Valenciennes and Anne-Sophie’s.

So. It was all planned. We were driving to Croatia. Bags were packed (no luggage allowance meant every toiletry in the house came), passports in the glove compartment, ferry information printed. We decided on the ferry as it was cheaper than the tunnel and we thought it would be a more visual way to travel. In all honesty, it wasn’t that exciting, but for the price I’d definitely do it again.

The drive down went smooth and we made it to the ferry port in super fast time. They advise you get there an hour early and as we were even earlier they let us on the earlier ferry. Yay!

Once in Calais we bombed it down the motorway to our first stop, Valenciennes. As we pulled into the little town in Northern France we were giddy with excitement. I was also a little nervous of meeting our first host but I needn’t have been, she was lovely.

Anne-Sophie’s home was beautiful. It was a huge, old house that she had recently bought and was renovating room by room. It was cool, bohemian and relaxed, very much like it’s owner. After showing us around we were shown to our bedroom were Anne-Sophie dropped a bomb. To get to the bathroom we had to go through her bedroom!

My mind went into overdrive as I immediately began to panic. What if I need to pee in the night? What if I tripped over and landed on her head while she slept? I’ll assume these thoughts were written all over my face as she quickly suggested that she could sleep up in the attic. I started to protest (a little half heartedly to tell the truth) but she assured us it wasn’t a problem. It was cool and she liked the space. Phew!

After a quick shower and change we were out! We knew we wouldn’t have a chance to explore Valenciennes. It was basically a stop over en route, but we still wanted to make the most of it. Anne-Sophie had directed us to a local bar about a 10 minute walk away. There wasn’t much to see on the way. Trees, homes, roads, a couple of bridges. Once over the second bridge the scenery changed and we found ourselves in smaller, pedestrian streets. There was a few bars but none seemed welcoming. It felt a little like on An American werewolf were the whole pub just stops and stares at the newcomers.

We kept going wondering if we had come in the right direction and then we turned a corner and there it was. A beautiful little square full of bars and restaurants with fairy lights strewn amongst the trees. They weren’t all open yet as it was still early so we chose an elegant looking Italian restaurant. It had huge windows with wooden sills painted grey, atmospheric lighting and good looking pizzas. We sat outside and watched as a band set up in front of a little church. After we had eaten we moved to the next bar. We ordered a couple of beers (with the help of a Londoner who now lived there) and sat outside at a little table.

As the daylight faded lights began to come on around the square. More and more people arrived, cheese boards were brought out form the little cheese and wine bar, people chatted animatedly and air kisses filled the air. We sat back and beamed at each other as all of our worries started to melt away. This was it, the start of our adventure and what a perfect way to kick it off.

The next morning we rose early still on cloud nine. (The used condom in the bathroom bin quickly brought me back down to earth but I guess that’s the reality of staying in another persons home). Anne-Sophie made us coffee and chatted a little about the area and what she did (sports teacher). We then had a hilarious moment trying to explain that we needed to feed the sourdough starter that we had brought with us.

“You need the oven?” No.

“You need to bake bread?” Erm, no we just need to feed it or it will die.

She gave a little shrug in that cool way that French people just seem to exude and went to get dressed.

Pretty soon we were ready to go but not before having cuddles with the house rabbit, Chou Chou. We said our Au revoirs and Mercis and we were back on the road excitedly anticipating our next stop. Strasbourg.