Saturday 28th Aire sur l'adour to Arzc Our breakfast this morning is a real surprise. The table is in the dining room- again a large room with a magnificent long table all set for the hungry hoarders. The main decoration on the table is a large vase of holly with the red berries. I have noticed this growing in the woods the past couple of days and been surprised as the bushes all have their red berries- this to me this is the traditional Christmas theme and it s...

26th October Friday The vineyards are more or less gone now and have been replaced by cornfields. Most of the crops have long since grown to their full productivity, been harvested and then the stalks have dried and they are now being turned back into the ground by the tractors, ready for the next planting. Today we saw a few fields that still had the crop in the ground- admittedly very dry and dead looking. I couldn't see any corn husks on the plants but there ...

Thursday 26th October Eauze to Lanne- Soubiran A red red sky greets us as we fall out the front door- another warm day ahead. It's market day in Eauze this morning and there is that familiar buzz in the air where the stall holders are in a frenzy preparing their wares and the early morning shoppers are turning over the products in order to choose the best possible buy. It means we have a bit of a delay in leaving so that we can take advantage of seeing all th...

Tuesday 24th October Comdom to Montreal de Gers Wednesday 25th October Montreal de Gers to Eauze I am covering Tuesday and Wednesday's blog in one entry today. The 'real' pilots are out in force this morning and it is as if they are practicing their calligraphy skills with their paintbrush planes. In that early morning light when the sky is still quite dark but the jet paths are very evident we witness the criss crossing all over the sky of the many aircraft ...

Day 23 La Romieu to Condom It's lovely having the church in front of us but what can I say when the first bells start at 5.00 and then they have a little melt down and send out a few more random chimes afterwards that don't seem to marry up to any significant time- perhaps the computerised system of belling is not as efficient as the monk's system. Madame has made it clear she won't serve breakfast until 8.00 so there are a few bells to listen to before we can...