To Hostellerie La Briqueterie, near Epernay, France
Well the Soldat might have been quiet, but as Susan said, The French just do the country hotel so much better than the rest. The room was lovely and for breakie this morning we were offered pate foie gras (we didn’t actually have any), scrambled eggs with freshly grated black truffle, crepes with brown sugar, heavenly pastries, a sublime yoghurt/fruit/nut combo, lovely home-made jam and finally Susan got a decent cup of tea. And they are rarer than hen’s teeth!
I rolled out of the restaurant at just after 10 and gave the windows a good wipe over. Whenever I make use of my
collapsible bucket it seems to amuse Susan enormously, hence the photos, but it has been a very useful and practical bit of kit.
We were on the road just before 10:30 and I shall never ever suggest that driving in France could be boring. After the nightmare autobahns of yesterday the autoroute was deserted. Is it because of the tolls? Do the French not get out a lot? The A4 is a major road from the south east up to Paris but it was blissfully quiet. We were cruising steadily at 130kmh, the engine is working at about 3,200 rpm and everything is just about perfect at this speed. Road noise is OK, windows partially open for a pleasant draft, temp gauge rock solid at 170, oil pressure a smidge over 70, oil temp hardly registering (there is litres of super expensive racing gear in there), ammeter dead on zero; it all feels so lovely and planted. The engine noise is barely audible, but give it a bit of gas up to 90-100 mph the engine just drives the car on with a hint of that incredibly smooth turbine whine. It feels and sounds wonderful.
So with no traffic we made good time and actually got to our hotel early afternoon. This is another one I was not so sure about but it has turned out to be very pleasant too. And it has a quality French restaurant, so for the first time in days we have brought the hangers in from the back shelf of the car and will get togged up in some decent clobber for our final night’s dinner. Susan is very happy too as there is a “Spa” and as I am writing this she is having something very expensive and lengthy (1 hour 15 minutes) done to her toenails.....beats me!
Tomorrow we have another shortish run up to Calais for the train home. With a lot of stops and a lot of miles it feels like we have been away a long time, but I know for sure, that once we are home it will all feel like a bit of a dream. Anyway, one more gastronomic night and a breakie to go!
Mileage at the end of the day: 58,482
Distance covered: 189 miles, 302 KM
Barely three hours with one petrol stop.
Highlight of the day: Unquestionably motoring in France, we spent 20 EUR on tolls, but what value for
money!
Lowlight of the day: There hasn’t been one yet.......nope, can’t come up with one. Will see how dinner goes
and how Susan has got on with her toenails.
Petrol: one stop in France at 1.68 a litre; cost 79.21 EUR.
I brought 800 EUR for petrol and tolls and I have the princely sum off 55 EUR left. So we might not actually get home at all!
Well the Soldat might have been quiet, but as Susan said, The French just do the country hotel so much better than the rest. The room was lovely and for breakie this morning we were offered pate foie gras (we didn’t actually have any), scrambled eggs with freshly grated black truffle, crepes with brown sugar, heavenly pastries, a sublime yoghurt/fruit/nut combo, lovely home-made jam and finally Susan got a decent cup of tea. And they are rarer than hen’s teeth!
I rolled out of the restaurant at just after 10 and gave the windows a good wipe over. Whenever I make use of my
collapsible bucket it seems to amuse Susan enormously, hence the photos, but it has been a very useful and practical bit of kit.
We were on the road just before 10:30 and I shall never ever suggest that driving in France could be boring. After the nightmare autobahns of yesterday the autoroute was deserted. Is it because of the tolls? Do the French not get out a lot? The A4 is a major road from the south east up to Paris but it was blissfully quiet. We were cruising steadily at 130kmh, the engine is working at about 3,200 rpm and everything is just about perfect at this speed. Road noise is OK, windows partially open for a pleasant draft, temp gauge rock solid at 170, oil pressure a smidge over 70, oil temp hardly registering (there is litres of super expensive racing gear in there), ammeter dead on zero; it all feels so lovely and planted. The engine noise is barely audible, but give it a bit of gas up to 90-100 mph the engine just drives the car on with a hint of that incredibly smooth turbine whine. It feels and sounds wonderful.
So with no traffic we made good time and actually got to our hotel early afternoon. This is another one I was not so sure about but it has turned out to be very pleasant too. And it has a quality French restaurant, so for the first time in days we have brought the hangers in from the back shelf of the car and will get togged up in some decent clobber for our final night’s dinner. Susan is very happy too as there is a “Spa” and as I am writing this she is having something very expensive and lengthy (1 hour 15 minutes) done to her toenails.....beats me!
Tomorrow we have another shortish run up to Calais for the train home. With a lot of stops and a lot of miles it feels like we have been away a long time, but I know for sure, that once we are home it will all feel like a bit of a dream. Anyway, one more gastronomic night and a breakie to go!
Mileage at the end of the day: 58,482
Distance covered: 189 miles, 302 KM
Barely three hours with one petrol stop.
Highlight of the day: Unquestionably motoring in France, we spent 20 EUR on tolls, but what value for
money!
Lowlight of the day: There hasn’t been one yet.......nope, can’t come up with one. Will see how dinner goes
and how Susan has got on with her toenails.
Petrol: one stop in France at 1.68 a litre; cost 79.21 EUR.
I brought 800 EUR for petrol and tolls and I have the princely sum off 55 EUR left. So we might not actually get home at all!