Heading north

We must be getting a bit slicker at the closing down rituals: much laundry and bed changing later, we were on the road soon after 10:00, not before a brief skirmish with the local traffic warden, who seems, unaccountably, not to have been suspended following his assault on a villager.  No ticket at least, and he had been round placing tickets on the cars of visitors who defy the no-entry sauf riverains signs, and use up the limited spaces to which we riverains are banished.

We opted this time for the Toulouse-Limoges route rather than Béziers-Clermont Ferrand, and think we may revert next time.  Though the road through Quercy is very attractive, the traffic around Limoges and Brive is not.  At one point, near Limoges where the road merges from three lanes to two, someone in a 76-plate Corsa (ie probably a rental) overtook us on the hatching at great speed, chased by someone else in an old Chrysler Crossfire.  It looked rather like a pursuit to me.  (Must check the local press for reports of drug wars in Limoges.)  Other than that, there was the usual compliment of kamikazes, ditherers and middle-lane Mary types to contend with, and a general scorn for the idea of signalling before changing lane, and the road was pretty busy for much of the way.   

We are safely installed in a pleasant hotel, the Relays du Château in Rambouillet, as I write, having been for a little walk round the gardens of the adjacent château.  The gardens have reinforced my plan to have another crack at rudbeckias next year!  The room is clean, spacious and quiet, and faces a back courtyard - just as well, since it's market day tomorrow in the car park opposite the front of the hotel.  We had a most peculiar meal at the Bistro du Marché.  Our waiter insisted on speaking a form of English to us, addressing us as 'you guys' every time he opened his trap: drunk, stoned, bewildered or some combination thereof: hard to tell.  The pizzas seem to have been satisfactory, though the uniformity of the bases suggested bulk deliveries of congelés. 

Though the hotel is fine and the château and garden impressive, the clientèle at the pub and bistrot where we ate was a bit on the low-rent side.  We didn't feel inclined to hang around, and hope to find the car with a full complement of wheels tomorrow.  If so, it's a little less than three hours' drive to Dieppe tomorrow for the lunchtime ferry, lunch and a snooze on board, then an hour's drive home from Newhaven.  We've had a fantastic time in Another Place, but are ready for a while at home now.