After Sophie’s exertions of a 20 minute walk around a lake, she needed another long sit down, so we headed on our way, just stopping to top up our gas, as well as to replenish cakes, wine, cheese and bread, all from SuperU. After a few days of heating, water heating, cooking, and fridge use we were pleased to find out that we’d only used €3.35 of gas.

Next stop was Verneuil sur Avre, and again we’d completely forgotten we’d been through here before. I can only think that it was the wrong time of day, or we didn’t like the look of the aire, but we didn’t stop that time. This time round I’d read some positive reviews of the stop, most commenting how peaceful it was at night, which is an important consideration when you find yourself sleeping in the middle of a town. Also, it was right next to the fire station, which had the potential to be disturbing in the middle of the night.

Anyway, after a late cheese and bread lunch, we crossed the road and did a town tour. Where we can, we head for the Tourist Information office and grab a map. Sophie will ask how long the recommended walk takes, and she will then ask what are the essential “must sees”, because every minute of less walking is important to her. In fact, Sophie’s easily distracted, and the town has some really impressive old buildings, and the lighting was spot on, and so it was well worth the walk, so I managed to squeeze almost an hour out of her this time.

An added bonus was that by now, there was very little point in moving on and this was to be our overnight spot. I did angle for a meal out that evening, but her little legs had just run out of steam, which is a shame as I wouldn’t have been driving afterwards, which usually allows for a more relaxed meal.

I think we were both pleasantly surprised by the extremely peaceful night we had there. I didn’t sleep too well, which then resulted in a late start, so I was able to get away with a lunch out in the town, so that was good turn of events.

We’re fans of the “formule” menus that restaurants are obliged to provide midweek lunchtimes. It normally entails a half-decent 3 course meal at a significantly lower cost than you could get in Jersey. This time we were caught out because although there are very few things we can’t eat, andouille is one of them, and that was the only option for main course. It’s essentially intestines and they smell and taste rank, in our opinion. The waiter did comment that British people didn’t tend to like them. Also, the only starter option was gésiers, or chicken gizzards. Whilst this may not sound appealing either, it’s actually very tasty, and does not have a strong flavour at all.

So the upshot was essentially an à la carte meal, which was not the bargainous lunch we’d banked on. Anyway, the steak and osso bucco were excellent, as was the service at Le Collectionneur Gourmand restaurant.

And after lunch we said our goodbyes to Verneuil sur Avre.