Toilettes??

This sign was a welcome sight as we were walking around Pont-en-Royans, because Bonnie had been saying she wanted to go to the toilet for the last half an hour. It is very hard to find a public toilet in France, and when one is found it is often not very appealing. We thought our luck had changed, until we found the said toilets... They were all locked up!

Bonnie outside the locked toilets.

The facilities are obviously for the use of summer visitors, and we were out of luck. As were the several other visitors who came by looking for the signposted toilets while we were there. And in the absence of toilets, what do you do??? I won't embarrass Bonnie by showing what she ended up doing, but here is how Roger helped Hugh to do what he had to do.


Seeing people peeing in public is something we have become accustomed to. We even saw a car stopped on a round-about on a major road, with the driver standing with his back to the traffic relieving himself. For men it is not such a big deal. For women and girls it is a little more awkward to find a suitable spot.

Two anonymous public pee-ers...

We have one very fussy child in our family, who refuses to use a public toilet unless it is spotlessly clean. As you can see from the pictures below, not many fall into that class.

The public toilet in Sainte Marie d'Alloix.

The bottom photo is the one and only public toilet available to visitors in Sainte Marie d'Alloix. At night there is no light (the globe has been removed so people can't leave it on all night) and there is no washbasin, let alone soap or hand towels.
I think in Australia we are spoilt with public toilet facilities which have separate male and female toilets, facilities for the disabled, mirrors, wash basins, soap, and hand towels or hot-air dryers. Congratulations to the councils which supply such good and clean facilities!