Day One: Merry on the ferry

Day One: Merry on the Ferry

13^th July 2011

Quote of the Day: ‘Fun Daddy!’ – us about Matt when he decided to stop to have a beer en route!

As we had to be in Portsmouth at 8am, we had a very early start from Matt’s house as we all crawled out of our beds and joined the queue for the shower. Eye masks, ear plugs and travel pillows a go-go we snuggled into the rather uncomfortable van as best as we could to get a wee bit more sleep while Daddy Matt drove his moaning kids to the ferry port.

We rushed on to our reclining seats which were right at the front of the boat, so we had a fabulous view of the sea and curled up as quickly as possible to get some more sleeps in before the long drive ahead of us. The sun was shining, the birds were probably singing on land, and the mille-feuille was beckoning from the café counter. We were all very excited about our trip to France, not only so we could see all the lovely people from Le Fourneau and the music that was on, but also for the incredible food you are given in France – they truly know how to look after their performers.

It was lovely and hot in France, which made sitting in the van for 5 hours a bit difficult as we wanted to get out and sit in the sun, but on our way we passed a bar that was by the sea and Matt (aka Fun Daddy) let us all stop to have a beer by the sea which was much needed.

Once we arrived on site, we were taken to our dressing room – which is possibly the most loveliest dressing room we have ever had. They had put up a huge circus tent full of shabby chic-style armchairs, sofas and fairylights, and our dressing rooms were fully equipped as well. There was even a lady on site constantly standing by the crepe machine ready to make crepes for everyone, and a whole table covered in meat, cheese, bread, crisps, beer, wine, cakes – you name it, Le Fourneau had organised it! MERCI!

After eating far more than we should have done at dinner, we were taken to where we were staying for the week, which was in the house of a lovely couple who not only have lots of their own children but foster children as well. They also had a lovely dog called Feika, who we were desperate to take away with us in our van all week. Tomorrow is Snoop Doggy Dogg so we bedded in relatively early to get our dancing sleep stacked up for tomorrow night.