We woke to a beautiful morning, totally destroyed by the circus van driving round town announcing that they were now in Chaillac. After that shock came another, one more night with John and we would be heading back towards London, which means the time has arrived to pack. A job that can only be done by a woman....Sally....Well, have you ever encountered a women's handbag? During the magic act the lovely bright sky became darker and darker until we had to put t...

Another restful start to the morning. John and Tom finish another window renovation. Sally and Ian head in to St Benoit for the pharmacy and supermarche. It seemed such a waste to be indoors on a fine day, who knows how many more we'll get, so we headed off for a drive after lunch. After much circular driving, following well positioned French signposts, we asked the GPS woman how to get to the Chateau de la Brosse, near Chaillac. John then directed us to Chezale...

Sally's head cold has progressed significantly today and so spent most of it in the lounge snuggled under the duvet. Joined by everyone else after lunch to watch a series John has on DVD following the struggle of John Harrison with The Lohgitude Board. He invented not 1 but 4 timepieces to be used at sea, allowing navigators to determine their longitutde, thus saving many lives. Very interesting and now we will have to visit the observatory at Greenwich, where t...

Rather a restful and uneventful time today. Other than a quick trip to Le Blanc for a couple of bits from the supermarche, the day was spent pottering around John's and watching TV. We had hoped to go to the circus in St Benoit but Sally was coming down with a cold.

John and Tom decided we should go for a drive today and they picked Angouleme, as John hadn't been there before. This is the medievil hill-top town we'd been through briefly on the way back from Cognac. Very gloomy day but quite warm still. A stop at a hill-top abbey ruin and then a stop at Rochefocauld to look at their chateau. Arrived in Angouleme in time for a late lunch at McDonald's - yes, even John had some. He was intrigued to see that they're having a m...