The Drive south......

Many of my readers will know this drive so well, but I thought that I would put on a series of photos for readers from other parts of the world.  Sadly the sun always seemed to be in our eyes, whichever road were were on, and many photos were taken on the move with my £70 Samsung, so I ask your forebearance with the  quality!

Autumn colours by the side of the M20 heading out of London to the Channel Tunnel

Not sure, but this was probably a junction between the M25 and M20, but I thought it was an interesting photo of the four level intersection.

The Folkestone White Horse is a stylised figure carved into the chalk of Cheriton Hill near the Kent  coastal town; an echo of the more famous and much older similar figures in southern England.  It overlooks the English terminal of the Channel Tunnel and was completed in June 2003.

In the queue waiting to board the train that takes us through the tunnel

and on the train.  I may add here that I hate the tunnel; when on my own I always travel by ferry. I am not happy with the closed in feeling and being under the sea!

 

Environmentally friendly maybe, but I am still happier 'on top'.

In my view, the French have brilliant graphics on their motorway  signage and the signs often inspire me to dig a little into the history illustrated on them. This sign, and the one that follows, are in northern France  and depict events from the Second World War, fought bitterly in this area.

La Coupole is a bunker complex built by  Nazi Germany in 1943-1944 to serve as a launch base for V-2 rockets against London and southern England. Constructed in a chalk quarry, the complex comprised an immense concrete dome above a network of tunnels that were to house the rocket launch facilities.  However, due to heavy bombing by Allied forces, the Germans were unable to complete the work and it was captured by the Canadian Army in September 1944 The site was subsequently abandoned and it lay derelict until the mid-1990s when it was redeveloped by the French into a museum.

Eperlecques is the site of another part completed rocket launch base, built and captured in the same time scale as La Coupole. It was designed to launch up to 36 rockets daily and was constructed with the aid of 2000 slave workers. Today, the bunker is preserved as part of a privately owned museum that presents the history of the site and the German rocket programme. It has been protected by the French state as a Monument Historique since 1986.

A shorter route south was suggested to us, and mistakenly we thought Paris might be quieter on a Sunday, so we took a trip on the Paris "Peripherique" (ring road)....    Not a good idea!

Most of the views we had of the great city (above and below) were all underground!! I wouldn't like this in the daily rush hour!

Beauce  is a highly productive, very flat, agricultural region southwest of Paris planted mainly with wheat, sugar beet, maize (corn) and barley.. Production has been diversified to include rape seed, potatoes, vegetables (for the canning and frozen food industries), and pulses.

Wind turbines as far as the eye can see.....

Valencay is  in the Loire valley. Its 12^th century Castle was rebuilt in 1540, but an owner in 1747 knocked down a lot of the building; the much reduced castle is  what can be seen today. Its owners seem to have struggled with finance and taxes – nothing changes!

Le Dorat is an ancient town in the Limousin area, with fine examples of Romanesque architecture, especially the 11th Century Collegiate of Saint-Pierre, pictured here.

We took many pictures of road signs, but due to the adverse light conditions, the above were the only ones worth publishing!!

Finally we made it home!

and the boxes and furniture arrived the next day

to await unpacking!

This post has, with Nigel's help, taken several days to write.  I am still not well and I have a really bad cough which is causing major headaches.  What with lack of sleep I am not a very happy person at the moment. I see the Dr again this afternoon so fingers crossed......  I will get back to blogging eventually!

Well, we're back together, in France!

Firstly, thank you to everyone for all your kind comments.  I did manage to answer a few, but with one thing and another, I'm sorry that I didn't have time to get to you all.......


My drive back to the UK house went well, and I stopped off en route to say au revoir to four ex Rhodesian friends, who all live  in the English counties to the south of London.


I managed a couple a days of packing before I went down with the worst cold/flu that I can ever remember having! I felt terrible, but the packing had to continue, albeit much more slowly than before!  Nigel was also unwell, but maybe his winter flu jab  helped him avoid the full effects.   I  had my flu shot a few days later, so I hoped that would be the end of it all.  No such luck and I still have a really bad cough!


Nigel completed his last day at work on Friday 21 October and the day of moving (29 October) arrived quicker than we could bat an eyelid! Keith, our France-based "man and van" turned up as arranged, and with a neighbour's help, we had the van loaded quite quickly and on its way to France.


Keith and his capacious van provide a service we highly recommend to anyone moving to or from the UK to Europe.  He is friendly, reliable, reasonably priced and can pack like a magician; we never thought that it was possible to get all our bits into the van but manage it, he did.  He does deliveries, removals and collections, full and part loads,  works throughout UK, France and Europe including islands. and has  storage facilities in both UK and France.  For quotes and enquires, email keith232@hotmail.com

This is the back half of the van when the doors were opened! Up front was the fridge, the freezer, the tumble dryer, innumerable cardboard boxes, not to mention the euonymous plant in its barrel!!!

It had just passed mid-day when the van left and we were also ready to depart on the trip south ourselves, when we detected a binding front brake problem on the Clio. Luck has to be on your side occasionally, and on this Saturday lunchtime, it was!  One mechanic was still at our local garage and he sorted out the problem in double quick time. When Nigel asked how much he owed, the mechanic said his reward would be for us to have a safe trip to France! Exceptional (and all too rare) service!

At the moment we are in total chaos  dealing with a van-load of boxes, but the most important thing is we are both here at last. There is much sorting out to do but I will be back blogging when I have more time/ feel better.  A bientôt!