France

The trip across France took 4 hours but it did not seem long as although we avoided tollways we still skipped along at a good speed sometimes as fast as 130k.m.h.

We found the chateau easily and many of the others had already arrived and were quaffing half cold beers as the fridges were working overtime. No service station ice in this country. Great night and good catching up with our Whyalla friends and Pat and Barry's relatives from England. We have met most of them previously. It has been very hot . It was about 35 and quite muggy

The chateau is quite interesting. It dates back to the 1600s and I believe has been extended on occasions It has a great rustic charm and we look like being very comfortable for our last week away

Getting 37 people on the move is difficult so we planned independently A morning walk was done to check out the local area and after criossants and coffee we set off for Chalons for some shopping Being Sunday most were closed but we got the essentials and did a little tour of the Champagne trail but places were closed We called back to the tourist office and now we have maps we will tackle them again later in the week

Last night was one of those nights to really remember The chateau has a marquee out the back so we had 37 seated for dinner The real fun began when Tom got out the guitar A great sing song night with much humour

The night or rather this morning the night got even funnier when we discovered that Tom had gone to a dark corner of the garden for a pee and tumbled over an eight foot wall It was funny because apart from a few scratches and bruises he did not hurt himself, only his pride

Photo is the chateau that we are stayin