The final few days of such a wonderful holiday. Ecouche looked interesting and the aire was another free one. Having left Alencon I had a “brave” moment, offering to do some driving. Having changed drivers, the satnav suddenly directed us off the main road onto a country lane where I had to pull over for any oncoming traffic. Yikes, not what I’d hoped for at all. After a few miles of this, the satnav’s instructed us to turn left, but we could see that turning led only to a few homes, so she’d clearly gone rogue.
Having pulled over at the first opportunity, Andrew checked the rest of the route and sure enough, Satnav was about to send us in a loop- no particular reason, we guessed maybe she was bored? Memories of our last return trip through Normandy when Satnav had created a proper zig-zag route for heading North to Caen.
We do have a paper Normandy map and luckily Andrew took over the navigation (I say that because maps and me don’t mix well at all) I was happy to follow his instructions, ignoring satnav’s constant “turn back where possible/ at the roundabout take the 4th exit”- (meaning go back) we returned to “big roads” where I felt much more comfortable.
Anyway, Ecouche was well worth the journey. It’s a lovely town, with a very “prosperous” feel, as well as a WWII Sherman tank and plaque commemorating the town’s role in Operation Overlord and remembering the devastation inflicted on the town. No rows of closed down shops here. They have 3 boulangeries, one of which Andrew visited in the morning, despite the drizzle. Their bakery goods were the cheapest we’d found for some time, so another tick in the Ecouche box, for a longer visit next time. The aire was well placed for town, and free. We were glad to find it, despite the satnav’s best efforts.