Back to France after a 2 week break in England and in our quest for the ultimate travel experience between Calais and Chalais we decided to cross the Channel early in the evening, drive for two hours and then stop in a hotel at Rouen. The onward journey can then be completed in about six hours.
We have often used the B&B Hotel chain in Le Mans where for about 35 Euros you get a comfortable, clean room and a good night’s sleep. Breakfast is also good value at 5 Euros or so.
But the B&B Hotel in Rouen was a massive disappointment. We were perhaps unlucky in that we were allocated one of the four rooms, accessible only from the exterior, that appear to have been converted from storage or office space in order to squeeze a few more clients in and a few more Euros out.
The room was a decent size but still had the ambience of a garage. We had asked for a non-smoking room but were given a room where clearly the no smoking policy had been ignored, and whilst we would admit to being ultra-sensitive to cigarette smoke this was pretty disgusting.
Then from 6.30 onwards the room resounded to the scraping of chairs in the restaurant, which effectively cut short our night’s sleep and meant that we headed off on the final leg of the journey feeling no better for the night’s rest.