We had good weather for the first couple of days, but then the sun disappeared and the wind arrived. The weather didn't stop Ernie from playing on the edge of the sea - he really does adore walking along the water's edge.
Lenny, at 8 months, was very amenable to us looking after him and there were several occasions when Nick expected him to sleep soon, but Lenny was determined to enjoy himself and sleep could wait. Like his brother at the same age, Lenny likes buses and looking out of the window and at the other passengers.
We enjoyed ourselves, of course, and were delighted that it all went so well.
Ernie enjoying the beach in the sun, cloud and wind.
Lenny in Morelli's ice cream parlour watching the fountain, on a bench on a warm day and in the park on the swing
Ernie and Lenny in Morelli's
On Saturday, we were booked to travel home by train by our usual route, Broadstairs to Ashford, Ashford to Lyon by EuroStar and Lyon to Beziers by train arriving in time to catch the bus home. We knew that there was a train strike in France and were ready for the french stage to be difficult.
We arrived at Broadstairs station at 0540 on Saturday, we had not expected that our train would be cancelled. We had booked our tickets at the station and so had every expectation of the train arriving. Fortunately we were able to summon a taxi to take us to Ashford.
The EuroStar stage of the journey went well, but we were constantly looking at the current state of the train cancellations to decide where to get off. The train manager was perfectly happy for people to travel further down France to a station where there might be a chance of a connection.
We decided to continue on to Avignon where normally we could take a train link from Avignon TGV station and Avignon central station, then a slow train to Béziers.
The local train normally runs frequently, but not on this day and so eventually, we had to take a taxi. The train to Béziers was not stopping at Avignon this day and so we waited 2 hours for a bus replacement.
By now it was mid afternoon so we found a cafe for a late lunch. We were at the bus stop in good time and we instantly recognised the bus - it was a long way from its usual route which is around our department of Herault. Needless to say that the bus was oversubscribed, so we were happy that we had been at the bus stop early. Forseeing more problems, we kept our cases with us rather than putting them in the boot.
The driver set off and, just as we were thinking that we would be in plenty of time to catch our next train at Nimes, he veered off course.
We arrived at Tarascon station where more people were waiting to board the already full bus (trains from Tarascon were also cancelled). The driver came down the bus, looking for the people who wanted to go to Tarascon but there weren't any takers, apparently they had decided on a taxi.
This left a bus full of cross people whose train connection was now threatened and another cross group at the station who had been expecting to get on the bus.
Eventually we arrived in Nîmes, raced out of the bus and onto the platform. The waiting train (the same train as would normally have come from Avignon) left precisely on time, so anyone who had a case in the middle to the boot would have missed it.
We had missed our last bus and would have to taxi back to the village, so we decided to take advantage and eat in Beziers at a restaurant we have enjoyed before.
All in all, we were happy to have made it home in the day, there were plenty of people who were having to find a hotel.
- Pat and John on tour
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