Inter-Hotel Les Camelias Bagnoles-de-l'orne

... 00am. Getting here was quite something. High up in the Alps, roads barely wide enough to take the van, precipitous drops, stupendous views, hairpin bends - this days journey had it all. 13.08 09 Aire, Pont-de-Salars N44 16'40.2"E2 4342.7" Quite a pleasant little town. Nice bars and a boule court a few feet from our parking spot. Saw our first lizard of this trip. Since leaving Chateauneuf the deafening row of the cicadas, cigales, crickets - call themk what you ...

... the night was looming. Fearing for his life due to the number of massive water filled ditches and a firm knowledge of Olly's issues when riding a bike we decided to get the police to search. They started looking.

Olly decides to give us a phone call at half 11, at night, 6 hours after we last saw him. He decided to cyle 30 more miles to Le Mans. nob head. Interested to know his logic we arranged to meet up the following day. Unfortunately, we had know ...

... this we drove through some rural countryside visiting small villages and enjoying the scenery. Although we have been enjoying the peace and quiet of the area, the manager of the place we stopped at for lunch bemoaned that there were no tourists. Usually June is a very busy month, but not this year. I guess the economic downturn has affected the tourism industry a lot.

Now we are sitting at the bar drinking the local Calvados - heady stuff. I think i could grow to like it!

... about the fact that it was all 'bloody French food’ and it’s all written in ‘bloody French’! Andre and I had the tact not to laugh in her presence but once we hopped into the car we were rolling in hysterics. Hopefully she finds something in France to her liking.

We then drove to Bagnoles via Le Mans, but I wouldn’t let Andre race the car. It is probably best to leave that to the professionals. We didn’t stop ...

> > After a rather rough night sleep in the rain we set off with > Dominique giving us a lift to the edge of the motorway heading to > Rennes. After a considerably short time at the side of the road we > were picked up by another french guy who offered us a lift 50km up > the road. We decided it would be best to get dropped at the furthest > motorway service station rather than at the side of the road, > however after several hours we began ...

I'm back in France again, this time planning to explore the Atlantic coast and hinterland. I start off in Amiens and stay at the Hotel Central Anzac. Just goes to show how little I know about the First World War, but it's named this to attract the large numbers of Australians (and I guess New Zealanders) who visit the battlefields nearby (the Somme, Villers-Brettoneux, etc),where Australian troops fought - the receptionist actually asks me if I'm there for this reason, and I sheepishly ...

... is her last day of time out. He is sooo mean! ... hehe... Goodbye to the Huets for today. We will meet again at least one more time before we leave France. Its great to have been able to develop a good friendship with these guys. Franck refers to Vincent as his closest friend, "his brother". We continue on our day trip by heading back through Saulges, this time stopping at the caves park. We decide against paying to enter the caves and instead enjoy ...

... resting place for buses before they came on duty. We wondered around for about another 45 min and were on our way baxk to teh first bus station to ask for directions when we noticed a bus with passengers leaving the sketchy looking station. This time there was a driver in a bus so i asked him if it was the correct station and he said it was. This was about 1045. We wated until the bus cam and i clarified that it was the correct bus that ...

... doors at 7:30am. Kristy decided to go to Tuscany for the weekend but Zoe and I stayed two nights there. We decided to go see Vimmy Ridge; We had to go back to Paris to chatch the train, so we were back there for an hour. We are in Arras now and it seems really nice.We are going to be here from tonight and tomorrow night then who knows. Sorry for the long update but internet seems really sparce in France. Laters.

Staying with Aly in the beautiful and peaceful city of Caen. Leaving tomorrow for Spain, I cannot wait for sun any longer. I've decided to skip Madrid for now as Paris has worn me out for big cities for awhile. I will head directly for the very most southern parts.