sat in the “Club” for some time whilst I did some admin and THG caught up on the Archers or similar.
After a while we set out onto the hot streets of Les Sables. The hotel, the Vertime, is directly opposite the port and we strolled to a small bar at the back of a fishmongers. I had fish and chips and THG had a crab roll. The fish and chips, with tartare sauce but a salad instead of mushy peas, was just right fair play. Washed it down with some fruity beer that was ok.
Bit if drama as we were sat there. There was a loud bang and I turned around to see that a black SUV of some sort had hit something, very loudly. THe front was caved in, the passenger wing mirror demolished and the front bumper had fallen off. “Fortunately” a local cop was on the scene in seconds and was able to direct the traffic down a road they hadn’t planned on using but the main drag to the port was blocked by the aforementioned UV. By the time we had finished lunch (3ish) and headed home the road was still blocked.
The walk back was hot and sweaty. It’s around 34 degrees here in Les Sables. However the place we had intended to stop at, Loches is pushing 40. Would have been unbearable. I only changed it on Tuesday when I saw the weather forecast. The Vertime was one of the few decent hotels with availability on this part of the west coast and I think we got the last room. It’s a good enough hotel with a great rooftop bar with a wonderful view over the port. Unfortunately the space below it, over the road, has been converted to a concert venue for the weekend and during our time here it is going to be very noisy. They didn’t mention this until after I’d booked. The last thing we need after a very short night’s kip last night is a couple more nights of disruption. It is what it is. From Saturday onwards we are staying at a farmhouse in 75 acres of land near a village called Cussac. The only noise will be coos. We can catch up on sleep then. We also have a great pool to ourselves. The whole fam is coming. Shud be gud.