Hello, we're back by popular demand (well, George missed us!); another week, another country!
Our mission this week was to explore the possibility of siting the caravan in the vendee area and assess the possibility of all the family using it for holidays.  And I still maintain the idea was a good one! But the practicality is that by the time you've driven down here you've almost lost the will to live (you certainly will have if you're travelled with children!
Left home at lunchtime on Monday to drive to Folkestone; that in itself was nearly 240 miles and took four and a half hours when the traffic was reasonable with no standing traffic queues.  That alone is not a pleasant prospect with children asking if we're nearly there yet before we reach the M62!
Stayed at a Premier Inn which was fine and did full breakfasts but we had no time for it as we rose at 6-15 in order to arrive at the Eurotunnel check in by 7-15; check in itself was easy as it's done electronically at a booth at the entrance; it recognises your car registration from the booking and you only need to confirm details. There is some ferry-type queuing in lanes but you are soon on the train. It's a bit weird driving onto a train and then driving through the carriages but much quicker and more civilised than ferries. The weather in the south of England and northern France was atrocious; full on dark sky and torrential rain.  Overtaking big trucks at 80 was literally driving blind because the spray was like a wall of water; not nice!
The journey from Calais was 410 miles and took 7 hours.  The traffic is much lighter than England but that length of time driving isn't fun! We took full use of modern technology so you just drive over the bridge at the Dartford crossing and it clocks your registration number and bills your bank account so long as you registered beforehand like I did.  Then I have a computer chip stuck inside the car windscreen for the Peage so you can drive up to the barrier; it recognises your chip and beeps and the barrier opens. And, again it automatically bills your bank account.
So we arrived at La Baudonniere, which is a beautiful old chateau in the countryside. The place is gorgeous, the Irish owners are typical, friendly and can talk all day, and very accommodating but the sheer length of time it takes to get here seems pretty much to rule it out for frequent visits.
Breakfast is all about brioche and croissants as you'd expect; it's lovely but doesn't fill you up for the day like a full Scottish, I think it's the lack of haggis; wonder if there's a marketing opportunity here for croissants stuffed with haggis?