The first night

OK, so you've got to start somewhere (so what have you been doing for the last few years - Ed?) and this is it. I pick up the story as we wend our way through France, carrying our closest possessions, prior to entering the mother-ship on Tuesday.
As we journeyed along the A9, with a snow capped Mont Ventoux, majestic in the background, (ooh get you - Ed) there was a big sign over the road with the message that it was 'dangerous to walk on the motorway.' A sign that can only have been targeted at morons who haven't yet seen the light or alternatively car drivers who had had enough driving for the day and decided to walk instead. We'll never know.
The journey was largely uneventful other than the peage transponder in Jan's car giving up the ghost as we left the motorway south of Lyon. What a pain. She, and all the cars behind her, had to back out and then she had to find someone to have an argument with because whilst she had entered the motorway with the transponder she had no ticket to leave it. Such fun.
Our first stop was at the Hotel de la Foret d'Orient which, as the name implies, is a hotel in a forest. Excellent for a good nights kip and even better for letting the dogs have a good run round.