Not much to say of the last two days.

After leaving Paris, and a six hour drive south through the Beaujolais Wine Region; we arrived at the next stopover, a Ch?au outside Lyon.

We are very much in the heart of Red Wine territory, almost all of the land in sight is covered in vine yards. The region is incredibly quite, and almost picture perfect. Apart from the occasional vehicle that rumbles past on one of the country lanes, the only sounds are those of the birds in the trees.

The Chateau itself is nestled at the top of a hill, so the views are pretty impressive. I took a walk on the first night to explore. There doesn't seem to be much of a population here, farm houses stand alone and a few and far between. I found two villages, but only one; Treize was large enough to have shops.

We weren't stuck for entertainment. The Chateau has a huge basement, which has been made in to a bar. So we did what any self respecting person with a private bar did, party.

The party spilled over in to the early hours, so some people didn't emerge until the following afternoon.

Those of us that knew when to stop, and were up early; trekked up the highest point in the region, giving us unobstructed views of everything in a good 6-7 mile radius. The trek itself was pretty straightforward, but the rain and onslaught of caterpillars made things interesting. There were hundreds of the things, just dangling from the trees. You'd duck to avoid one and get three more jumps at you from the side!

When we eventually made it back to base people broke away to do their own thing, most slept. But a few of us guys found a Football and a Rugby ball so started playing what was a cross between football and Aussie Rules. Not sure who won, but I limped away with an ankle injury. Nice.

Thankfully we move on tomorrow, this region is nice; but only in small doses.

Carl.