Day 177, 6 December 2014, Paris, France - the hugest day ever... Saint Ouen's Marches aux Puces, after lunch, off to Place de la Concorde for the massive (huge - enormous - extreme) Christmas market that lines both sides of the Champs Elysee. To start the day we headed off on the metro to Saint Ouen in the north of Paris. I had seen this suburb of markets on the BBC show "Put your money where your mouth is" and thought it looked pretty fascinating. And it was. ...

Day 176, 5 December 2014 - Paris, France - Reunited and it feels so good... After 6 months apart the day had finally come and first thing this morning I headed out into the dark, chilly air and walked to the Gare du Nord - onto the train out to CDG and then, merely 30 minutes later, James came out of the arrivals gate - Fabulous to see him again and given the sheer weight of luggage (at least half of which was winter extras for me...) we even splurged on a taxi b...

Day 175, 4 December 2014, Voulons to Le Dorat (very kindly supplied by my hosts when they took their sons to school) then onto the train (Le Dorat to Poitiers) then another train to Paris - best part of 3 hours, but seems awfully quick for a journey of over 300 kms. Then, last but not least, best part of an hour on the metro getting from Montparnasse to our hotel - smack on the border of the 3rd & the 10th arrondissements. I enjoyed a superb 3 course dinner ...

Day 174, 3 December 2014, L'ancien Presbytere, B&B in Voulons, just outside of Le Dorat. What a treat! Somewhat like travelling a few kilometres and arriving in a parallel universe. Had a final clean up and last minute pack this morning then headed into Magnac-Laval for a farewell coffee with the lovely folks I've met here. Then off! Drive to Le Dorat (and out again). We ended up on a sealed but slim "C" road. I've more or less got the road system sorted ...

Days 171-173, 30 Nov-2 Dec 2014, La Trigalle... Another tiny hamlet, somewhat closer to the village than mine. Today's outing? C'est magnifique - First mince pie and mulled wine of the festive season at a "Christmas Fayre" held in the world's cosiest barn in La Trigalle - in aid of Cancer Support France and a home for abandoned dogs. Most importantly - inexpensive. Had a good look around the stalls, bought some handmade greeting cards, had a couple of goes at ...