Day 117 - Home to Marseilles - The town with no name

It was back on the road again today and it was today that I remembered that I love driving.  I know that sounds really silly but I do love driving, not just because I am seeing things as I travel around but because of today.  Most times when I am on my own I put some music on and as I like a bit of metal then it tends to be a bit loud, but today I didnt put any music on and just had silence which is when I start to think and today I did that.  It is nice when you set off early enough and again today I did that, I had a few meetings to do around 9.00 a.m. and so that I could do them when I got to London I left home at just after 4.00 a.m.  This meant that I had no traffic problems and I was getting a nice costa coffee at Toddington services just after 6.30 a.m.
After a little leg stretching I was back into the queues of traffic but because I had so much time before I needed to be at Heathrow then I wasn't bothered and just enjoyed the peace in the car.  I arrived in plenty of time and parked the car at the Purple Parking and was whisked off to the terminal.  I met my Nottingham colleague who was already at the airport and joined him whilst we sat and waited for the flight.  I was surprised, not by the information that the plane was to be delayed but by the statement by the staff that it was foggy up there.  I thought fog was a ground based thing but we live and learn.
In what seemed no time at all, and no time for me for as soon as I was sat in my seat on the plane I was fast asleep and very comfortable after the stewardess gave me a pillow to use.  I woke in time to get a drink and then fall asleep again until we landed, which as the flight was almost 2 hours in length it meant that I got a good sleep.
We got through border control quickly and to baggage reclaim where as expected our baggage's eventually arrived.  The car was obtained quickly as I chatted to our French colleague who we had met at the airport whilst my Nottingham colleague did the honors.  It was as we reached the care we had our first problem, there seemed to be a lot of scratches and dents not mentioned on the paperwork but with the aid of our French speaking colleague and my Nottingham colleague who just seemed to be winding the lady up, we got a newly decorated car plan showing various scratches and a very huffed au revoir from the car rental.  It would have been time for a hasty retreat but I spent the next 10 minutes or so in the back of the car answering mails while the French and Nottingham colleague both discussed, fathomed and the entered the address into the sat nav.  Then decided to re language ise the sat nav and started all over again.  Some time later we finally left the car rental compound and headed toward our hotel destination. I would say what it was but I cannot even pronounce it properly never mind spell it.  But I got some nice pics on the way from the back of the car and I have put them on the blog below.
We got to the hotel and decided to have a little walk around the area before getting some dinner and had a walk along the harbour, I didnt get any pictures but it was nice as the water was very clear and you could see hundreds of fish at any one time swimming about.  I will have to take my camera tomorrow to have a look.
We had a meal in a restaurant next to the hotel and here is news to my two colleagues, I shall not be going in there again, the meal was awful, the meat was cold when it arrived and it was not the salad option.  It was also very tough with god knows what inside that my teeth kept cracking against.  I will not be rating that restaurant.  On the reverse I will be rating Heathrow terminal 1 as one of the best, great speed through security, had enough people working even though it was quite busy, the layout very easy to follow.  It is now a toss up between Birmingham Airport and Heathrow terminal 1 for the best UK airport. Birmingham probably shading it as the parking is better but it is smaller so has more chance to have better parking.

The reason I took this photo was because the greenery in the background is a car park, a quite clever way to hide the concrete behind the shrubbery 

This was a view from the car over the town we are staying in.  I have had a scout around the room looking for some literature that shows the name of the town but believe it or not there is nothing.

This was the view as we traveled nearer the town, there seem to be a lot of boats around the area.

That is all for now as I am getting tired so

Night All