N and N's New Adventure: Day 45 July 8 Sunday

Day 45 July 8 Sunday

Rouen to Bath, UK

We went downstairs for our final breakfast in France. We were the only people down for breakfast. There weren't even any eggs fixed. The owner said that usually there are not many people down for breakfast early on Sunday. He went off to make fresh scrambled eggs for us. They were better than they have been other days. The warm croissants are excellent.

The party people had been out again. This time they were out about 5:00 AM. They were standing in the street intersection just north of the hotel. They were singing. Strange ..... very strange. Once again I asked the owner about the night time festivities. This time he said that it was the university students who had just finished exams. Apparently they all spend a few days partying (it seems to me that it is night) after the completion of the term.

We went back up the stairs for a final time to get our luggage and headed to the car park. We got everything loaded and headed back for Ouisttreham to the ferry. Since it was where we had been yesterday, the route was more familiar except for the wrong turn not far from our hotel. We ended up down by the river without an obvious way back up. Finally, Pete just went up the ramp the wrong way and did a right turn to get us back. It was Sunday and there wasn't any traffic.

We were out of Rouen and back on the A13. We ran through some rain so the road was wet. We saw a woman in a little tan car with her back left fender and bumper cover flapping in the wind go by. Fifteen minutes later in the hills we saw her car bouncing across the road. Her car careened off the highway, up a slope, and then it started flipping over and over. It looked horrific. The car ended up slight off the road upside down. Pete pulled off to the side, stopped the car, and ran to the car. Jess called 999 for the French police. A tour bus stopped with a minute or two right in the roadway. The driver got out and started helping Pete. Jess in the meantime was talking to the police......they had found someone who spoke English. They wanted a mile marker so Neil hiked along and found the marker....155.8. Jess gave them the marker number. They told her that they had had several reports, but she was able to provide the number. Meanwhile the bus driver and Pete talked to the driver of the car. She said that she had been in the car alone and was ok. The bus driver broke the window of the car with his fist, and they helped her out. She appeared to have only minor injuries. Her car, however, had major issues. The bus driver assured Pete that since the police were on the way, that since Pete did not speak French, and that he...the bus driver...had seen the accident, that we should go on to our ferry. Since the French police have not shown up here in Glasgow, I guess things have worked out ok.

On to Ouistreham...... The ferry was a very large catamaran which apparently worked on the hovercraft principle. The ferry seemed to hold an enormous number of cars. There were 3 Ferraris next to un in the lines waiting to get on. The crossing was fairly rough with good sized waves and lots of fog or mist...probably similar to D-Day. This crossing took about 3 times as long as the one from Dover to Calais. The distance was further and the ship smaller. The British beaches became a blurred line on the horizon. The weather cleared as we approached England.

We got off the ship in good time, followed the line to the immigration booths and made it through with no difficulty. Our drive from Portsmouth to Bath was quite pleasant. We used some motorway and some A roads which were much slower. We traveled in a mix of warm sun and fluffy clouds.

We went up the hills and down into the valley to Bath. Through Jess's iPhone navigation system we found our flat on James Street without much trouble. The flat is called a service flat. It is like renting a short term apartment. This one had two bedrooms, two full bathrooms, a living room and a kitchen. Pete parked the car and brought up the luggage.

We needed to find food. We went to a restaurant called Giraffe for dinner. They were out of fish and chips which Pete and Neil wanted, but they did have beer and some cocktails for half price. The males found something else on the menu to eat. After dinner we did a quick stop at Sainsbury's for breakfast fixings. We went back to the flat where we had a cool and pleasant night's rest.

Seagulls, which can sound a lot like a baby crying, start their morning noise at sunrise......which is very early.

Steps 4717

Joey's finger