Hi everyone!
Well, I made it to my first helpX project finally - albeit a day late.
I left Courtney's around 9.30 in the morning fully intent on making it to Auberville on the North coast of France the same evening; however the hitching didn't go to well. First Courtney and I had to negotiate our way to a suitable spot around Grimsby which took near enough an hour. Luckily it wasn't too long before I found a lift in a minibus with a guy and his two kids who where going near Peterbrough. They didn't really speak to me - they were too busy talking business in the front - plus, as they were turning off before Peterbrough services the place they dropped me was an awful hitching spot. But they helped me on my way so I can't complain too much.
After a bit of a wait by the road side a truck pulled up a little way ahead who could take me to a service station about an hour and a half from Calais and Dover. We chatted most of the way down and it turns out he - Paul - is originally from Durham - the same place my mum's from and near more of my family! Paul dropped me off at a big service station and i managed to find a lift before I'd even finished my cheapy service station meal! So it was still going relatively well at this point.....
My next lift was from a truck driver called Barry. He said he would drop me half an hour further down the road as he needed to swap trailer but then he was continuing to Dover so if I was still on the road he would pick me back up. Another bad drop off spot meant I couldn't find a lift so Barry picked me back up. Unfortunately he drove straight past the turn off for the tunnel then dropped me at yet another really inconvenient spot with no real way to get back en route to the tunnel meaning that the ferry from Dover was my only option.
The problems with using the ferry are that you have to be there at the right time to get across (not easy when hitchhiking), it's also rather expensive - I have travelled through the tunnel twice for free but the ferry costs £30!! Despite the passengers being on time the boat was then late. now by this point it was 6.30pm, I had hoped to already be well into France by now and I was getting pretty frustrated, plus I actually felt a little sad knowing how long it might be until I see the people I am closest too. Luckily though though I had some helpful, positive text messages plus a coach load of navy lads to pick my spirits back up.
When we finally got on the ferry the next mission was to find a lift...Unfortunately everyone was either on a coach, going the wrong way or had a full car! I had three options - A) try and hitch from Calais anyway and probably get stuck on the road. B) take the lift offered by the navy lads but end up going the wrong way and be stuck with the 'banter' that would come from being the only lass. C) a family from Dunkerque offered me a bed for the night and a kick start on the rest of my trip. I chose option C. I went with Delphyne, her mother, her daughter Maelle, and Maelle's English boyfriend Johnathan to Dunkerque - it was in the wrong direction but better than nothing.
Maelle took Johnathan and I to a BBQ party with some of her friends. It wasn't a bad night although I was so tired and people were talking pretty fast so I couldn't pick up much of the conversation but it seemed to be pretty similar to British teenage drinking conversation! Around 1am we made it back to the house and I crashed out straight away
It's in a beautiful little fortified area of the town and the apartment equally as nice - very quirky, warm and artsy.
In the morning I went down to the bakery that the family owned and got a couple of apple pastries then after getting organised Delpyhne drove me to a nearby petrol station then asked the attendant to help me find a lift. Thankfully I managed to get a lift withing a couple of minutes from a Czech Truck driver to a truck stop 5 minutes outside of Calais, although in hindsight I do wish I'd gotten the lift with the lads who were heading all the way to Calais after a week in Holland because then I might not have had to wait so long for the next lift! It took almost an hour to get the get ride - thank you John Baptiste!! He was heading as far as Boulogne for a business meeting and was happy to drive me to a convenient new hitching location on the opposite side of town, although I did have to explain the best I could, in French, why I couldn't try and find a lift on the autoroute (motorway/highway)....it's not exactly legal. But it was a good opportunity for me to practice my french and for him to practice his English.
Once 'deposited' I quickly found another lift from Fred - an ex-traveller, mature student in art, and was on his way back from playing in a sucessful football match in Boulogne. After a scenic drive through the small coastal towns, avoiding the autoroute, he dropped me off in Berck and after a little bit of walking and a little bit of waiting I found a lift a few miles down the road to outside Rue and a spot that I would supposedly easily find a lift from....
So almost an hour later I found a lift another ten miles along the road from a guy who clearly could but wouldn't speak English, or slow down his French and didn't seem to appreciate my butchering his language. But he was perfectly fine other than that and it was a lift to a more convenient location - a road toll. Technically you're not supposed to hitch from those either but the gendarmes are more lenient with that one.
After twenty minutes standing at my new spot I got the perfect final lift from a French apple producer named Edouard who had a love for all things Scottish and the fact I normally live there was good enough to get me a lift all the way to the project gate in Auberville - about half an hour's drive from his actual destination! How brilliant is that?! I was so grateful considering how slow the hitching had been over the two days. We listened to some decent music from his CD collection with included a Pipes & Drums CD, The Corries and folk music from the Yukon from his travelling days. Edouard also included a few harmonica solos since he had it in the car with him.
We stopped at Le Havre to watch some of the old Armada ships coming through the harbour. They hadn't been through in four years and might not pass through again. They had travelled from all over the world for the event and used to do it every two years before it became too expensive - which is a shame because it's an impressive sight!
Anyway I finally arrived in Auberville on Sunday evening - a day late and totally shattered. After saying goodbye to Edouard Anne and Tom welcomed me to La Cour de la Grange and my home for the next two weeks. So I am now the proud resident of a lovely little apartment - it's cute, cosy and definitely has the farm cottage feel to it. It's got a couple of open fire places, a view of the pond on one side and a view of the Jurassic coast on the other.
Anyway, after a very early night we kicked off Monday morning with some delicious chive-y scrambled eggs with freshly made bread - my first proper meal since Courtney's, excluding the service station burger and chips after Paul dropped me off.
The rest of the morning was spent replanting cuttings of various plants and shelling prawns - not as easy as it looks! After lunch - soup and more yummy bread - I had a proper tour of the gardens then weeded the front path and after that helped with some rearranging on the patios. This was followed by a trip to the market for food supplies for my days off and any other extra food. Anne told the shopkeepers that they had to speak to me in French because I wanted to learn but once again I realised quite how rusty my French is!
So after all that and another tasty meal - fish pie and veg - I had almost a two hour long skype chat to back home (although I've only been in France a few days I've been away from Orkney for two weeks already) then had an early night - all this gardening really takes it out of you!
Today was spent working on editing Anne and Tom's business' facebook page. They run an online company called French Locations which deals with mid/long-term home rentals across France.
As well as working on that I've been weeding out the vegetable plot. Everything that wasn't specifically planted had to go, except for the poppies since they look nice, and the comfrey because the bees love it. Before clocking off I walked the dogs around the gardens. Tara, Ziggy and Solo are all varying degrees of Collie (although I swear Solo's half bear considering the size of him), soft as muck and full of energy.
So this evening has been spent watching some bad British movie and writing this out so I knew what to type thereby limiting internet time. On that note I'd better go - if you made it all the way to the end I salute you! Unfortunately there are no pictures today because I'm not using my own computer to write this (it's busy sulking since I didn't use it for a couple of days) but you shall have some very soon!
See you all next time!
Well, I made it to my first helpX project finally - albeit a day late.
I left Courtney's around 9.30 in the morning fully intent on making it to Auberville on the North coast of France the same evening; however the hitching didn't go to well. First Courtney and I had to negotiate our way to a suitable spot around Grimsby which took near enough an hour. Luckily it wasn't too long before I found a lift in a minibus with a guy and his two kids who where going near Peterbrough. They didn't really speak to me - they were too busy talking business in the front - plus, as they were turning off before Peterbrough services the place they dropped me was an awful hitching spot. But they helped me on my way so I can't complain too much.
After a bit of a wait by the road side a truck pulled up a little way ahead who could take me to a service station about an hour and a half from Calais and Dover. We chatted most of the way down and it turns out he - Paul - is originally from Durham - the same place my mum's from and near more of my family! Paul dropped me off at a big service station and i managed to find a lift before I'd even finished my cheapy service station meal! So it was still going relatively well at this point.....
My next lift was from a truck driver called Barry. He said he would drop me half an hour further down the road as he needed to swap trailer but then he was continuing to Dover so if I was still on the road he would pick me back up. Another bad drop off spot meant I couldn't find a lift so Barry picked me back up. Unfortunately he drove straight past the turn off for the tunnel then dropped me at yet another really inconvenient spot with no real way to get back en route to the tunnel meaning that the ferry from Dover was my only option.
The problems with using the ferry are that you have to be there at the right time to get across (not easy when hitchhiking), it's also rather expensive - I have travelled through the tunnel twice for free but the ferry costs £30!! Despite the passengers being on time the boat was then late. now by this point it was 6.30pm, I had hoped to already be well into France by now and I was getting pretty frustrated, plus I actually felt a little sad knowing how long it might be until I see the people I am closest too. Luckily though though I had some helpful, positive text messages plus a coach load of navy lads to pick my spirits back up.
When we finally got on the ferry the next mission was to find a lift...Unfortunately everyone was either on a coach, going the wrong way or had a full car! I had three options - A) try and hitch from Calais anyway and probably get stuck on the road. B) take the lift offered by the navy lads but end up going the wrong way and be stuck with the 'banter' that would come from being the only lass. C) a family from Dunkerque offered me a bed for the night and a kick start on the rest of my trip. I chose option C. I went with Delphyne, her mother, her daughter Maelle, and Maelle's English boyfriend Johnathan to Dunkerque - it was in the wrong direction but better than nothing.
Maelle took Johnathan and I to a BBQ party with some of her friends. It wasn't a bad night although I was so tired and people were talking pretty fast so I couldn't pick up much of the conversation but it seemed to be pretty similar to British teenage drinking conversation! Around 1am we made it back to the house and I crashed out straight away
It's in a beautiful little fortified area of the town and the apartment equally as nice - very quirky, warm and artsy.
In the morning I went down to the bakery that the family owned and got a couple of apple pastries then after getting organised Delpyhne drove me to a nearby petrol station then asked the attendant to help me find a lift. Thankfully I managed to get a lift withing a couple of minutes from a Czech Truck driver to a truck stop 5 minutes outside of Calais, although in hindsight I do wish I'd gotten the lift with the lads who were heading all the way to Calais after a week in Holland because then I might not have had to wait so long for the next lift! It took almost an hour to get the get ride - thank you John Baptiste!! He was heading as far as Boulogne for a business meeting and was happy to drive me to a convenient new hitching location on the opposite side of town, although I did have to explain the best I could, in French, why I couldn't try and find a lift on the autoroute (motorway/highway)....it's not exactly legal. But it was a good opportunity for me to practice my french and for him to practice his English.
Once 'deposited' I quickly found another lift from Fred - an ex-traveller, mature student in art, and was on his way back from playing in a sucessful football match in Boulogne. After a scenic drive through the small coastal towns, avoiding the autoroute, he dropped me off in Berck and after a little bit of walking and a little bit of waiting I found a lift a few miles down the road to outside Rue and a spot that I would supposedly easily find a lift from....
So almost an hour later I found a lift another ten miles along the road from a guy who clearly could but wouldn't speak English, or slow down his French and didn't seem to appreciate my butchering his language. But he was perfectly fine other than that and it was a lift to a more convenient location - a road toll. Technically you're not supposed to hitch from those either but the gendarmes are more lenient with that one.
After twenty minutes standing at my new spot I got the perfect final lift from a French apple producer named Edouard who had a love for all things Scottish and the fact I normally live there was good enough to get me a lift all the way to the project gate in Auberville - about half an hour's drive from his actual destination! How brilliant is that?! I was so grateful considering how slow the hitching had been over the two days. We listened to some decent music from his CD collection with included a Pipes & Drums CD, The Corries and folk music from the Yukon from his travelling days. Edouard also included a few harmonica solos since he had it in the car with him.
We stopped at Le Havre to watch some of the old Armada ships coming through the harbour. They hadn't been through in four years and might not pass through again. They had travelled from all over the world for the event and used to do it every two years before it became too expensive - which is a shame because it's an impressive sight!
Anyway I finally arrived in Auberville on Sunday evening - a day late and totally shattered. After saying goodbye to Edouard Anne and Tom welcomed me to La Cour de la Grange and my home for the next two weeks. So I am now the proud resident of a lovely little apartment - it's cute, cosy and definitely has the farm cottage feel to it. It's got a couple of open fire places, a view of the pond on one side and a view of the Jurassic coast on the other.
Anyway, after a very early night we kicked off Monday morning with some delicious chive-y scrambled eggs with freshly made bread - my first proper meal since Courtney's, excluding the service station burger and chips after Paul dropped me off.
The rest of the morning was spent replanting cuttings of various plants and shelling prawns - not as easy as it looks! After lunch - soup and more yummy bread - I had a proper tour of the gardens then weeded the front path and after that helped with some rearranging on the patios. This was followed by a trip to the market for food supplies for my days off and any other extra food. Anne told the shopkeepers that they had to speak to me in French because I wanted to learn but once again I realised quite how rusty my French is!
So after all that and another tasty meal - fish pie and veg - I had almost a two hour long skype chat to back home (although I've only been in France a few days I've been away from Orkney for two weeks already) then had an early night - all this gardening really takes it out of you!
Today was spent working on editing Anne and Tom's business' facebook page. They run an online company called French Locations which deals with mid/long-term home rentals across France.
As well as working on that I've been weeding out the vegetable plot. Everything that wasn't specifically planted had to go, except for the poppies since they look nice, and the comfrey because the bees love it. Before clocking off I walked the dogs around the gardens. Tara, Ziggy and Solo are all varying degrees of Collie (although I swear Solo's half bear considering the size of him), soft as muck and full of energy.
So this evening has been spent watching some bad British movie and writing this out so I knew what to type thereby limiting internet time. On that note I'd better go - if you made it all the way to the end I salute you! Unfortunately there are no pictures today because I'm not using my own computer to write this (it's busy sulking since I didn't use it for a couple of days) but you shall have some very soon!
See you all next time!
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