I waved Wendy goodbye and jumped into my van and headed south. I noticed that the van had a trip computer so I attempted to key in my destination of Combas. I should have had Wendy do that before she set off. Surprisingly it was all in French, but I didn't let that faze me and I thought I had done it correctly.

I knew where I was going initially and jumped onto the motorway heading south. Not long after that it directed me to leave the motorway, I presumed that it was aware of some problem on the motorway and was taking me around it. I became suspicious when it put me on a main road heading East, I ignored its instructions and got myself back going in the right direction. This continued for some time and I eventually discovered that it was not using my destination but the previous renters destination.

So I gave up on the car trip computer and utilized Google maps on my phone. Once that was sorted I relaxed and drove south. After a while I needed a comfort stop and started looking for a sign. I didn't find any and eventually just took off on a side road and looked for a tree. There was no obvious stopping points and the road regularly had traffic narrowing concrete blocks about the height of a gutter. Bloody great trucks were coming the other way and eventually I collided with one of these gutter road hazards, puncturing the front left tyre.

I stopped in a small carpark in a town and set about finding the spare tyre and the jack, with little success. Eventually a passer-by offered some assistance and after much bemusement and hand signals, as he didn't spak English, we managed to find the spare tyre, underneath the back of the car.

This was the only high point of the day. Purchased at the little Patisserie over the road from the station. I have no recollection of when I got to eat it but I am sure it was delicious.

Then we had to search for the jack and a method of winding down the cage holding the spare tyre. This we eventually achieved and then I had to find out what I was supposed to do about getting the tyre fixed.

I went into a local pub to find out where I was so i could tell the car company. About now I realise just how little day to day french I understand (none). After much mucking around I was advised to go to the car hire company in Rennes. This I did, and I found the street were the car hire company was supposed to be, it is the Rennes railway station, however the station was undergoing major reconstruction and people were being directed to the entrance to the station on the other side of the railway tracks. It was a long way around by car and there was nowhere to park on the other side. Frustrated I decided to drive out to the airport, as there are usually car hire places there and parking is much easier. Fine in theory, but they had no spares parts out there and no spare cars and directed me back into the main office at the railway station, oh joy. They explained how to get through the construction zone and how to park in their spaces on the roof of the station. By the time I got back in there it was too late for them to do anything and I had to come back in the morning.

I had rung Wendy many times during the day, getting her to ring on my behalf , she had plenty of time to do it as her train was stuck at Rennes station due to a fire at her destination in Paris and all trains on that line being stopped for hours. She found me a cheap hotel near the station and I had a calming night's sleep after a disastorous day.

The next day they replaced the car and I proceeded to Combas without incident.