We've driven through France for two days. The weather is still cold and dull, but slightly less so than in Calais. We have been using aires at Calais, Langres and here in Les Roches. These are free, but driving down the autoroutes certainly was not. The non-toll roads would, according to Tom Tom, have nearly doubled our journey time. At the moment we are trying out Chris's MiFi, though the 3G signal is intermittent.
If we manage a longer-term connexion I might post some pictures of this strange town.
The only interesting thing in Les Roche seems to be the marina on the Rhone, because although this is a very highly populated town of narrow streets and apartments there are very few shops actually open. I looked in amazement at a closed chemist shop IN FRANCE.
And again a closed boulangerie.
So it goes on ...
There is no butchers.
What do these people eat and where do they buy it? We spoke to a woman of our generation who confirmed the lack of local shopping adding that when you'd seen the marina that was it really. She did direct us to the only open shopping in the whole town of a Casino convenience store, a boulangerie and a chemist all on rue Nationale within 1 minute of each other. Thank God this French town does have an open pharmacy. A young couple asked me if I knew of any apartments to rent and if I'd remembered I could have directed them to an estate agent's office that had rooms to rent in the window. So the town does have an estate agent - and several hairdressers.
On the other hand Langres had about 10 boulangeries per hectare and a handsome total of pharmacies, but we did not encounter one charcuterie. So as yet we have to sample French pâté and cheese. We hope to put this to rights tomorrow when we motor down to Avignon and the campsite Bagatelle right by the Rhone, next to the bridge. Though I've just realised tomorrow is Sunday and so I suppose shops will he closed from miday until Tuesday.
No comments:
Post a Comment