4 hours later and we were awake at 03:00, with our body clocks not yet synced to the other side of the planet.
It was obvious that neither of us was going to get back to sleep, so we decided to get up and hit the road. Given that we had a big drive ahead of us (to Carcassonne, in the south of France), it seemed like an early start might be a good idea anyway.
We also knew we needed to stop somewhere and pick up local SIM card for our phones. The absense of access to the internet, especially when in a foreign country, can seem downright disconcerting.
So we packed our gear into the car and pulled out onto the road.
And immediately realised that we had been supplied a car with roughly one fiftieth of a tank of fuel. Nice. Now we have to find fuel as a matter of urgency. We found a 24 hour self service fuel bowser, and after a few broken attempts at conversation with a French motorcyclist, were able to get some fuel into our vehicle.
We hit the road again to find that most supermarkets and stores in general would not open until 10:00. We decided we would drive to Lyon, and look for SIM cards there.
We arrived in Lyon, found an Orange Mobile store, and purchased 2 Pay-as-you-go SIM cards. We were told they would be good for a month. Fine. We’ll be headed back home by then anyway.
With phones connected to the interwebz and sanity restored, we continued south for Carcassonne.
Cath had booked us into an Air B’n’B called SIDSMUM, located just outside of Carcassonne, in the little (and very old) village of Prexian (pronounced prec-sharn). A lovely little 3 bedroom house (with a garden which included some sunflowers) run by a couple of ex-pat Brits. They suggested a restaurant for dinner (incidentally, the ONLY restaurant in the village). But despite their monopoly on the restaurant market in town, the food and service were both exemplary. And the view! It was the perfect start to our holiday, as it was exactly what I had imagined life in a small provincial French village would be like. We sat at our table, in a covered, gravel courtyard, looking out over a valley filled with vineyards.
2 thoughts on “Europe 2017 – day 01”
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