h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A bit like Cornwall really. Went on the ferry from Portsmouth, and was warned by an elderly gent in the bar (he must have been ooh at least 2 years older than me!) that it was going to be a rough crossing. "Huh!" I replied "can't be worse than Aberdeen to Lerwick in 100 mph winds." He insisted that once we got out of the shelter of the Isle of Wight it would be very choppy. Well, it did go up and down a bit, but nothing like the sliding-up-and-down-the-bed experience earlier this year.

So anyway, got to St Malo on Tuesday morning, left my case at the hotel, and went off to explore. Hotel was well placed in the fortified city (known as Intra Muros), with plenty of restaurants to choose from. Grey day, with occasional spots of rain, but not much to speak of.

Wednesday was the best day: went to Dinard on the 'sea-bus' - a 10-minute trip across the estuary. Had a wander round, lunch at a beach-side cafe, and watched the sea for a while. Lovely!

Thursday started off damp and miserable, so took the bus to Dinan, further up the river Rance. Buses are incredibly cheap - 50-minute journey cost €2. Dinan advertises itself as a medieval city, but some of the buildings are rather later, and others have been imported from other places and re-constructed. Anyway, by lunchtime it had brightened up a bit, so headed back to St Malo, and walked along one of the longest beaches - very beautiful, with rows of tree-trunks, presumably to break the force of the waves. Halfway back, I could see low cloud approaching along the beach and then the heavens opened! Sheltered in a doorway until it slacked off a bit, but still got pretty wet.

The ferry back only operates in the daytime (at least at this time of year), so Friday was a rather boring day, punctuated only by lunch on board (very good - steak cooked to order), walks round the deck, eavesdropping on fellow travellers (two Welshmen at the next table were happily switching between Welsh and English mid-sentence, which as a linguist I found fascinating), sniffing perfume-sorry-scent samples in the shop, and getting a big chunk of reading done for my book group. Actually that doesn't sound nearly as boring as it was!

Anyway, stayed with a friend in London on Friday night, and got home Saturday lunchtime. On Sunday a few of us did the Bridge the Gap walk (http://www.bridgethegapwalk.org/site/) which was really good fun. We were very lucky with the weather, and finished in time for a Sunday roast with some of the regular bunch - different pub though.

And today I was back at work, with 225 emails in my inbox ...