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A “Round Robin” sent to friends after the holiday! By Jean Hughes This
is to take the place of the postcard
that wasn’t sent - owing to the fact
that we hardly went through any towns or villages of any size. We
started off well in time and reached Portsmouth with plenty to spare. The good news was that the Fast Cat Ferry
was going to be at least an hour late and only working with three engines. Good start!
This meant a phone call to our first stop to say we’d be late. Thank goodness for mobile phones. First
stop La Galliere near Villages Bocard – very comfortable but rather over
commercial. Had excellent meal at the
Three Kings in Villages. Visited Bayaeux and saw the tapestry – unbelievable. Then to Omaha Beach where there are over
9,000 Americans buried in the war cemetery. The
next stop was with another English run Chambres d’hote in Yzeres-d-Creuse,
between Chatellerout and Charteaureux.
Very comfortable with an excellent meal at the local Logis hotel where
the waitress(daughter of the house) told us sweetly “That we never cook the
steak “well done””. Met a mad crowd
of 6 middle-aged English who were on a “Cycling for Softies” holiday. Moved
on to a lovely farm near Aubusson where we had a good meal and
accommodation. No other English people
staying so conversation was interesting!
After leaving here we found our exhaust “blowing” – think we hit it
coming off the farm track. Stopped at
a Peugot garage and were assured that it would get us to our next overnight
stop. Luckily it was at our friends in
Charnay near Lyon. Arrived,
very loudly, and gratefully accepted a welcome drink. The
next day, Sunday, went to a village about 5 miles away to see a Barrel Organ
Festival – great fun and very warm.
Monday was rather overcast and David and Donald went to get the car
sorted. Great having friends who can
speak the language with a tame garage man along the road. On to
the Nuit St Georges area where we couldn’t get into our favourite stopover –
she was full as were the next to places we tried. OK at the fourth though in Camboeuf. Beautiful quiet place though no English
spoken but we got by as usual. Made
arrangements to stay in Mauriel sy Ay, near Epinay, at a champagne
house. First site was not too
encouraging (may be we were tired as we’d been sent on a 12 kilometre
diversion) after a day’s driving. But we had a good meal with five different
glasses of champagne during the meal.
Clever marketing! Of course we
bought because it was good. Once again
it was a non-English speaking house but an elderly couple – an ex-GI and his
French wife who had met and married in Paris in 1945 – were very useful. On to
Sermiers where we go for champagne – a delightful stop tasting Rene Fresne’s
best before stocking up and moving on. Off
to our next stop at Peter and Hazel Baker’s in Brionne where we’ve stayed
before. Round Soissons, Compeigne and
through Beauvais (a pig!) A good night
with Hazel’s excellent cooking and lots of laughter with the other English
guests. Our
last night (Friday) in Grainges, north of St.Lo proved to be in a lovely
house attached to a breeding stud for trotting horses. A beautiful large room, very French. No English, in fact when David booked on
the phone the husband thought we were going to be there on Sunday! This, luckily had been cleared up with
Peter Baker ringing up the night before when we were having a few doubt whether
the message had been received correctly. The only drawback was the distance away and
the quality of restaurants nearby – not quite as good as before. Good place to go for an overnight stop when
first arriving in France. Graines is
where 30 American soldiers were exectuted after landing on D-Day (not killed
in fighting) and they are remembered
with a large memorial in the local churchyard. Saturday.
Now for home. On the way
popping into St Mere Eglise where a parachute still drapes the church steeple
– another reminder of D-Day. Another
stop at a supermarket for diesel (50p a litre) and, of course, more
wine. Straightforward journey and back
to reality. Thanks for the
article we would love to hear from any one else who has a travel story...you
write it we will print it!! |
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COUNTRY BEAT By Constable Darren King by
Constable Darren King |
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I hope you all had a merry Christmas and
that Santa brought you what you asked for. The ‘must have item’ these days
seems to be the latest generation mobile phone, which as you are aware, cost
hundreds of pounds, and are the possession of everyone who can afford them,
from junior school children to adults. Unfortunately though, they are
also the ‘must have item’ of people who cannot afford them or are not willing
to pay, and these thieves think nothing of taking this expensive piece of
equipment from you by force if necessary. Street robbery of this kind in
on the increase, (thankfully, not in Overton), but it does not mean that this
type of offence cannot happen here. You should however, be wary of this type
of crime especially when visiting urban areas such as Wrexham and Chester
etc. Make sure that you follow the
security guidelines supplied with your phone, such as registering its details
with the service provider and setting it so you have to use a PIN number,
these simple steps will help to ensure that if your phone is stolen, then it
will be useless to the thief. But as you naturally do not want to have your
property stolen in the first place, the best advice is not to blatantly
advertise that you are in possession of the phone by walking down the street
with the thing ‘stuck to your ear and speaking loud enough so everyone in the
vicinity can here you’. If you have to use it in public, try to be discrete,
and keep it out of view. Following on this post
Christmas theme, I find it sad to report that after over 30 years of
advertisements and enforcement, people still think it acceptable to drink and
drive. As I have previously reported, this type of needless crime is
perpetrated by all age groups, male and female, who would rather risk killing
themselves or others than take a taxi or not drink alcohol. There is no
excuse and I have no tolerance for this selfish pathetic behaviour. Remember,
if you are caught ‘over the limit’, you will be dealt with, and it is not the
police who are to blame if you are unable to get to work and lose your job. My sincere thanks to those who
make alternative arrangements and those who are prepared to report offenders
to the police. Please feel safe in the knowledge that your actions
potentially save lives and immeasurable heartache. Thank you. Darren
King, Constable 1360.The Police Station, Overton,Wrexham LL13
0EF Telephone: (01978)
290 222 Fax:(01978) 294 771 E-mail:
darren.king@north-wales.police.uk |