Days 588-593, 11-16 Jan '16, La Trappe - a tiny hamlet in the vicinity of Bazauges... a slightly larger hamlet - in the vicinity of small, medium and larger villages and towns... near Cognac (now there's a place name to conjure with!)

On Monday we grazed the breakfast buffet and lazed about in our spacious Paris hotel room (usually mutually exclusive terms) and checked out at noon. All very civilised. We adore the metro system in Paris (and most places) as it makes getting about hugely convenient and inexpensive. The only time the system in Paris falls over is if you have to change lines and have luggage - as there is no guarantee that the station will have an escalator or elevator. No drama with a handbag but exhausting with a 23 kg bag and another 7 kg in a cabin bag. So we splurged an extra €12 and took a cab from the Opera district over to Gare Montparnasse for our train heading south. Train ride was excellent though oddly tiring - only 2.5 hours but our local friend met us at Angouleme at 4.40 pm - we were home by 5.30 pm and settling in with Zara (pictured), Hero and Felix. We are out in the country with wide open fields and fabulous walks for miles in all directions - which we've spent the last few days exploring. We've hit the supermarche and also popped down to our local village for a coffee, a visit to the boulangerie for a baguette and a Euromillions ticket at the Tabac. The bad news is we didn't win €82 million on Friday night. The good news is no one else in Europe did either... so €89 million on Tuesday night... that will certainly gild the "To Do" list. We're enjoying the fresh air, the hard, cold frosts and the freezing nights. The long walks in the country are fantastic and we're taking a drive next week to catch up with friends in the Limousin. A lot of exploring to do and 7 weeks to do it - Cognac, La Rochelle, Angouleme, Saintes and hopefully a visit to a chateau. Just on general principle.