Peene

I was awake before my 4.30am alarm, only to discover that Jackie was up, showered and nearly ready. We finished the final bit of packing without even a hint of a disagreement, then reversed our laden car out of the driveway at 5.50am to commence our Italian adventure.

There should have been four of us and a dog on the 1st week of our trip, but our French friends, Andy, Tre and their dog, Loup have cancelled due to sickness. Teresa left the Stone Valley Festival feeling rough & believes that she has caught Covid, so instead of driving to Lake Lugano as planned, they drove home & to bed. It is a great shame, but on the upside we won’t now have a dog digging huge holes in our tent pitch!

We arrived at the Le Shuttle port at 07.20am. It was yet again a stress free operation to check in and board. We also had the added bonus of purchasing 2 lites of Gordon’s Sicilian Lemon Gin at half price.

We were spat out of the Channel Tunnel in Calais at 10.30am local time and set off towards our scheduled destination for that night. Whilst still in the Calais Shuttle Port, we had to negotiate a motorcycle gang, the Vikings England. We knew who they were because they had their name and logo emblazoned on the back of their motorcycle waistcoats. I would point out that they may be not quite as hard as they think they are, because we saw them prior to boarding the channel tunnel train and not one had been wearing his emblazoned waistcoat!!

We picked up the toll road motorway A26 & E15 and drove for nearly 200 miles on the same road, mainly with other British tourists to Reims. After, we picked up the A4, E17 & E50 to Chalons-en- Champagne, where we 1st stopped for fuel & a pitiful amount of coffee for €2.10. It was here that we googled the nearest Lidl, which was just a few miles away.

We drove to Lidl and purchased 21 litres of wine for less £50. We also bought 2 hand sanitizers, some madeleines and some tonics for our gin.

We continued south seeing numerous persistent signs for the city of Nancy until we entered the Massif des Vosges, a series of forested mountains in Eastern France, close to the German border. We arrived at our remote hotel, Le Bouton d’Or around 6.30pm, which was half way up a mountain.

I should declare now that I have had previous communication with the hotel, because I booked a double room on Booking.com with them for just £38. When the transaction went through I saw that I had been charged £50. I emailed Le Bouton d’Or & they replied (in French) that I had booked a Family Room. I replied that I hadn’t & had photographic evidence to that effect. I received a reply (in French again!!) saying thank you, would you like to book a table in their restaurant?

We parked up and entered the reception area, where it was clear that no one spoke a word of English. I tried to explain about the room overcharge, but it was utter chaos without anyone apparently able to speak English. (Unforgivable in the 21st century!!)

Eventually, a lady took our credit card and swiped it without explanation. We tried to converse with her, but she just ushered us up to our Double Room!! Jackie was irritated/angry/furious with their customer service and planned to make her feelings known.

We had a couple of strong Sicilian Lemon Gin and tonics, then went down to dinner at 7.30pm. The restaurant was now nearly full and was buzzing with atmosphere. Within a few minutes, Jackie had done a full 180 degrees turn and was now fully praising the hotel/restaurant staff. Amazing what alcohol does!!

Jackie ordered the Fondant de boeuf de 12 heures and I, the Jambonneau fumé braisé (Façon papa) together with a bottle of local white wine and a carafe of water. The food was nice, but not spectacular. Jackie’s beef was similar to a Beef bourguignon with a side dish of roast potatoes, but not so flavourful and my braised ham was a whole shoulder of pig still on the bone with a side dish of little dumplings. Both dinners were huge and despite our best efforts, we were unable to finish them.

After dinner we retired to bed with a night cap of white wine.

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