Comfort Hotel De Beaulieu Poitiers

... around the pool in the sunshine for a week, until the weather changed and became more autumnal. Helene left us after a fez days, and we stayed on our own in coussay whilst papa, maman and granny went back to Thouars. It's nearly the end now, only one more stage until we come back home!

... down the Nile, felt the effects of a meteor hitting the earth, dodged dinosaurs and experienced the lunar landing from the viewpoint of an animated fly.
We reached another Howie milestone when both parents chickened out of the dancing with the automated robots. The boys described this experience as 'awesome'. We will take their word for it.
Our campsite tonight is a special Campervan designated carpark, a bargain at only 6 euros, we just need to be on our way before 8am.

... bus we were meant to meet on because of a non-functioning credit card and a long queue for tickets, anyhow, she got the next one and I had chance to catch up with Julie and Douglas and little Mhairi at the park. Then back to the station to collect Kaja who turned out to be a lovely person. Back then to the house and settling in. Luckily for me and on account of me having had the little room last time, I've been allocated the larger room with a ...

Distance covered: 54.6 miles

So a pretty basic day. After a few miles of cycling we climbed up the stairs under an overpass for a nice sheltered spot for lunch (obviously because it was raining... again). Fortunately, the rain stopped and the sun came out in a big way (bigger than if Bear Grylls came out).

We cycled a stupid distance as ...

... lost in the city centre. Then it started raining so much you could barely see.

30 miles down the road it was still raining and we pulled into a shopping complex for some food. Then the sun came out, our hangovers were gone, and we started cooking. . . . just sitting outside the shop on the ground on the edge of the car park. Every other car beeped at us in confusion. Can't a man just cook himself a meal! I ...

... is packing up a bit so I'm getting a bit freaked out about whether or not I'm going to be able to make all my commitments and rather wishing I'd thought to take a weeks break - I may have done I suppose if I hadn't had the attack of the IHs... Anyway, I'll keep on going as long as I can ignore the pain as I'm damned if I'm letting my knackered old bod stop me doing this.

Back to the story, Amanda is a fantastastic cook and everything meal is a treat with ...

... snoring. This time Jeff actually put headphones on so he couldn't hear me. I felt really bad but it's not like I can help it. We wake up and he takes me to the bus station. I pretty much sleep the entire three hours to Nantes. It was awkward because it's a huge bus and I was the only one on it for 2 hours. I have no idea why. Oh well. I'm home now and I'm updating this, packing for vacation, and calling people. It'll be a nice slow relaxing day. :)

... is like a park. They have camp sites, parking for big camper trailers. It is setup very nice. There were at least 20 or 30 Motor Homes in the parking lot. The Castle is probably one of the most beautiful Castles in France. I drove around it and took a lot of pictures. Of course by now it is getting late and the Castle is closed. I walked around the grounds and looked at the gardens and the closed shops. Coming in I saw a sign that says Orléans 59 kilometre., Paris 89 kilometre ...

... around the cathedral then headed back to the car. Finding our hotel proved to be extremely difficult. We drove round and round, in and out of the city without being able to find the road back to Poitier Sud. It was peak hour but Margaret handled herself and the car with considerable aplomb. At long last we found the N10 and, not long later, the hotel. Poitiers had not proved particularly interesting but it didn't matter as it was only ever meant to be an overnight stop on the way to the Dordogne.

... avais rien d'autre à faire sur le campus en attendant et, guess what, le secrétariat est fermé le mercredi! Je trouve alors un horaire pour les étudiants du masters et je m'arrange pour avoir un guide de la fac de psycho. J'y comprends absolument, complètement, s-w-e-e-t f-u-c-k a-l-l. C'est, sans aucun doute, l'horaire le plus mal fait que j'ai jamais vu. Non seulement les cours se donnent-ils à des heures différentes d'une semaine à l'autre, mais les profs qui ...