Un autre correspondant

La Grenouille was empty and we suspect the heating had not been turned on for a very long time. We set off to find the pizzeria down the road but it was closed. The restaurant was also closed so we had to go to bed without dinner.

We left the heater on all night but the room never warmed up. The next morning we set off for the local boulangerie to buy breakfast. But it too was closed due to illness. So we continued on to Never and 16 kms later we finally had some food in our bellies.

The day was an absolute slog, uphill and down dale with the wind

always slowing us down. After 53 kms we realised that we were not going to make it before dark. Lady luck has dealt us some bad cards this trip but she has alway given us a Get Out Of Jail Free card. So we phoned Gérard who came and collected us with his trailer. He told us the next day how miserable we looked when he turned up.
He was our saviour. 30 kms later we were ensconced at his holiday home.

Gérard is the fourth correspondent we have been lucky enough to stay with. He and Sally have chatted on Skype for about 6 months and by sheer chance he was at his holiday home when we were in the region. We changed our plans and added 2 extra days so we could visit him.

We chatted the evening away and at 8 pm we spoke to an English friend of his from Sheffield on Skype. He has a good sense of humour, and served at Normandy aged 18. We thoroughly enjoyed practicing our English. :)

The next day was spent lazing about, eating, doing washing, eating, updating the blog, eating, and organising accommodation for the next few days, eating, and a bit of drinking. We were shattered after the previous day and really appreciated a day off.
We went for drinks at his brother's house 100 m away at 11 am because he was driving to Paris later that night and could not drink in the evening.
Sally cooked a pizza and apple crumble for dessert ( which Gérard loved). Later in the evening we were chatting away with another Englishman on Skype, and bizarrely we wound up chatting in French rather English.

We got to see a bit of old rural French culture and we loved it. Quite different from city life, but still with mod cons like the internet. Gérard is extremely hospitable and constantly encouraged us to eat ready for the next day.