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We headed off north from Girona, in steadily worsening weather, and within an hour we were experiencing the heaviest rain of the trip, slowing the traffic to walking speed at times.
We wound our way back into France and then headed north from Nimes, climbing higher and higher into the Massif Central, enroute we passed over the amazing Millau Viaduct, opened in 2004, its 2.5km long, and the tallest pillar is higher than the Eiffel tower, and designed incredibly by British architects
We eventually arrived at the lovely town of Le Puy-en-Velay, and found a great Hotel right in the centre of town. We didn't explore the town until the next morning, as it was still pouring with rain.
The town is unusual because of the many volcanic pillars sprouting out of the ground, one with a church on top!
We were on a tight schedule, so we pushed on via St Etienne, past Lyon then Dijon to Troyes, by the time we found a hotel, and had a quick explore of the town it was the end of another long day.
We left the lovely city of Troyes the next morning and travelled west to Fontainebleau, and marvelled at the massive chateau located there. Built by Francois I in the 1500’s
From here it was on to Versailles where we lunched in the park, and then walked around the hugely impressive gardens which must have been a thousand acres in total.
The Palace has 700 rooms, and was initially Louis XIV began building the place in 1664 and Louis XV used it as the Royal palace until the revolution of 1789.
From here we skirted around Paris, and eventually stayed in the town of Beauvais. Here we stayed in a hotel in the town centre, and were assured that it was fine to park Vladimir in the nearby town square.
But as with all the smaller French towns, English was non existent and we had to rely on our limited French,
It was still a surprise when we went to get Vladimir and found a market had sprung up overnight, and he had been towed away.
We finally found the Police station, but were making very little progress in finding our car, until a French passer-by stepped in to help as he spoke perfect English.
He was a tractor salesman for Massey Ferguson, and was flying out to Beijing that day to sell tractors, but he still had time to track the car down, and give me a lift all the way out to collect it.
90 Euros later we were on our way again north to Boulougne and our ferry. On the way we explored, and got the car stuck, on the Azincourt battlefield, where in 1415 the pride of the French army suffered another humiliating defeat to the English. The Brits winning thanks to their new technology, “the long bow”.
Sugar beet for ethanol production seemed to be the major crop in northern France, and still very little sign of livestock outside in the fields.
Dover was a welcome sight, back in the land of English speakers, country pubs and driving on the left.
We now have 8 days left to explore Dorset, visit my Polo playing cousin Katie, and get to London to sell the car- No pressure!
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