To Beaune and Beyond

We left Montreuil reasonably early, for what we knew would be a long drive, and with some tolls to shell out for.So we stocked up at the supermarket on the way out of town.H was enthralled by the Poissonnerie counterNeed any liquids?The temperature rose steadily and by the time we stopped for lunch, a bit of sun shade action was necessary.We had intended to go via Reims and Troyes rather than Paris, because who needs the hassle of the Péripherique in their life? But Brian clearly had other ideas, thus it was a long, fraught sojourn through Paris and a desperate need for a wee by the time we could stop off.After refuelling ourselves we got back on the road and passed along the edge of the Chablis vineyards and then into Burgundy proper, with many vines lining the route.More tolls to pay…And then we were there! The road to the campsite was familiar, and the camp itself hadn’t changed much in the 15 odd years since we last stopped by.The long day had taken its toll though, and any thoughts of a wander into town were dismissed in favour of cold beer and a meal on site.Mrs Woman who booked us in was a little ray of sunshine, and charged us just shy of 35€ for the neet. We were given le badge for the barrier, and a big pog just a stone’s throw from the Johns and the restaurant.We thought it would be rude not to partake in steak frites and enjoy a couple of shandies and enjoyed an al fresco arrangement until the boy fell off his chair, grazing a knee and his head!View from our pog:The restaurant:The play area, which wasn’t there on our last visit, and was thoroughly inspected by the junior campers:We put up neither the John, nor the small tent and, shock horror, left the chairs, BBQ etc out in the open. But without incident.The next leg was to be less fraught and long, according to my calculations, but, Brian and the French holiday traffic had other ideas. We collected our baked goods and were off, via Ecky Lecky, of course.We were straight on to the Autoroute du Soleil, and straight into traffic and tolls:

We ended up enjoying the delights of the péripherique of Lyon and the associated traffic, but did enjoy the enormous vessels floating pas on the mighty, mighty Rhône.

It was when we got round the city centre that it became apparent that Brian was going off piste again due to the volume of traffic accompanying us on the Autoroute du Soleil.

More tolls and a sizeable detour later, and the temperature was really beginning to rise, a taste of things to come!

At one point Brian cracked and sent us off to avoid a traffic jam, near Valence I think, where we ended up on single track and dirt roads and still had to rejoin the gridlock and shell out for one more toll.