Getting a bit old for this...

For the first time in weeks I wasn't wide awake at 04:30 when the alarm went off.  Just as well I'd programmed the iPad alarm, then.  So, we were in France by 09:45 local, joining the procession of Brit registrations down the A26.  No wonder it's known quasi officially as the Autoroute des Anglais, much loved as it is by Brits who don't relish the rough and tumble of driving in the Paris region.  We sill met some pretty ugly driving, notably people accelerating while being overtaken, which is close to a capital offence in France.  One curiosity of today's traffic was the preponderance of Brit motor caravans with silly personal number plates.  I think there has to a correlation between motor caravan ownership and sporting naff number plates.

Since I'm hoping to pick up a new laptop tomorrow (Swiss keyboard: long story...) we have routed via Geneva, including a beautiful if demanding drive through the Jura including the Col de la Faucille, of Monte Carlo Rally fame.  The route being somewhat sportive, it attracts a lot of kamikaze bikers on Sundays, so one had to keep one's wits about one.  Unfortunately, the first bit of the N5 is closed, so we'd to take a diversion.  Martyn found us a slightly shorter version, including cliff faces, tunnels cut in the rock, etc, so it's perhaps not amazing that I'm feeling so tired.  I'd programmed Dotty to find the hotel for us, and she routed us via some tiny residential streets in the villages north of the airport.  The route to the laptop shop seems straightforward, however, though getting from there to Lagrasse without paying for a Swiss motorway vignette may be entertaining.

Odd sights on the roads today included cars with microlight aircraft on trailers, a Morris Minor tourer, roof down, towing an elderly caravan, and an Alfasud in running order.  Notorious rust buckets, you won't see one of them very often.

Unlike many of its chain, the Campanile we're in does not have any other restaurants nearby, so we'd to settle for supper in-house.  Adequate is perhaps the kindest description: my jaws ache after dealing with the steak-frites.  Still I doubt if they can ruin breakfast.