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It's still raining on and off so we stay in bed until well after 09:00 then have a cooked breakfast. Shortly after the electric trips out, probably waterlogged, but we're away soon so we decide there's no point trying to find anyone to unlock the cabinet. At least Ali can unplug without needing wellies and rubber gloves. It really is a lovely location, but the temperamental services mean we're glad to be here only for a single night stopover. As we drive off the perfectly level pitch, litres of water cascade off the roof from where it was ponding around the skylights, so we'll park slightly down by the front if it's raining to allow it to drain.
When we leave at 11:40 the rain has stopped and it's quite sunny but still only 11C. The town of Coutances is supposed to be interesting so we think of heading in that direction and maybe finding some lunch on this, our penultimate day. On the way we drive through St-Lo and find there is an aire where we can drop our grey water [couldn't find that at L'Abbaye either] and then leaving St-Lo we spot an E.Leclerc supermarket which reminds Ali we apparently need some shopping. While Nick is left waiting in the abandoned husband area the skies let go again, so once the shopping is stowed we decide not to bother with Coutances.
Instead we head directly for our last stop of this tour. A few miles north the sun comes out, roads are dry and we have a pretty 45 minutes driving through the Marais. The drained marshes are flat and lush with grass and trees, mostly grazing land but a few fields of maize. The area is famous for horse racing and, in particular, trotting, and we see many signs for stables and stud farms. We also see signs for Utah beach, Paratroopers museum and other wartime memorial sites.
At Carentan the road dips quickly below ground level under and steel and concrete aqueduct carrying the canal.
We drive through Pont L'Abbe, which is a beautiful town, many warm stone buildings, many of which have be recently renovated and repointed. It also has an unusual traffic calming system; the main street is divided into three lanes and the centre one is a car park so moving traffic has to be careful to avoid opening doors and people walking to and fro.
From Pont L'Abbe we follow a pretty country road with high hedges, trees and green fields, all confirming La Manche's reputation for being a rainy region. We reach our last stop; Chevrerie des Poitevines, a Passion with goats, rare breed pigs, geese, rabbits, donkeys, a lama and, no idea why, two wallabies. We receive a friendly welcome and get settled, then Ali visits the animals and the shop, returning with some goats cheese, goat-milk ice-cream and some pate.
It's a dry evening but cool and windy.
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