Mustard city

Left StE this morning for Dijon a distance that started off at 255kms but for some unfathomable reason after around 30kms it increased by 20kms so I checked on Google Maps and found that we were being “directed” around the eastern side of Lyon on the A46 whereas the shorter route was on the western side on the A6, nevertheless there was nothing we could do about it except follow the GPS directions.

Arrived in Dijon at 2.20 and was met by our host landlord, Coco.

Coco has obviously taken the view that to promote her business customer service is paramount as she:

* had the apartment very well stocked with essentials and some local goodies

* took us on an orientation tour of the city

* provides free international phone calls from the apartment to landlines 

* has around 10 English language TV channels available 

* provides a computer with internet for those who don’t have mobile devices 

First impressions of Dijon are highly favourable - it has character and seems to be very tidy - we walk out the front door straight onto one of the main squares. Exploration over the next few days is looked forward to.

Kms driven today: 275

Total to date: 2990

Spoke to another guest at StE accommodation before we left. He is from Canada (born in Belgium) and travels around Canada, Belgium and France repairing vehicles damaged by hail stones using a “dent removal process” and without damaging the paint.

There was a hailstorm in StE about 2 months ago and he will be there for around 4 months as he has a contract with one firm to repair 300 vehicles!