I'm belatedly posting this on 8 May, although I wrote it back in early March. I wonder if I can find a post that I wrote about the final day of that trip?
Where's Bertie? He's at a commercial Aire in Neufchâtel-en-Bray, where we've been many times before, but I think the last time was in 2020. I haven't checked whether the price is still €14. I guess we'll find out when we come to leave tomorrow!
Weather: Sunny and warm
There is little to say about today, another driving day.
There was a pause in the village of Monnaie, where I dashed across the road to a boulangerie for croissant (Mick) and an escargot (me), then we drove a few minutes further to the first suitable layby to eat them.
A couple of hours later, it was feeling like time for a break, and noon was upon us, so I opened the Park4Night App to see if there was any parking area nearby (we were on the N154 at the time, which doesn't have regular service/rest areas), to find that we were within a kilometre of a suitable looking spot that was about 100m detour from the road. It was a good find, and the best part of an hour was frittered there (I say frittered, but I did get a loaf going for tomorrow, feed the sourdough starter, make cheese toasties and a pot of coffee, as well as refreshing our travel mugs and eating lunch).
I tried to magic up a better way of getting around Rouen, but there isn't one, so we took the usual route, somewhere along which Bertie's fuel light came on. I was all for stopping, Mick was confident we could get to our destination, 64km away. Fuel was our first port of call on arrival although only enough to get us to Tesco in Ashford on Sunday, as diesel is currently significantly cheaper in the UK than France (we paid €1.959 today; most stations we've passed have been at €1.999).
It was a surprise to see the Aire here in Neufchâtel so busy, and we took the penultimate space and it wasn't many minutes later that the last one was taken. Good job we didn't tarry longer at any of our stops during the day!
With Bertie settled on his pitch, I soon had my running gear on and Mick and I headed out at the same time - me for a run, and Mick for a walk into town. We were both gone for the same length of time, and thus arrived back onto the site together, with Mick carrying a pattisserie box. If anyone was paying attention to our comings and goings, they must have wondered about my dress sense for a walk to the shops.
Just a short (2-hour) drive tomorrow, then back to the UK on Sunday.
Elevenses was excellent.
The goodies with which Mick returned from his walk into Neufchâtel
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