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A Night at the Chateau. 4-5 July

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 Up at 05:30 and on the road, as planned, shortly after 06:00. Nice clear run to the Eurotunnel terminal, as a result of which we were offered the 10:20 crossing (we were booked on the 11:50). Great result! Except we then queued and queued as traffic crawled through the customs and security checks. Eventually we found ourselves on the 11:20 crossing - still 30 minutes ahead of schedule. Anecdotally, the return delays are currently even worse. Isn't Brexit bliss 😒. We had booked a night at the Chateau de la Bucherie, just to the west of Paris. And French leg of the journey from the terminal was a s smooth as the journey to the terminal. I can highly recommend the chateau. The price was very reasonable, the room spacious (all be it in the roof with only a moderate sized Velux window).  The staff were delightful and friendly and the grounds (with impressive flora and fauna) were exceptional.  The kitchen garden was well stocked and we weren't surprised to see its produce fe...
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Baking Bread without an Oven & Accosting Strangers - 28 & 29 June.

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  On Sunday we tried, unsuccessfully, to find the workshop of the bicycle repairman that had a stall on the market the previous year. He'd told us he was opening a shop but we failed to find it  – perhaps it didn’t survive the pandemic; perhaps we simply were looking in the wrong place. We more groceries (we can only buy a few provisions each visit due to transport being limited to the push bikes) and ordered a full size fridge-freezer. Sally reckoned it was a good price and we’ve been managing with a small fridge for long enough – especially as we’ll be visiting for longer periods now (hopefully). Delivery was only €10 so we arranged for it to be delivered the next day. In the evening we looked for hotels in Paris and, having booked three-nights there, changed our return train ticket; a surprisingly simple process. Up at a more reasonable time (07:45) on Monday – thanks to setting the alarm. We needed to be sure to be up in time for the fridge-freezer delivery (scheduled ...
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French Delivery Schedules, Big Beds and Creamy Cheese - Saturday 2 June, 2018

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I hadn’t set the alarm, as I planned to treat myself to a lie-in after the previous days travails. But I was awake at 06:45 (05:45 UK time). First order of the day was a shower, shave and get those teeth cleaned – would there be hot water There was! 20-minutes later I was feeling human again. Plan for the day:          Unpack          Go shopping at the local Intermarche          Make up a couple of extension cables         Vacuum the house top to bottom (literally, the ceiling and walls would get vacuumed to to get rid of cobwebs)          See how I felt (I was going to take it steady after yesterday’s adventures). As I was unpacking, the doorbell went. It was our new queen size bed from Amazon – strange as only yesterday I had had an email notification that it would arrive next Wednesday. Later in the day an RCD device I’d ordered fr...
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