The courtyard is bathed in sunshine as we get up and the flowers in the huge planters stand out brightly against the stone buildings. For breakfast we try some of the honey we bought on Friday and it's lovely.

As we are getting ready to leave Monsieur comes out of the house to water his patio- and rockery-plants. Ali has a little chat with him, pleased with how her French conversation is improving. At 10:30 we set off in sunshine and clouds with a temperature of 19C heading to a campsite near Nevers.

The landscape is very flat with fields of cereal and withered sunflowers in places, or newly turned soil which looks like heavy clay and explains the absence of vines.

At Ouzouer-le-Marché we see a sign for melons so we stop at the roadside stall run by a young blonde girl. Her melons look lovely so we get two of them and some other fruit and veg as well.

Outside Coulmiers we pass the huge stone memorial for the second battle of Orleans. The huge plains surrounding the area are obvious battlegrounds and in December 1870 the Prussians divided the French army of the Loire in two.

Passing through St. Martin d'Abbet we are amazed by the magnificent flowers throughout the village, residential gardens, lamp posts, railings and roundabouts all contribute to this riot of colour.

Another floral town is Dampierre-en-Burly where we cross a tributary of the River Loire and park near the church so Ali can take some photos.

At lunchtime we leave the main road to drive through Gien alongside the Loire. The river appears to be quite low judging by the height of the embankment and stone bridge. Street-side cafes and bars are full and there are flags and bunting across the street. We park under some shady trees on the embankment and have lunch.

A few more miles on dual carriageway then we get onto the D38 which is arrow straight but undulating as we pass near to Sancere, famous for its crisp white wines. Now the rolling landscape is covered by dense rows of vines planted closely together and trimmed like thousands of parallel hedges.

The Sancere vineyards are followed by shady roads in the Foret de Poiseux, still straight and still rising and falling but now in the dappled shade of massive oak trees. In the village of Murlin is a wood yard stacked high with cut lengths of oak being seasoned before being made into barrel staves for the wine industry. Out in the forest we see stack of logs of similar length but yet to be sawn into stave blanks.

We have one more town before our destination but when we approach Premery the police are out in force directing traffic and people. Cars are parked on verges and pavements, people are wandering in the road and our exit from the roundabout is closed. As we follow the deviation signs we see banners for Comice a Premery Agricole which we take to be some kind of country fair. Whatever it is, it is very popular as there are thousands of people attending.

The deviation takes us past more rolling farm land with lots of white cattle then it's back into the woods to our campsite at Etang du Merle. Our earlier thoughts of low water levels are confirmed, the promised lake is completely dry.

We are told to choose our pitch, only one other is occupied by a tent. It's difficult to say if the site is intentionally rustic or just unkempt, but it's peaceful amongst the trees and will serve its purpose for one night.

We have a quiet evening enjoying unrestricted light off the mains and using the free wi-fi to catch up on news and mail.