Etretat to Tours – The End of the Beginning

Thanks Winston. I’m off, I’m off, I’m off in a motor aeroplane. I’m not averse to fundamental change but I’m dreading the day when a BBC news reporter calls it an airplane. Anyway it’s set off from Leeds and it’s landing at Paris, courtesy of Ryanair.

Well it’s not really Paris. In fact it took an hour and a half for the bus to get to Paris. In fact it really should be renamed Oslo, Beauvais. In fact I really get peed off by people who say ‘in fact’.

It’s great to be a moaner. Nobody expects light or loveliness to emanate from you. They just expect moans. That’s how stupid most people are. They wallow in their own stupidity. Moan bloody moan!

The bus finished at Port Maillot in Oslo (Paris) and I was staying in a relatively cheap hotel quite a way eastwards near Parmentier metro station. I might be an old git but I worked out how to get there. Are you proud of me?

It’s obvious! You get the RER C from Neuilly-Port Maillot one stop to Pereire-Levallois, walk underground to Pereire and then take the 3 line eastwards 15 stops to Parmentier. Less that two quid. Kismet Hardy! It was as scary as it can be at Pereire-Levallois. A huge underground station that was completely empty. It was a 5 minute walk down the empty platform to the exit. With lots of hiding places for scary people. Oh mummy, I should have bought those disposable underpants that Maggie talked about.

Anyway, my hotel is nice and I’m on the 5th floor. Hotel Luna Park. No lift but I haven’t had much exercise today.

Why the end of the beginning Dave?

I have walked, in stages, from John O’Groats to Lands End to Dover and from Calais to Etretat, a beautiful town on the Normandy coast.

Tomorrow I’m getting a train and a bus to Etretat and then walking 230 miles southwards to Tours. Then the beginning of the end starts, with a further Trek onwards from Tours at some stage, down to Spain. Maybe next year.

I’m free, and I’m waiting for you to follow me. Thanks Roger.

This sign supported what I had always thought. (sorry mes amis Francais. Je vous aime).

Thanking you for your attention. Much obliged.

Night, night.