Le Ferry

You can't get on the ferry much earlier than 9.30, which leaves even less time for a kip. Once we'd had a couple of beers, it was 11.30. We attempted to sleep on the floor beneath the seats during the bumpy ride but between us we probably managed an hour - 20 minutes per person on average. The boat docked on time. We slapped cream on our chamoises and headed off up a steep hill in the heavy drizzle. The hill, of course was not the correct way and so, for all my pomposity, natural leadership skills, expensive maps, intricate planning I had gone the wrong way after only 30 seconds. N would kindly say, 'Yes, that must be Dieppe...over there.' to assure me that we were not completely lost. We were just going up a completely unnecessary hill. (The D1 is the immediate and first sharp right off the roundabout - follow that around and keep on it until the signs for Argues-la-Bataille.) I was unable to make any excuses such as 'the bypass we are on is avoiding all the traffic' as there was no traffic at 04.00 hundred O'clock hours am. After the up there was the down - along a fast dual carriageway. A few lefts and rights later, we were on D64 for the few miles to Argues-la-Bataille, the sky sagging ominously above us.