Can You Just Translate This?

GARE DE GAIILON-ABERVOYE.

Disturbed a couple of times by local revellers playing loud music in their cars. No trouble, though. Up at 8 in plenty of time for the run. The race director arrives dressed as a medieval soldier. He tells us that today is the anniversary of the Battle of Hastings. He starts the race by shouting "Charge!".

A number of Brits in the field including one Paul Freyne. Including overseas runs, he tops the different venues list with over 430. We run under bridges called Jean D'Arc and Guillaume le Conquerant.

We get the bikes off the van and Rosie enjoys her first real go on her new electric bike. We cycle a round trip of 10 miles and she pronounces it a success.

There is a food festival in the city. We collect a map from Tourist Information situated next to the cathedral.

It's a busy affair showcasing everything you'd expect from the French, cheese, wine, meats, ciders, yoghurts and honey. We try samples from a number of stalls but, as you might expect, it's quite expensive so we don't buy anything. There are large queues at some stalls so we can't be representative of the visitors.

The temperature in the van is 25 degrees Centigrade as we move on to Lery where there is the promise of free parking by a lake. It has changed, turnstiles are manned and it costs 11 euro just to park. We decide against it. The next destion, Gaillon, turns out to be sevices only. However, we are directed to the station where we can safely park.

We walk to a local cafe for a beer and a pastis. The Turkish owner brings out a book in French and asks if Rosie can translate it into English. The book is about his local Kurdish village but is not available in English. The trouble is that it is about 300 pages long. She's good but ....!