Home again

That's it, for now, from our short trip to Angoulême this past October. The drive home, however, was not to be without drama. We packed up the car and did a final walk-through with the owners of the gîte we rented. When I started the car to leave, it made an awful screeching sound. I engaged the clutch and it stuck, the pedal refusing to leave the floor. Uh-oh.

Sign on a garage door in Vindelle. "Beware of Dog."

The screeching got worse and our host said it sounded like the clutch was going. Not to worry, he said, you can still drive the car. After a few tries, the clutch pedal loosened up and I was able to get into gear. I stalled the first time, but it got slowly better. We decided to try to get home. We'd take the autoroute all the way to minimize gear shifts. I stalled again at an intersection on our way, but we got going again and the clutch pedal was feeling better. We got on the autoroute and headed for home. The whole way in fourth gear.

I stalled again at the toll booth outside Poitiers, but that was the last time. I was able to negotiate the remaining toll booths without a problem. We were almost home, just passing the supermarket in Noyers across the river, when WHAM! Some guy rear-ended us. I saw him in the rear-view mirror not looking ahead when he hit us. We were approaching a traffic circle and were rolling slowly, so it was just a "tap," but it still shook us up after the two-and-a-half hour drive from Vindelle with a failing clutch. We didn't even get out of the car. We took a look at the bumper when we got to the house and there was no damage to be seen. I guess that's what bumpers are for, after all.

The following week, Ken made an appointment at the garage and they installed a new clutch. I have no idea why the old clutch failed. Thankfully, it worked well enough for us to make it home safe and sound, albeit a little shaken.