After an extremely rough crossing (fortunately neither of us were ill) the boat docked in Roscoff at 7am heures francaises (6am UK – rather too early considering the rather broken sleep of the ‘rock n roll’ night).  We were more or less first in the queue to disembark.  Unfortunately the car immediately in front of us had forgotton that he was one of the first on the ship and was one of the last off!  The dreaded first encounter with Customs hasn’t occurred yet and we just drove straight off the boat and out of the port as if we were travelling within the UK not the EU.  It was still dark when we arrived and I hadn’t  really had a chance to look at the map in any detail (we left it in the car on the ferry) so we just drove, attempting to follow signs at junctions.  We eventually got to one which made us suspicious that we were travelling in the wrong direction and so found somewhere to park up and insult the map.  We’d taken a slight detour but were soon back on track.

We were heading north through Brittany, aiming for the little village in Normandie where I au paired when I was 17 (Catherine must be around 14 or 15 by now!).  However, as a result of the inclement weather (pouring rain and howling winds) and the fact that Fred had already spent some time in the region (bored to tears on a school trip by the sounds of things) we got as far as Granville on the  west of the penisular and decided to change course for the Ardenne, Belgium and Holland.  We pottered round Granville in search of lunch and Pain au Chocolat.  Quite a big town with some lovely old houses and back streets.  We then set off once again in the wind, rain and Normandie countryside.  We should really smaple du Cidre before we leave (I remember it being delicious).

We detoured back towards the coast and spent the night at Honfleur.  We wimped out of a night in the back of the vehicle (still raining cats and dogs) in favour of a motel doing B&B for 2 people at 229FF.  Arrived in Honfleur after dark but we ought to explore further as it looks like a pretty, old fishing town.  Perhaps tomorrow if the rain has stopped.

Had problems with the e-mail.  Can receive mail without a problem BUT can only send to BT internet addresses.  Probably needs a call to Atlas helpdesk.  At £1 per minute, resolving the problem could be costly.

We have had a play with the map software and have sorted out a route from here up to Thuy’s, across to Georg’s and then down through Switzerland to the Scotts.  Whether we stick to it or not is another matter.

PS – forgot to mention that my french is rather rusty.  Comprehension isn’t too much of a problem (followed an episode of Buffy Contre les Vampires with no worries) but pulling words out for speaking is another matter!  Fred isn’t really trying either.