*Or, how we went from Toulouse to two showers.

It was far easier than I thought to find our way out of Toulouse this morning. We were heading for our last destination, Chateau D’Oleron. It started in quite promising weather as I pulled out of the hotel garage, found my way on to the peripherique and subsequently to the autoroute for Bordeaux..

We’ve travelled via autoroute for most the time this trip. A feature of these toll roads in France (in contrast to the UK) is the frequency of their ‘aires’ or rest stops. These are either with or without petrol. The signs for the non petrol ones usually show a large P, a picnic table and a shady evergreen and two children playing on a rustic looking see saw. We’ve shortened this type to ‘pee, tree, play’.

I’m not one for driving at the maximum and am usually overtaken quite frequently. This morning a very rapid Range Rover went past, though just after it’s car number and ‘trop vite’ flashed up on one of the overhead gantries. I did wonder if this extended to a speeding fine. Going round the Bordeaux peripherique is a bit of an experience though you do cross two spectacular rivers, the Garonne and the Dordogne.

We stopped to fill up and bought two of the most disgusting ham and cheese baguettes for lunch. Pressing on, the sun disappeared and quite close to our destination it began to rain. We arrived at the hotel in a heavy drizzle and quickly brought in enough things for tonight before moving the car to a proper parking spot, just round the corner. The hotel is really boutique, quirky, homely and warm. We have his and her showers in the bathroom, or if you were athletic you could soap yourself under one and run across to rinse off in the other.

It being off season, our choice of eating places was very limited. However, we had a great meal just up the road from the hotel. No Michelin stars but very honest and tasty.

We hope the sun will poke through the clouds tomorrow and we’ll have a stroll round the small town here…if not we’ll get wet..