Thought we'd better get a shot of the bridge (well what's left of it) at Avignon before leaving. According to the guide book, they didn't dance on it at all as the song says, but underneath it. Following advice from the book we headed for the village of St Remy-en-Provence - still no sign of lavender and the damn town was choked with people for their fete, so we didin't stop. Hunger finally got the better of us and we stopped at a roadside boulangerie to get ...

Dreary wet and misty start to the day, but the weather cleared as we got down onto lower ground. Countryside has certainly change since we entered Provence. Now very dry and scrubby with olive trees, lots of grapes but, unfortunately, none of the much touted fields of lavender! Skirting Montpellier, we stopped at a McDonald's for breakfast and booked a hotel on-line, at Avignon, for the night. Then went touring around and called in at the village of Chateauneuf d...

Following a tip, we're off to Rocamadour before we head off to Italy and Switzerland. Perched high on a cliff-top above a dry river valley, they place was a bit like Carcassonne, but more pleasant and less commercial. Sweltering hot day again so we used their little train, lift and cable car to get up to the Chateau. Had a good look around - stunning views. Decided we could walk down and took lunch in the shade in the town square. John had mentioned that we sh...

Tom stayed with John to "help" with hedge trimming, while Ian & Sally headed into Poitiers to avail themselves of the free WiFi access to upload the photos and send some emails. Ian cooked dinner and we all watched an episode of Top Gear - coincidentaly, they were journeying through the Swiss Alps, where we're heading next.

Back to St. Benoit this morning for groceries at the now reopened Super-U....unfortunately, so was the rest of the area! Obviously a popular tourist spot too, judging by the amount of English being spoken. Left Tom with John doing some repair work on the house windows, so Sally and Ian had a 'restful' (not) 2 hours at the supermarket. Spent the afternoon in the garden at John's pulling weeds and cutting the deadwood from a tree in the backyard. Sally cooked a de...