Our new ferry departure was at 8.30am Monday and it was pouring with rain as we checked in at Poole.

Then we set off south, through a band of torrential rain and thunderstorms, towards the sun.

Or that was the plan! It was all going much too well!

We were rolling along south of Caen when we got a message to say Margaret, my Godmother,  was back in hospital!  She has been so well lately, which is why we felt we could risk a longer trip, so this was a big shock.

We halted our drive south, but the information we could get was very mixed so we took the decision to drive east towards Calais, so if we did decide to return to England,  that would be the cheapest and quickest way to do it.

To cut a long story short, we had a roller coaster of messages, but at 3.15 am ( yes you did read that correctly), I finally managed to speak to a Dr,  who said they felt she could probably return home today as she had responded well and was not in any danger.

By this time we had stopped in a delightful village called Clères,  at a super free Aire. These are areas for self contained motorhome that many places in France provide either free of charge or for a few euros. Clères is free, level, quiet and sheltered. A gold star from us!

En route we stopped for a leg stretch at Pont Audemer… rather grandly called The Venice of Normandy’. It does have canals and some lovely timbered buildings, and is twinned with Ringwood, our neighbouring town at home.

Anyway, I think we will resume our route South as Margaret has excellent carers and the news is good. Of course I will confirm it with Chris in the morning when he wakes up. He has slept through 3 quite long conversations with the hospital and is oblivious to the developments!