By mid-day, we'd reached the end of the UK at Folkstone and were getting ready to board the Euro Tunnel...
We were slowly but surely packed into the train, where the heat had become stifling.
I was asleep by the time the train was pulling away from the station. We got a little rest, but not much as the crossing only takes 35 minutes.
Onto the Peage we went and the miles ticked easily by. Our initial plan was to head to Fontainbleau for a chilled evening and a spot of bouldering. However, the combination of the weather being so hot and the fact that the train had been delayed a bit, meant that it wasn't looking like it was going to be worth the detour. Unfortunately, by this point, we were committed to driving past/through Paris and it's city traffic. What we weren't prepared for was the sight of the shanty towns that had appeared on the side of the motorways as were got into the city. It looked like something I last saw in Africa, not France - on the side of the road were makeshift homes and buildings...
...Yet in the other direction you looked, there were huge skyscrapers and city prosperity.
We caught a few glimpses of the Eiffel Tower as we slowly made our way through the traffic chaos.
After some potentially stressful navigation situations in heavy traffic and scarily low tunnels, we made it back out the other side and onto the blissful quiet of the more rural toll roads. Wide lanes, no traffic and straight roads - much easier travel!
Thanks to the wonders of the internet and 3mobile's international roaming data, once we got tired, we were able to book a cheap motel just south of Orleans where we could finally lay down and get some much-needed sleep for a few hours. Next morning (Thursday), we finally, we made it to destination number one, near Perigueux, for fine foods and great chat and some relaxation.
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