Well, as I was hinting at in the last blog, our experience of staying at Creamundo was quite different to eating there. It’s a lovely place, Nicolas is wonderful chef and whipped up the most wonderful breakfasts with french toast or scrambled eggs straight out of the kitchen. But the stairs to our room were challenging, the wifi was out of range upstairs and it was turned off late in the evening. I suppose that’s a good thing, to divorce yourself from the connected world but a little frustrating when you have a blog to publish.

Anyway we met up with friends during our stay, had two great meals (one in a chateau) and tried to relax for a while.

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Toulouse may only be a short drive from the Ariege but it’s a world away in many respects. I must admit that on my second stay there I did begin to appreciate it’s qualities. It’s busy, with a large student presence and very handy for shopping, which Susie did. She’s recently taken up crocheting again and she called in to a wool shop, where she bought so much they were herding sheep into the rear of the shop so they could re stock.

We had two fabulous meals in Toulouse, the second in Sept (which we’d dined in before). It’s a one Michelin star restaurant with no menu. You eat what’s put in front of you which can be revealing, interesting or challenging. They also dim the lights when the place is full, mainly so you can’t see the bill at the end.

The night before we ate at Hito whose cuisine is French but with a Japanese twist. It’s very small and almost floodlit by comparison to Sept. We were served by a Russian waitress who was really charming and the food left us speechless with it’s textures and flavours. A definite one to return to and probably our favourite meal of this trip.

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So, we left Toulouse on Saturday morning by almost deserted streets, negotiated the inner city and the peripherique and after a long drive arrive here, in St Martin de Re, which is where the next blog will begin…