Motoring

We have driven the entire length of France over the course of two days. We are probably biased but the journey didn't seem as interesting as driving through Spain. The western side of the country seems fairly flat and there is enough room for the motorways to pass by towns without being able to see them. In general therefore 1000km can pass without witnessing more than a subtle change of scenery. A medieval pilgrim on his way to London would no doubt have encountered all sorts of strange happenings on the way through France but if the modern day traveller puts his head down and foot on the gas it is pretty much possible to pass through without incident. So we have very little to report about the country that has brought the world some very good wine and cheese, turned frogs legs and snails into food, turned strikes into an art form and given birth to Napoleon, popular revolutions, William the Conqueror, Joan of Arc, General de Gaulle and of course Thierry Henry.

The highlight of the journey was a very fine evening spent with Suzanne's great friend from school, Fran, her husband Laurent and their boys, Julien and Tom near Nantes.  They live in a nice village house with a big garden and we sat outside drinking wine and barbecuing dinner while we caught up with the events of the previous five years since we last saw them.

Suzanne & Fran reunited

Maria the Spanish Tom-Tom woman guided us pretty well, although we weren't expecting to spend so much time in an industrial estate on the edge of Rouen. Nevertheless we arrived on time for our eurotunnel shuttle to Folkestone.

The other side of the Channel Tunnel went well too as we drove in bright sunshine up the M20 to London but after 2250kms with zero traffic hold ups our luck was bound to run out somewhere. And of course that somewhere was just the wrong side of the Blackwall Tunnel. After a lengthy delay we made it through the last few miles to our London home, which I last saw more than eight months ago. It was a good reminder of what we have been missing. The infrastructure can't cope, everyone is in too much of a hurry, the cyclists are living on borrowed time and the pedestrians in Hackney still think they have right of way over cars. There were various road closures and detours as we relied on local knowledge instead of Maria who is probably sobbing inside the Tom-Tom and pining for Valencia.

But we've made it all the way back by road and we have a week to reacquaint ourselves with the flat, friends and family and the office.  I wonder what we will make of it all. After visiting Africa and Latin America in the last few months this could be the biggest culture shock of our year away!