France Day 1: Islington to Dijon

Set off from north London at 7:30 this morning. Had a good channel crossing on the train then spent most of the day driving along the French motorways. It has been so much easier than I expected. I knew the roads would be emptier but there has hardly been anything. No roadworks, no clogging up of traffic behind slow moving vehicles, just a continuous drive at whatever speed I liked. We have had the Sat-nav on but more for time and distance to go as the hotel, an Etap just outside of Dijon, was very easy to find. My other navigator Katy has been following the map just to make sure Sat-nav is sending us the right way (it has been known to be wrong in the past) and is great fun. We are gradually exchanging our life stories and will probably be able to write a book on each other by the time we get back. We stopped for lunch near St Quentin then a stretch about 100 miles later followed by diesel and an ice cream another 100 miles down the road. The scenery has only changed a little from vast open farmland to green forests and the occasional lake or river. It has all been very pleasant.

View from the hotel window. No mustard in sight!

We are now in the hotel and Katy has kindly opted to take the upper bunk. Secretley I'm disappointed but I'll make do with the double bed underneath. We're about to pop out and find a restaurant somewhere but it will be an early night for us both as we still have a long way to go.

A bientot!