Don't talk to me

St Romaric
Yesterday's weather: more rain but no more indoor streams!!

A funny thing happened on the way to the forum - sorry, got carried away - actually it was England, going and coming. We decided to stay overnight half way from here to Calais since we didn't fancy driving in the dark (it's an age thing, I have decided, the eyes just don't work as well as they used to and we both find it a bit of a strain).

We decided to lodge at our usual posting house near Orleans to give the horses (horse power) a chance to rest and to give the driver (Jon) the chance to be fed and watered and have a sleep before the rigours of our round Paris route and face up to the nightmare that is the M20 and M25.

We have stayed at the same hotel, one of a large chain, many times and have always found it quite acceptable, the food very good, the room adequate and the main pulling point, a bath. Here at home we have one of these small French apologies for a bath, a sit down with your feet in the deep end affair which leaves the top half cold and the toes scalded.

Not very satisfactory at all.

So we looked forward to a bath that would take almost the full length for a decent soak.

We decided to put it off until after dinner and went to the restaurant. Here we found the difference between weekend and weekday, summer and 'off season'. The restaurant, instead of its usual hubub of couples and families eagerly discussing their journey and the possibility of visiting one of the great chateaux tomorrow, was full of single men, one per table, contemplating their plate of food and looking neither left nor right, up nor down. There was none of the usual 'bon appetit' between tables, the body language said 'Don't talk to me, or else'.

So we didn't.

The food was OK, not up to the usual standard, but OK. The wine was very good for the price.

We retired to our room and indulged ourselves one after the other in the long anticipated soak in the bath.

Then we discovered the other problem with this hotel 'off season'. They close half of the rooms in the part of the hotel we usually stay in. The half that is at the back of the block. The back of the block that doesn't face the road.

We didn't sleep more than 10 winks between us. The road, even though it was in a suburb of a suburb of Orleans was noisy all night.

We rose at 6.45, propped our eyes open with matchsticks, gulped down a cup of tea in our room and pointed the car in a northerly direction.

Travelling back from the UK and having had a bad experience at our usual hotel, we decided to change plan and stay elsewhere, a different chain this time but another that we had enjoyed in the past.

At this one the food was disgusting - very strange for France. The restaurant this time was equally full of single men but instead of staring at their plates they were watching a boxing match on a strategically placed television.

The only thing it it's favour was that the room was quiet in this hotel and we didn't need the matchsticks for our eyes.

There must be lessons to be learned:

1. Don't travel midweek
2. Don't travel out of season
3. Don't stay in a hotel chain
4. Maybe just don't travel.

Must be better for the carbon footprint, but then how do we get to see the family? Another one to think on for another day........