Route Barrée

I'm back in Brighton once again and can resume posting on a real time basis rather than scheduling for a day or more ahead, which is what I did for the last week - including the post last Wednesday where I mentioned how frazzled I had been getting.  That post was written before things came completely unstuck.  Well, almost completely unstuck.

We have been using the same kennels to look after our dogs when we have been unable (or unwilling) to take them away with us for something like 35 years.  Fern, our current dog, is a particular favourite of the kennel owners and I have become aware that she is rather spoiled when she stays there, being allowed out of her run to sit in the office for much of the day and even being taken into the owners' house at times.  You will realise, then, that I was astonished when I turned up at the kennels last Tuesday afternoon to be told that the kennels were closed.  Apparently I should have received a phone call telling me of this - but that left me in something of a quandary.  It was mid-afternoon and we were due to leave at 8 the following morning.  No way could we take the dog with us as it was by then far too late to make the necessary arrangements for anti-rabies jabs and so on even if we could find room in the car.  It was suggested to me that I should try more kennels some miles away.  Fortunately, they were able to take Fern in so we were able to get away ourselves the next morning, but I now had precious little time to finish all the odds and ends that needed doing.  (Luckily, the few things I forgot have proved not to matter.)

So we motored down through Picardy and Normandy to the Loire country, the weather seeming to get better and better as we progressed southwards.  We arrived in the village at about 9.30, just as it was getting dark, and were greeted by this sight.

Our house is about 300 yards further down the road, just at the other end of the village, and, I later discovered just few yards the wrong side of the "road closed" signs at the other end of the road works.  You might notice that the usual "sauf riverains" (except residents) part has been covered up, but it was pretty obvious that I would have to drive past this road block.  In fact, many drivers completely ignored the closure of the road and carried on as normal.  Except on Tuesday.

We had arrived on Wednesday last week and saw no sign of workmen on Thursday or Friday, but they came back on Monday and on Tuesday managed to dig a trench right across the road - just as I was about to drive into town to get the daily bread for lunch!  To get to the point in the picture, just 300 yards from our front gate, I had to drive 8 miles - and then 3 more into town for the bread.  That was an expensive loaf.