We woke relatively early to do some final packing and loading of the car, because while Rita would not be flying home till next week, this would also be her last day on the boat. Today we would drive north (for my train and plane tomorrow) and then she would return to Sarah's where she would leave the Scenic for the winter, then take the train to Bern to say goodbye to family and friends, before training it to Zurich for her flight next week.

For the past few years, we had stayed in a little Gite in Soigne on our first and last nights in France, but this year when we rang to book, we found they had no rooms available for tonight. So after a little searching, we found another Gite in nearby Cheminot, which was even closer to the Lorraine TGV station for tomorrow's journey to Paris CDG. So we headed off around midday for the three-hour drive north. For the past few weeks, I had been noticing that the Scenic's clutch had been slipping a bit under load. On the drive north, I noticed this even more, with the engine racing when climbing hills. Luckily, we were on a motorway for most of the trip, with relatively mild grades. I just hoped it would not give Rita too much trouble for the return trip south to Besain, where we could put it in for a full service in Poligny while we were away for six months.

When we got to La Jonchière Gite at Cheminot, we were quite pleased by what we saw, in the form of a substantial farmhouse, with our rooms reached via a side entrance on the ivy-covered wall.

Inside there was a large shared kitchen/living room on the ground floor (but no one else was there tonight so we had it all to ourselves), and a large bedroom with adjacent ensuite on the first floor. All very comfortable, and the attention given to us by host Fabienne was superb.

After we had settled in, we went outside to explore and met up with Fabienne's husband, who works fulltime on the farm. He explained to us the history of the farm, included the time when it was occupied by the Germans during WW2 (it's sobering for an Australian to think about this period in time). He also explained that the farmhouse used to be connected to a large stone barn, which collapsed in recent years, leaving only the stone doorway as a reminder of its prior life. Now the footprint of the old barn has been converted into a beautiful flower garden.

The timing of our walk around the farm was good, as it was time for the donkey family to be fed.

After making dinner in the downstairs kitchen, with Fabienne providing some missing ingredients, we retired to the upstairs bedroom where we got a great night's sleep in the peacefulness of the countryside.