Passed through Caen enroute to the Gite, Brico Depot shopping and saw Barfleur still there
On our drive down the autoroute from the Eurotunnel terminal to our Brittany holiday we have to drive around the Caen Périphérique Périphérique, normally to the south side following the signs for Rennes, as its slightly shorter that way.
This time though I elected to drive round the Northern side of Caen, mainly because I wanted stop off at a branch of Brico Depot which I know is just off the N13 in the Caen-Carpiquet ZI (industrial estate):
View larger Google Streetview of Caen Brico Depot
(as an aside it's interesting that the Google Streetview of Caen Brico Depotwas obviously taken on a weekend with only a few cars in the carpark whereas the Google maps photo of Caen Brico Depot is obviously on a busy week-day)
I unfortunately had to call into Brico Depot to try to buy a new rubber washer for the toilet float valve in the new toilet we had installed in our second Gite. It was only a couple of years old, we'd probably only used the toilet two or three times and the rubber had already perished so the toilet kept on filling up.
We'd bought the toilet from Brico Depot so figured on going back there to buy a new washer. Unfortunately no such luck, they had no replacement washers at all and all the toilet flush mechanisms looked quite different from the one we had installed in our Brico toilet. So ended up having to buy a whole new flush mechanism but was slightly pleased that was *just* €7 rather than the absolutely outrageous €25 I was charged when I had to go to a local builders merchant to buy a replacement toilet flush mechanism for our main Gite.
Just shows the difference in price you pay with Brico Depot over the 'typical' regional builders merchants. Unfortunately the nearest Brico Depots are in Rennes and St Brieuc both which are 40 minutes drive from the Gite so its got to be "worth it" to make a special trip.
On the way round Caen I spotted that Brittany Ferries Barfleur was still moored up on the Caen river, looking just the same as when I spotted Barfleur on my drive down to the Gite in April 2010.
I managed to take a better photo this time as Liz was driving the car; last time I was trying to continue driving and take photos at the same time!
This time though I elected to drive round the Northern side of Caen, mainly because I wanted stop off at a branch of Brico Depot which I know is just off the N13 in the Caen-Carpiquet ZI (industrial estate):
View larger Google Streetview of Caen Brico Depot
(as an aside it's interesting that the Google Streetview of Caen Brico Depotwas obviously taken on a weekend with only a few cars in the carpark whereas the Google maps photo of Caen Brico Depot is obviously on a busy week-day)
I unfortunately had to call into Brico Depot to try to buy a new rubber washer for the toilet float valve in the new toilet we had installed in our second Gite. It was only a couple of years old, we'd probably only used the toilet two or three times and the rubber had already perished so the toilet kept on filling up.
We'd bought the toilet from Brico Depot so figured on going back there to buy a new washer. Unfortunately no such luck, they had no replacement washers at all and all the toilet flush mechanisms looked quite different from the one we had installed in our Brico toilet. So ended up having to buy a whole new flush mechanism but was slightly pleased that was *just* €7 rather than the absolutely outrageous €25 I was charged when I had to go to a local builders merchant to buy a replacement toilet flush mechanism for our main Gite.
Just shows the difference in price you pay with Brico Depot over the 'typical' regional builders merchants. Unfortunately the nearest Brico Depots are in Rennes and St Brieuc both which are 40 minutes drive from the Gite so its got to be "worth it" to make a special trip.
On the way round Caen I spotted that Brittany Ferries Barfleur was still moored up on the Caen river, looking just the same as when I spotted Barfleur on my drive down to the Gite in April 2010.
I managed to take a better photo this time as Liz was driving the car; last time I was trying to continue driving and take photos at the same time!
Labels: BrittanyFerries, Holiday, Renovations
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