To be fair, this trip was rather uneventful until the last hour. We motored out of Marseille at a lazy 10am – grey skies and light rain were the order of the day, but this was OK by us. Getting out of Marseille was a bit manic, but not to be unexpected from the second biggest city in France.

Once again, we listened to Hamish’s off key singing for most of the way, which really, is kind of cute. Especially when he sings, “I’m on my way, from happiness to happiness today…” Bless him.

Being a team player, Belinda drove part of the way, although proved she has T-Rex like arms, when she couldn’t reach the toll ticket and/or pay the toll – not once, but twice.

Dijon was difficult to spot from the freeway, especially when Rod exited off and then accidently drove back on to the freeway. This time, sat nav assisted. The same cannot be said for the next hour.

Our apartment is in the middle of the city, but sat nav was again unable to work out one way streets from dead ends and no through roads. Consequently, we drove around in circles on the south side of the city almost in view of our accommodation. We kept going from ‘400m to reach our destination’ to ‘1.2km to reach our destination’. Finally Rod found a park to try and work out where to get off this infinite loop.

Rod set off on foot to find our apartment after talking to some real estate agents and calling the hotel; five minutes through the town square. After trying to convince Hamish he could hold on longer because he was 5 (good try Jess) Belinda emptied a water bottle for emergency use. Rod returned from the hotel to find Hamish standing on the backseat of the car, tackle out, peeing into the emergency bottle. He was very pleased with himself (Hamish, not Rod).

A left turn, then a series of right turns put us into the carpark near our accommodation. Picture a tired family of four, dragging luggage up cobblestone streets. That’s us in Dijon.

Finally had a real French dinner out (because ‘blue’ hamburger patties and Mr Kebab don’t count). Jess and I shared garlic escargot (delish), Hamish vegetable soup, Rod steak with Dijon mustard, Jess coq-au-vin and me beef bourginon. Bubbles, red wine and desserts topped us off.