Pauline
Forums Admin
We are here! In my planning threads I talked about how nervous I was about driving our UK car in France. It was easy! On the ferry I spent some time visualising how the driving would be, driving on the right while sitting on the right side of the car, entering a roundabout and going right. It helped. I drove us onto the ferry in Dorset, off and on again in Guernsey, then off in Brittany.
I decided to drive because I would have been a nervous wreck in the passenger seat and would have made Steve crazy. Instead I paid attention to driving and Steve talked me through it. Driving in France is always easier than in the UK because the roads are not as crowded. It felt very natural to be driving on the right, because that is the side I have driven on for most of my life. And it didn't seem to matter that I was sitting on the right. It was odd going thru passport control and having the passenger talk to the officials.
This was an easy 30 minute drive. We'll do more driving this week.
One thing with the car - it started having some problems as we were driving to the ferry this morning. Our 9 yr old VW Golf suddenly lost all power and would only drive very slow. Things on the menu screen were flashing. I stopped, turned it off, turned it on again and it was okay. We drove around a bit before getting on the ferry and it was okay. Fingers crossed that it keeps going!
I did not like the ferry. We took Condor Ferries from Poole to St Malo, changing ferries in Guernsey. These are smaller ferries, not like the huge Brittany Ferries. They go fast and I felt sea sick for much of the first part. Luckily I was beside a chatty guy from London and we talked most of the way so it took my mind off it. Also we spent the night at a Premier Inn in Poole (cheapish, chain hotel) so we wouldn't have to get up so early but we still had to get up at 6:30 and the very loud people in nearby rooms kept us awake. We might as well have taken an overnight ferry.
We found our vacation rental easily. It is in the upper town, in a residential area a few blocks from the church where shops, cafes and restaurants are. It is an attached annex of a lovely old large house in a beautiful garden. The French owners live in the house. We can see the sea through the trees. We can walk down to the water in five minutes. A pretty and comfortable house with a nice place to sit outside.
It is going to be hot the next few days. There is a good beach nearby so we will go swimming.
We are almost directly south of where we live in Dorset. Cancale is a pretty town with a busy and touristy port area (several blocks of restaurants).
The wifi sucks here and I can't get data to work on my phone, so am having problems uploading photos. Steve's phone is getting data so I tethered to it.
Big Brittany Ferry and small Condor on the left.
Coming in to Saint Malo.
Oyster beds and sailboats in Cancale.
The port in Cancale. This is one part. The longer street is behind me. Tide is out.
I decided to drive because I would have been a nervous wreck in the passenger seat and would have made Steve crazy. Instead I paid attention to driving and Steve talked me through it. Driving in France is always easier than in the UK because the roads are not as crowded. It felt very natural to be driving on the right, because that is the side I have driven on for most of my life. And it didn't seem to matter that I was sitting on the right. It was odd going thru passport control and having the passenger talk to the officials.
This was an easy 30 minute drive. We'll do more driving this week.
One thing with the car - it started having some problems as we were driving to the ferry this morning. Our 9 yr old VW Golf suddenly lost all power and would only drive very slow. Things on the menu screen were flashing. I stopped, turned it off, turned it on again and it was okay. We drove around a bit before getting on the ferry and it was okay. Fingers crossed that it keeps going!
I did not like the ferry. We took Condor Ferries from Poole to St Malo, changing ferries in Guernsey. These are smaller ferries, not like the huge Brittany Ferries. They go fast and I felt sea sick for much of the first part. Luckily I was beside a chatty guy from London and we talked most of the way so it took my mind off it. Also we spent the night at a Premier Inn in Poole (cheapish, chain hotel) so we wouldn't have to get up so early but we still had to get up at 6:30 and the very loud people in nearby rooms kept us awake. We might as well have taken an overnight ferry.
We found our vacation rental easily. It is in the upper town, in a residential area a few blocks from the church where shops, cafes and restaurants are. It is an attached annex of a lovely old large house in a beautiful garden. The French owners live in the house. We can see the sea through the trees. We can walk down to the water in five minutes. A pretty and comfortable house with a nice place to sit outside.
It is going to be hot the next few days. There is a good beach nearby so we will go swimming.
We are almost directly south of where we live in Dorset. Cancale is a pretty town with a busy and touristy port area (several blocks of restaurants).
The wifi sucks here and I can't get data to work on my phone, so am having problems uploading photos. Steve's phone is getting data so I tethered to it.
Big Brittany Ferry and small Condor on the left.
Coming in to Saint Malo.
Oyster beds and sailboats in Cancale.
The port in Cancale. This is one part. The longer street is behind me. Tide is out.