On Wednesday we eagerly awaited our petsitters, who arrived in good time. They stayed about an hour and decided to leave. I should stress this was no fault of ours or theirs. A family illness had worsened considerably and despite their willingness to fulfil a commitment to us, they decided to go back to the UK. We understood though obviously it put us in a difficult position.

We managed to get in touch with Trusted Housesitters and our dates were turned ‘live’ again. I sent off multiple requests to sitters who appeared to have dates free without success. Wednesday became Thursday, we cancelled our first two hotels and we became convinced that our holiday wouldn’t take place at all. Then someone smiled on us and we found Jayne, a petsitter from Brittany who’d had a cancellation and could be with us on Friday morning. I don’t think we’ve ever been so glad to see a stranger turn up at the house. After a brief tour and a ‘greet the animals’ session we hit the road.

Obviously our travel plans had to change and I found a hotel in Mennetou – Sur – Cher, about half way between home and La Muse, our destination for Saturday. The hotel is good, the owners welcoming and the village rustic and charming….

We had a passable meal, (you’ll notice an absence of foodie photos which should tell you everything) and here I am slaving over the keyboard while France’s noisiest fly tries to land on my head. Let’s face it, I have a pretty wide runway to aim for.

So tomorrow we head off for La Muse. Hopefully breakfast will be filling and the roads empty…..though I suspect those two wishes may be interchangeable….