A message from our friends tells us that they still have drainage problems. We arrange to call in and see them briefly even if it is not convenient to stay. The blocked plumbing is driving them loopy, but by lunchtime they have arranged for a technician to call tomorrow, and, in a better frame of mind, decide that it would be good if we stayed after all. We look around their new house then Ali and Mandy walk into town to get a few things for our evening...

Considering there were perhaps 70 vans spread across it could not have been quieter. The parking inspector does his rounds, personally escorting those with overrun stays to the ticket machine. We set off for Biscarrosse, passing through Parentis-en-Bourn where there is a busy market in progress. The previous times we’ve driven through this area we have thought how flat and featureless it was, but off the main highways there is a lot more to see, especially t...

It’s a refreshingly cool day today. We say goodbye to Claudie, return her stew-pot telling her how delicious ‘Granny’s veal stew’ was and set off for a 75 mile drive to Biscarrosse where there is a seaplane museum. Showers turn to incessant rain as we drive through forests of sand pine and pretty little stone villages. The stonework is pale sandstone and some of the churches have little timber ‘sheds’ cantilevered from the steeples. On the way to ...

It’s refreshingly cool, drizzly and breezy when we wake. Today is our first ‘standstill’ on this trip. No need to get up early or plan any routes or get on the road. We’d decided not to go out today even before the rain made that decision for us. After a quiet lie-in we enjoy a cooked breakfast, including some of our Troglodyte mushrooms, which have oh so much more flavour that the sterile blobs from Sainsbury’s or Tesco. It’s a lovely, restful an...

In the middle of the night we woke to see a huge, dull yellow moon low over the vines shining through the windscreen. At breakfast time Monsieur Camus IV comes by on his tractor, which he drives through the vines, trimming the leaves with a 3 sided gantry cutter. We say goodbye to M. Camus III, who tells us he takes his own camping-car to Spain each winter. Today’s drive takes us south and west, straight through the centre of Marmande and over the River Garo...