For the last two days, I've added quite a few photos to the Flickr driving set:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/81692166@N05/sets/72157645709737341/
First up on the first morning was a quick whiparound of Avranches, the small town where we're staying. It's a fairly small town, but it's got a decently-sized tourism office because it's so close to the Normandy-Brittany coast. In the town there's an obligatory enormous cathedral, a ruined medieval castle and a memorial to General Patton, who broke through a German frontline in the Great War, which ultimately resulted in the liberation of France in just two days!
A whiparound of Avranches
From there it was a loooong drive to Le Havre. Mum had previously wanted to stop by some D-Day related stuff, like Omaha Beach, but we ended up just driving through a couple of towns near Le Havre. They are collectively known as Deauville-Trouville, and are well-known for their seaside location and old buildings. But 'The Parisian Riviera'? Get a grip! They're not that impressive.
Deauville-Trouville
We eventually made it to the Port of Le Havre, and queued up to check in. Just like boarding a plane, you have to check in with your car at least 45 minutes before the scheduled departure time. We were ushered onto the car deck just over an hour before a scheduled 5:00pm departure on our ship, which was called the Seven Sisters.
For those that haven't used a car ferry before, you basically have to get what you need from your car - you can't access the car decks while you're sailing. Once you've done that, you head upstairs and try and snare a seat. I found some seats that were quite comfortable, but they were right near the playground area. Run away! We went up a deck and found some identical seats with no kids. Great!
We actually left Le Havre about 15 minutes early - probably because the decks were less than half full - not before I got some good shots of the waterfront of Le Havre. Good thing about a nice camera - the shutter is too fast to worry about the ship's list:
Le Havre waterfront
We settled into a five-and-a-half-hour journey. Mum's a poor sailor, yet she managed relatively well - she said afterwards another hour might have been pushing it though. We actually found a cabin of sorts fore of where we were - it was very dark and quiet, with next to no people in it. It seemed to be a 'quiet zone' - nobody was talking at all. It was marvellous.
We hadn't had lunch, so I headed down to the restaurant at about 8. I decided to try a British fish and chips - the prices were quite reasonable for ferry and ship standards, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered. The fish and chips was typically British - the fish was lots of batter and not a lot of fish, the chips were almost crispy.
About an hour before arrival in Bournemouth, the sun started to spectacularly set behind some clouds. There were a lot of people out on the decks, but I managed to find myself a quiet spot and started snapping:
Sunset from the Seven Sisters
Our overnight tonight was a hotel just off the main East-West motorway, surprisingly quiet so close to the motorway. Free WiFi, free parking, less than $100 a night. Sold! We found out the next morning that there was a mill museum next to it. Not that we could go, because it was closed for the entire month. Slackers!
Our initial plan for day two was to make quick stops in Torquay and Plymouth. I hadn't read much about them personally, but mum wanted to go to Torquay and dad wanted to go to Plymouth. It became inherent after about an hour on the road that that wasn't going to happen.
OH MY GOD THE TRAFFIC IN THIS COUNTRY! Evidently we got the worst end of a bad Saturday afternoon, but all the A Roads, as they're known here, were stupidly busy. We made multiple detours on back roads to beat the traffic.
We cruised along near the coast for quite a while. We quickly drove through a couple of towns, including Dawlish, but decided there wasn't enough there to warrant a stop. Frankly, I thought the countryside looked much better than the towns:
The Devonshire coastline
We crossed through a couple of nice towns and made a lightning-fast stop on the beach in Torquay. Enough to get a few photos:
Cornish coastal towns
Eventually we made it to Plymouth, where we looked at a railway bridge named after Isambard Brunel, an English rail baron and one of Britain's most influential entrepreneurs. To put it in perspective, he was named second in the '100 Greatest Britons' survey, behind only some insignificant guy named Winston Churchill. The bridge wasn't that amazing, but it was a fantastic legacy to a great man's work.
Eventually we made it to dad's friends' place. They live in a tiny suburb in the town of St. Austell. It's pretty central in Cornwall, making it easy to explore in any direction - except for south, it's almost right on the sea. We'll be staying here for four whole days. We'll probably go down to St. Michael's Mount, but the rest is up in the air. Catch you next time!
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