Our first journey on Le Shuttle for a number of years, much stricter now on timings, you have to be there one hour early or your ticket is cancelled and you need to rebook and pay again!

Our route to Honfleur took us over the Pont De Normandie Bridge, a cable-stayed bridge over the Seine, which is 2km long and 850m high to allow boat passage, the largest in the world when it was built in 1995, designed by Michel Virlogeux, also designer of the Millau Viaduct!

Honfleur is an old port town, first mentioned in 1025, with its tall houses, with slate-covered frontages, surrounding the Vieux Bassin, which have frequently been painted by many famous artists, including Gustave Courbet, Eugène Boudin, Claude Monet and Johan Jongkind.

There are a number of notable buildings including St Catherine Church, which has a separate bell tower and is the largest wooden church in France. The Lieutenance, a remnant of the original fortifications, built in the 14th century by King Charles V. The Salt Barns used to store salt for curing the fish catch, St Stephens Church which is now the Maritime Museum and St Leonards Church. There are many gardens around the town, one Jardine du Tripot is on a number of levels within the old town, celebrating local tanners and dyers in the area.

We stayed in a small apartment, with a lovely terrace just off one Rue Haute, one of the main streets, very central location and loads of restaurants and bars nearby, although not the cheapest place to dine. The area is famous for apples and it’s products like cider and Calvados (brandy), the cider was particularly lovely.

Stopped off at Avranches, for lunch with a view in their gardens, near the main Cathedral on our way to Lanester, near Lorient to stay with our friends Ravina and Dan, from Victoria, Canada who we met on a cruise a few years ago and have met up since in Victoria and Tokyo.