In this photo, Andy is trying to work out how he can take the copper cylinder home! Outside the Galimard perfume factory, there were several copper/brass stills and retorts. We were surprised to see they're not bolted down, and the factory guide was amazed when we told her they would be stolen for scrap in England. We went on the factory tour, choosing Galimard as there were no coaches parked outside. Fragonard is the other big manufacturer. It was interesting ...

We stayed at Frejus and drove down the coast road to Sainte Maxime, from where we took the ferry across to San Tropez, with a tourist trip past the villas of the rich and once-famous. The bay really is stunning, and now I understand why artists (Matisse was the only one I'd heard of) lived here. There is a luminous quality to the air which enhances colour. The buildings are painted in ice-cream colours, it's all very picturesque but you'll be glad to note that I ...

Driving through the Tarn gorges in the rain doesn't make for good photos. It reminded me of Somerset and Cheddar, with limestone outcrops and adverts for farm produce. The roads were a bit more extreme though, winding round steep hills with a sheer drop on one side and nothing to stop the car from sliding off the road. The photos would look so much better with a blue sky, but we didn't have one...it was windy, wet and only 8 degrees. We arrived in Avignon and f...

Yesterday we repacked our bags. The warm clothing went into one bag which was buried at the bottom of the boot. You've guessed; this morning we had a surprise. Why was that water coming out of the sky? Why was I wearing a dress and flip-flops? In a car park in Beziers I rooted around and found some warm layers, socks and boots. We set off, in our waterproofs, to walk the 1.7Km to Les Neufs Ecluses, the 9 locks on the Canal du Midi built in the early 1600s to c...

A nostalgic trip today, to Vias and Californie Plage, a campsite we stayed at when Ros was about 18 months old, so about 24 years ago, and again in 1991. The place was a sleepy backwater then, but is rather smart now, with mostly mobile homes. We had a lovely lunch at the pirate cafe near the sea. There's no beach there any more, the sand disappeared about 10 years ago, so now it's just large rocks which are shoring up the coastline in an attempt to prevent any m...