It seems the forces of nature are not yet finished with us. Last night was the coldest I have experienced in a long, long time – and we had the misfortune to be in a tent! We haven’t enough blankets for this kind of weather. Despite our tiredness it was just too cold to sleep. We were awake practically all night. It was a relief to hear the cocks crowing in the dawn.
At seven o’clock and still dark I got up, put the kettle on then went for a short run to try and restore circulation. But the attempt failed miserably. We were on tenterhooks waiting to see if there was enough gas left to boil the water. There was, and never have a few cups of tea been so welcome.
8.45 am. We are ready to start driving. We had left the engine running for a while with the heater on, and what a relief it is to get in and enjoy the warmth.
Later – in camp. This is the last camp-site of the trip. Today was another three hundred mile day. The early start had indeed paid dividends, and we were able to set up camp while it was still light. But that is jumping ahead.
The road we joined when leaving Lyon yesterday was the same one that we had travelled on the first two outward bound days of our holiday. So there was nothing new in the scenery. The time that we were driving through the various villages was the time that the children were going to school. Seldom have I seen such good-looking kids – all beautifully dressed too. The little boys wear long trousers with blue smocks. The girls all wear coloured, long woollen stockings. They look marvellous and so typically French. We made good speed, keeping up an average of 40 mph. Around lunch time, we stopped and bought two loaves of bread, each 2'4” long and 2” square – we measured them! It tastes wonderful – it’s French bread for me all the way when I get home. I’m so amused by the sight of these loaves. It is very funny to see people coming out of the baker’s shop and strap a loaf onto the pannier of their bicycles.
Further along, we saw great clumps of mistletoe on many of the trees. We were still seeing it two hundred miles further on. Allan tells me that most of the mistletoe we buy comes from France. We stopped. Allan climbed a tree and threw two large clumps of the stuff down. We stuffed them under the bonnet of the car. (Don’t forget, the Fiat is rear engined). But what the mechanics at the filling stations thought when they came to fill up the car, I can’t imagine.
Back in chateau country with a slight oil leak. At Laval the road forked, and we were heading towards Cherbourg and Jersey.
It is really winter now, very cold. Looking at the flora growing all around I suddenly realised what I wanted – a bed of bracken and a warm campfire where I could sit and write my diary.
It didn’t take us long to find a place to camp. It is a piece of common land. There are ferns growing in abundance. I gathered great armfuls of bracken to make a base on which to place my blankets. Anyone watching would have sworn I had finally gone mad.
We opened our last cans of food on the last day – what planning! After the meal, we made a fire from the abundant amounts of dead wood lying around. Now I am sat here writing while Allan is playing with the fire. We shall soon be turning in and tonight I have great hopes of being warm – at last! No matter, as I said, it’s the last camp. Tomorrow night we shall be sleeping in a Cherbourg hotel, now only a hundred and twenty miles away. I’ll report on the success or otherwise of the fern bed tomorrow. As for now, a very hopeful, goodnight.
Speedo reading: 18351. 308 mls. (4807)