Across the Seine

I left Martin-Eglise, near to Dieppe, this morning in fog and dripping rain. This gradually cleared as I followed the river Varennes down to St Saens, to such an extent I was squinting into the sun by 11am. It's a really beautiful route, on quiet roads, with typical Normandy half timbered houses and dairy farms. From there the landscape is plainer, with large hedgeless arable fields.

At Fleury I wanted to continue south on minor roads, but was frustrated by closure signs, with the effect that I was being forced onto the equivalent of a major British two way highway, with artics thundering past threatening my continued existence. So I turned round, and took the closed road, driving round all the no-entry signs. For 2 miles it was effectively an excavated dirt road, with holes and ramps everywhere. But, no problem for a tractor; the guy sweeping the road with a huge machine didn't turn a hair. I refuelled in Les Andelys, and was rather concerned that the tractor had developed a high pitched squeaking sound. I ran through the possibilities: wheel bearing failing (no, too high a frequency); water pump bearing (maybe - should I have checked the greasing again?); worst of all, what about pre-ignition (really? with a compression ratio of 5:1....). After a while, I put my hand on the bonnet. It stopped. I hadn't set the catch properly. Panic over.

Anyway, I eventually reached my destination at Vernon, and finally crossed the Seine in the process, a total distance of 122km, rather more than I had intended, and really too much. Staying at the Hotel Normandy, where they have an underground car park. Good for security I figured. The only problem is that the gradient into the car park, and the inevitable bend, made it impossible to control the tractor on the feeble brakes; also the head height's not much. So I entered this car park accelerating out of control, crouched down to avoid decapitation. Tomorrow's challenge is to get out.

Weather forecast is good though.