We hadn't intended to be here tonight, but we decided that Marck would be a better place to spend the last night of our holiday than Merlimont, where I had originally suggested we stop, not least because the latter was full last night and we didn't want to risk it (okay, we could have checked), but mainly because it is a good hour from there to the Eurotunnel, and I will need to do a Last Shop and buy things for people. I already put our crossing back an hour.
If Marck is full, we can go to Calais, which is dull and expensive. So, anyway, I checked on What's Halfway, and it seemed to be around Neufchatel-en-Bray, and this aire is free and quiet. The only thing wrong with it is that the services are "mises hors gel" and haven't been brought back into use yet.
So anyway, the Swan Whisperer went and picked up the baguette and croissants I'd reserved last night, and after breakfast we set off. Our first port of call was an Intermarché, and I decided that as we had been to so many this holidays, it was silly not to get a loyalty card. The only problem was, I couldn't register it, because it demanded an identity card number and, obviously, not being French, I don't have one of those. Hold that thought!
The Swan Whisperer wanted to go over the Pont de Normandie and then along the coast as far as Dieppe, then south to Mesnières-en-Bray, since we had plenty of time and it wasn't very far. So with a judicious tweaking of the satnav, we had a simply wonderful drive round much of the port of Le Havre, quite fascinating. When we got to Fecamp we stopped for lunch, and then in Dieppe I saw another Intermarché, so we stopped there, and I went to talk to customer services.
Who really went above and beyond for me. Turns out you really need an address in France to register, and as I'd told her I'd got an Auchan and a Carrefour card with no problem, she decided to see what she could do! Did I have any friends in France whose address I could use? Alas, no - I do have friends in France, of course, loads of them, but not their postal addresses! I was about to give her my address in Paris from 50 years ago, but she decided to try using the address of the store. And eventually she got through all the red tape and my card now works. Which will be very useful next holiday, I hope - especially in those supermarkets that do scan'n'shop!
After that, we drove more-or-less straight here, and then had a cup of tea. The SW went out for a walk, to see if there was anywhere he could run in the morning, which there isn't, as it's too muddy, and now he is getting our Saturday sausages and mash ready....
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