It is true at the beginning of our time in Niort we did not speak glowingly of it. For one it was a long walk from the train station to our B and B and it was warm. That was not a great start and couple this with the fact that we were walking through some rather ordinary looking areas of town made it even worse. We found the B and B though but guess what no one was there even though we had sorted out the time to be about 3pm that we were arriving, yep not a great start. As it turned out we had to hobo it outside of the front door for over an hour until our host Agnes turned up and things started to get better. It is probably a good time to say that we now love Agnes as she has been the greatest of all of our hosts to date, not just on this trip but on all our trips and we have had some good ones over they years. So Niort what have you got to show us?
The day that we arrived was all about showering, getting our gear together and heading out into the centre ville to see what was out there. On our first trip out to look about old Rolfey started to crack it as per usual and had to be drawn back into line by Tara who as per usual found the way to soothe the Rolfe beast within - with beer. So after a Leffe Blonde the world and Niort was a better place again. Food beckoned so off the the supermarket to buy provisions and wine and then it was back to our massive room to eat out on the balcony and watch the bats, yes bats, fly around the backyard. Pretty cool hey, maybe things here are not going to be as bad as we, or Rollfey thought.
Day 2 Wednesday : Day 2 in Niort was going to be our stressy day as we were picking up a car that had the steering wheel on the wrong side because we were going to have to drive on the wrong side of the road. Argh! Whatever happened to International Driving Standards? Oh well breakfast first and it was a lovely breakfast with toast, cheese so,uffle and coffee - loads of gorgeous, thic, strong coffee! It was wonderful and we were both ready for the adventure ahead of driving. That was not to say that the two of us were not nervous. Au contraire! No, no we were as was proven by the amount of times that Rolfey had to go and pee that morning whilst walking around passing time before the car pickup. Oh wel,l wandering over via the Centre ville park, it was time to go to EuropeCar and pick up the beast.
Oh and what a beast but none of that until we get through the trying to talk our level of French with the man that speaks at the same level of English. It seemed like it would be troublesome but it all worked out great an the man was very patient with us and soon enough we had signed for the full insurance and we were out in the pickup area waiting to see what was going to be driven down to us. We had signed up for a Renault Megane so when we saw the Hyundai I20 roll along Rolfey for one was a touch disappointed. It was die,sel however which was a big tick. A quick walk around the car to see that it was not a wreck that was being handed to us and then it was left to Tara to drive first as Rolfey is a big chicken. It was not going to be a big drive only back to the B and B for starters but that was scary enough and Tara did a fabulous job getting us there in 1 piece.....HOORAY. the rondpont points equalled what felt like 30 for the 2km drive, but was probably only about 5.
Back at L'Horizon, a 1910 Tanners' summer residence with beautiful walled gardens, we planned our onward journey, and named the car Dippy. our first goal was to reach Coulon in one piece - it was only about 15kms from Niort, in the Marais Poitevin - or the Green Venice- for all of the canals that run through here to water the fields.
Paul took over for the next legs and it was getting easier and easier. Anyone would think that no-one else in the world had even driven on both sides of the car and road before...some people just think that the world revolves around them! we then found an intermarche and quickly bought some wine and an aperitif, before we wer summarily evicted as it was closing time at 12.30. Desolee!
We did find a great little boulangerie though on the way back to the car, meaning that we had a loveley picnic lunch on a canal coming up! this was also the first time that we had used our Garmin GPS - there is still not 100% trust here - hence Michelin maps! - but all seemed to be working out in that area too!
After a bit more drive time, we thought that we had the hang of it in general and headed back to the BNB, not before we tried to go to St Maixent L'Ecole and the Garmin (Jenny) decided to take us south to La Rochelle...hmm, trust not going well here...
back at the ranch, we high 5'd, went out and had an apertif at the same place as the night before, then headed up to the park and had tapas and a pizza (where are we again???) before heading back much later and being offered some hash for 5 Eu along the way..
