Friday was an excellent day for us. The weather was as good as it had been and we were able to have a laid back time. It was very warm so we could have our last swims in the pool. Over the holiday we had amassed over two cases of wine in addition to the special wine bought at the vineyard in St-Emilion. All was what we had hoped it would be. But no perfect day could be perfect without a final visit to Aubeterre Sur Dronne. It thoroughly deserves to be listed in France's prettiest villages. Pauline again visited a shop selling excellent pottery with vivid colours and we sat outside the Hotel de France for our final drinks.
We agreed that it had truly been an amazing experience and well worth the planning and expenditure. As it was Friday we decided to stick to our weekly ritual and have fish for dinner washed down with a lovely white wine. It was simple and delicious.
The next morning we had breakfast and completed loading the car with everything we wanted to take back with us. Our final chore was to drop off our last empties at the supermarket bottle bank in Chalais. Pauline drove the first leg which was mainly on D roads through beautiful countryside. Satnav guided us all the way. Later in the afternoon I became slightly worried that whilst we had enough petrol to reach St Malo we would be too close to empty. We would warn any prospective travellers in France that there is a shortage of petrol stations on N roads. There are plenty of places to enjoy a picnic but very few petrol stations. In the end we decided that we would leave the N road and make our way to Dinan (not far from St Malo) to look for petrol. We found a supermarket with a petrol station and filled the tank.
It was too early to turn up at the ferry port at St Malo so we detoured to St Briac a few miles away. It was not a place we knew but when we got down to the sea front we were thrilled with the view. There were hundreds of yachts and dinghies on the beaches, amazing rocks, and beautiful promontories. We sat there for about an hour and enjoyed the fantastic view. A group of French visitors stopped to ask me to take their photograph and we had a nice chat with them.
At 5.00pm we set off for the ferry port and waited for boarding time. There was quite a number of classic cars awaiting loading as well as hundreds of UK travellers waiting to sail home. There was, of course the usual impatient travellers who simply had to walk up and down the parking area and grumble that they had to wait. Of course, the ferry left on time so the grumbles were pointless.
Once we had located our cabin we headed for the restaurant to get a table. The meal was great. We decided to have fish (again!) and celebrated with a bottle of champagne. It was worth every penny!
Today we awoke an hour or so before reaching Portsmouth and prepared for landfall. Eventually we got away at 8.30am and drove home in six hours. Even though we shared the driving we are shattered. The car is unloaded and the wine now needs stacking. Everything else can wait!!!
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