Woke up at 9 – had a bus to catch to Rouen at 11.34. We packed our stuff and the tent pretty early. We attempted to dry our rain soaked towels with hair dryers...it didn’t work. We left early so we’d be in time for the bus. On the way to the boulangerie we saw a bus go past, even though it wasn’t due for another 40 minutes. We bought patisseries and walked to the bus stop.
At 11.34, when the bus was due, a bus went past... on the other side of the road. It dawned on us that even though we came in the way we were facing, buses go other routes. We had a few options: wait 6 hours for the next bus, walk (with out rucksacks) for 4 hours or hitch-hike!
So again we stuck out our thumbs and this time we had a bit more luck. After a few minutes two guys pulled over. They weren’t going all the way to Rouen, but they took us to the main road about 4km away. They dropped us off, told us which side of the road to go on and we tried again. After about 20 minutes another two guys pulled over and took us a few villages away. One of the blokes used to work in Woolworths in Cardiff- madness! We thumbed a lift for the third time then. A dodgy looking man pulled over. I told him where we were going and he agreed. He chain smoked and played a rather eclectic selection of songs (Daddy, daddy cool!). He took us all the way to the train station and something told me this wasn’t where he was going anyway, so he must’ve gone out of his way for us. In French he told us to “be careful, you are very young,” which were the only words he said to us!
We asked in the train station for local trains to Calais so we didn’t have to go via Paris, and we found one for just the right time to catch our ferry. We then attempted to find an internet cafe to look for accommodation in Rouen or somewhere closer to Calais.
The tourist office was closed and when we found the cafe, which was closed too. We sat outside the Joan of Arc church/museum thing and had food. The cafe never opened so after we led on the grass for a while, we went back to the train station so Alex could check if there were trains that night for her to meet up with Rob.
As there were no hostels in Rouen it seemed that me and Lu would either have to sleep rough or find a cheap hotel. I took a quick look around the train station and the last one I checked in was just as cheap as a hostel, so Alex stayed with us and we checked into the hotel. We had a room with a TV and BEDS! It felt lush after sleeping in the tent for a week!
We got ready to go out Alex took the last part of her space brownie, and we looked for a bar, but it being Sunday, nothing in France is open. We found a lovely looking Indian restaurant which looked like it had plenty of cheap deals on. Once we’d been seated we found out the deals were only for midday. The restaurant was deserted and there was only one member of staff. Being the polite “ladies” we are, we felt obliged to stay. We ordered chicken curry (we suspect this was the only thing he had to offer as he practically forced us to order it.) It was small and expensive, but yummy (even if we had heard the microwave go off.) and we had a weird cocktail (it was milky green...)
We gave up hope of finding a bar/place that sold vodka, so made our way back to the hotel where – lo and behold!- we found a shop which sold wine! We bought a cheap bottle and went back to the hotel for music!
We’d planned to go to a projection display of Monet’s art, but we drank wine and danced on the bed instead. I showered and Alex gave me a message, then we went to bed.
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