Cecilia at the Wheel

Trip Start Apr 30, 2004
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Trip End May 09, 2004


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Friday, May 7, 2004

It's still wet and cloudy. We are due to pick up the girls at the Etap at 7:00 am. We set our alarm for 6:30, jump up, rush through our ablutions and arrive down in the foyer by five to seven. To our dismay we can't get out! The strange revolving entrance door is locked tight. The front office is closed, and there is not a soul in sight. We start looking for alternative exits and fortunately found a side door we could open from the inside. By the time we got round to the car, which we had parked right by the front door, we were running late. We arrived at the Etap at 7:15, with Mum waiting outside in the street under the cold drizzle. We were amazed to see that the Etap was already bustling with guests downstairs enjoying their continental breakfast. Bryan and I looked enviously inside, but Mum told us that the hotel manager had been around checking up on things, and she was nervous that they would find out that she had shared a room with Cecilia and Rocio (Cecilia had paid only for a double room), and that she would get sent to the guillotine.

We finally loaded up and departed Le Puy. It looked a very interesting place, but time was pressing, and we had much to see in the Loire Valley. Some 50 miles from Le Puy we ultimately join the A 75 Autoroute, which we will follow for the next 190 miles almost to Chenonceaux.

Soon after we enter the expressway, we come across an ubiquitous service area, and our stomachs protest for us to stop for breakfast. Here is globalization at its purest. All autoroute/motoway/expressway service centres the world over seem to be exactly the same providing food, magazines, maps, local products and souvenirs. Although the products seem to differ, the layout is uniform. Mum tries for her fried egg breakfast, but is unsuccessful. We make do with the excellent coffee and tasty croissants, and forgive the sameness.

Now it's Cecilia's turn to drive. She wants to say she has driven in France. I am removed from my privileged front seat and have to share the rear seat with Mum and Rocio. We close our eyes, hold hands and prey! But not to fear, Ceci adapts, and is soon speeding the autoroute keeping up with the best of French automobilistes.

The countryside is pastoral, green and pleasant. We pass by industrial Clermont Ferrand (home of Michelin tyres) and the spa of Vichy, and by mid-morning we arrive at the end of the autoroute. Our toll for the 190 miles is € 18.00 (US$ 22.00). 190 miles on the Florida Turnpike would be US$ 15.00.

Now Ceci comes into her own on regular two-way tree-lined highways. We make a few wrong turns in Montrichard, but finally coast down the road beside the Cher River to our next port of call. http://www.french-at-a-touch.com/French_Regions/Western_Loire/loire_valley.htm.
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