I noticed today that the passenger side brake pedal doesn’t work very well!

We drove 70k to Beaufort in the Alps of France. It took 2hours because the road was very narrow and winding around steep cliffs and mountain tops. It had hairpin bends the whole way and at times, it was terrifying. We had to drive in 1st gear to manipulate around the hairpin bends, they were so tight. There were over 200 cyclists on the road (often riding 2 abreast and without helmets) and lots of caravans and cars. In some parts we had to pull over when oncoming traffic was coming because the road was too narrow. Of course the French drive the road at 80kph down the middle of the white line and overtake on blind corners. Although the trip was hair raising, I am sure it was scenic… but I couldn’t be sure because I was too busy clinging onto the door handle. I managed to video tape some of the driving on the return trip so once I get home I will put it up on YouTube to share.

When we reached Beaufort it was 30 degrees and I was all dressed up in my woolly thermals. It is an odd feeling to be so close to snow capped mountains in the warm sun. We enjoyed a tour of the cheese (Fromache) factory and ate a magnificent lunch in the hotel. We declared it the best chocolate icecream we had ever had. Hmmmmm;) I almost poured the jug of wine onto my salad, thinking it was salad dressing, but other than that, we managed the ‘non-English speaking’ shop and restaurant owners without too many funny hiccups. We have re-named wine ‘salad dressing’ (code name).

Today was my first experience of the French ‘communal toilets’. I walked out of toilet cubicle and ‘wa la’ there stood a man at the urinal! Anything goes here it seems. Thankfully, my Twitter friend @philhart warned me of the toilet habits of the French so after my initial shock I just carried on like it was quite normal, which, of course, it is.  Before you ask… no… there are no pics.

More photos here