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  • Day 15

    Tuesday

    September 19, 2017 in France ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    19th September
    Our first French breakfast of the trip is different types of bread and jam, I butter what I think is a slice of homemade brown bread and it's gingerbread, very nice though. Most of the day is spent driving through the Alps; we detour to Le Vernet to take a look at the memorial for germanwings flight 9525 where 150 people died when the plane was deliberately crashed by the co-pilot. The sign reads "Stele du Vol 9525". This happened in March 2015 which was two years after our first visit to this remote part of France. The simple memorial is a very moving sight, it is in the nearest accessible place to the actual crash site, the distant Alps are today topped with a dusting of snow. We see plenty of wildlife, a deer, a fox and several red squirrels.
    Our next stop is in the very pretty town of Digne Les Bains but just before we reach the town there has been a road traffic incident and the police helicopter is hovering over the side of the highway. We have lunch in a little cafe next to a supermarket where George enjoys an hour or so choosing a dozen bottles of wine.
    We drive to Sisteron, a town full of flowers and floral decorations, the wind is really strong now and it's difficult to walk around although it isn't cold and the sky is blue. We pop into an art gallery where there is an exhibition of paintings by artist Rene Seyssaud and then back to the car and onto our hotel in Clamensane.

    We are later than usual arriving at the hotel as we have stayed here before and therefore we know where to find it. When the owner answers our knock at the door he tells us the hotel is closed for 3months and it is not possible that we have booked for the night. Booking.com have obviously made a mistake as we have the paperwork but it's already 5.30pm and we need a bed for tonight. He sends us a few miles to another village but the place is closed up, we head back to the main road north and try one or two places before we finally settle on a hotel on the road to Gap. It's one of the few places with tea making facilities and a fridge and as we have bought a salad and some hummus (& wine) we eat in our room.
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