Crevant, France - 03 April 2024

03.04 - Sainte-Fargeau and Deux Rivières/Cravant

Forgot to say that yesterday we had a dreaded diversion. Think we could have driven twice around Guernsey for the amount of time it took! Plus, we have previous with French diversions - they seem to forget to bother to tell you where to go - not useful when it’s miles long. 

So, 3am I get the question from my husband - “are you awake?” - well I was then! It was raining and he asked me if I knew if it had been raining for long! As luck would have it - I was actually sleeping. We both thought that if it rained really heavily for hours, by morning we might not get the 4.4 tonne bulk that is Dave out of the mud. Rain coats and crocs on and out we go. The ground felt quite firm still - but decided to reverse up and turn and drive towards the entrance - at least facing the right way! It was surprisingly warmer than the previous evening. It then took what felt like forever to get back to sleep!

Tintin driving this morning. He’d found a boulangerie nearby and drove there with a purpose. Ha, there was a ladder across the doorway - looked like it was having a deep clean - and nothing to sell ☹️ Onwards - we found another shop on the route. Have to sample the delights of France whilst we’re here!

It’s been very pleasant driving today - predominantly long straight roads, grass is a lovely green from all the rain and lots of yellow rapeseed fields and nature waiting to burst into bloom. We drove past the cooling towers for the nuclear plant - which we remembered we’ve driven by before! Scenery is changing, from totally flat to becoming more hilly. 

We arrived at Sainte-Fargeau after about 3 hours driving. Had lunch then just as we were going to explore - it started raining. Luckily Sarah and Herc called from some swanky health retreat in Vietnam - always good to have a catch-up. 

In other good news, Jamie let us know that he’d received the replacement post from Tesco with the QR codes. We scanned them, and after a little bit of jiggery pokery - they worked - we should now have unlimited data on our phones for France and Switzerland - just have to hotspot to our iPads. Technology - great when it works!

Wandered into the town. The chateau in Sainte-Fargeau is huge! Seemed like a pleasant place. Then the heavens opened again, kept dry under an awning until the shower stopped. 

Gary knows we have to visit churches - so a picture just for him!

We serviced Dave, well, just because we could. Then my turn to drive. We topped up with diesel - an eye-watering €129. Dave was given a special elixir before we topped up - apparently it will help the engine…

Only drove about an hour, now at Deux Rivièves/Cravant for the night. There’s an old wash house next to us. The water is flowing so fast, think you’d lose your laundry! There are red warnings in this area for flooding - so we’ve avoided parking up near the river Yonne!

Today’s treat - a coffee eclair for Tintin, and the chocolate one for me - now €2.50 each - were they worth it - possibly! 😉

Dean (drone) had a quick fly - but although it was 19° this afternoon - it’s quite windy - does look like the river might be flooding a little. 

Bit of a nothing day really - just driving slowly towards our destination. Neither of us particularly like driving for many hours at a time, and we prefer the sights (but not the roundabouts) when not on the pèage.