The alarm went off at 8.15- we had to catch a bus at 10.22 and we had no idea what time the trains were. We got cappuccinos, packed our stuff and the tent, and left the campsite. We caught the bus just in time!
We found out the times for the local trains. Most of the time was spent waiting. We waited two hours for our first train (which took only 20 minutes...)
On the next train we sorted out our plan of action: my interrail had run out on Sunday the 26th but I needed to catch trains to Rouen and then on to Calais at the end of the week. We made a plan where Louise showed her ticket and as Alex was showing hers, Lu would slip hers to me. I worked on both the trains we were checked on! Hoping it’ll work on the way to Calais too even though we won’t have Alex to distract!
We got to Rouen at 8.30pm and went to get some food as all we’d had was some biscuits and two bananas between all of us. We found a Chinese restaurant near the station. We looked so out of place in the nice restaurant with our backpacks, trying to steal the chopsticks! I had a really nice curry and vegetable noodles – yay vegetables!!
We then made our way to the bus stop that the woman from the campsite had told us to go to. We walked for ages and when we got the stop it didn’t look like the bus was running anymore. We asked an official looking man, who didn’t speak much English, but we gathered that the bus wasn’t running. I asked how much a taxi would cost to Jumieges (where the campsite was), he whistled and said it was far so the taxi would be expensive.
The man then made a phone call, I hoped it would be someone who could take us to where we wanted to go, but it was just his brother. The official man seemed to think our only problem was not being able to speak French. His brother told me over the phone what I already knew – there were no buses, so we’d have to stay in the town centre.
I’d already paid the deposit for the campsite and I’d be charged for a night whether we went there or not. We didn’t want to catch a taxi which everyone told us would cost around €60, so we found out what side of the road we needed to be on and stuck our thumbs out.
Hitch-hiking in the south seemed pretty common and safe, but I guess in the north at 10pm it’s not as common. A group of people walked past and we told them where we were going. They also whistled and said it was far. So did the three guys who pulled up in a Peugeot. They said they would take us but there wasn’t enough room for us and our bags. A police car went past and waved at us?! And another ar stopped. He was just a middle-aged man se we were wary, but he didn’t even know where Jumieges was.
Eventually we gave up and walked towards the taxi-rank. The three guys in the peugot pulled up again. I offered them €20 to take us but they said there was no room.
We found a taxi and flagged it down. He said it would be €40-50. I attempted to haggle and asked for €30 but he said no so we settled for €40. It was a pretty long journey for a taxi. The meter said €67-odd but he still only charged us €40 and gave us his card!
By now it was 11pm. Reception was closed so we found an empty pitch, set up the tent and decided we’d go to reception in the morning.
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