France road trip 2016 – Helen & Geoff

Once again we are spending a few weeks in France: first, a couple of weeks in Paris and then seven weeks in towns across the south. Slightly bigger ‘towns’ this time. We decided that although we prefer smallish town/villages, they need to be big enough to support a bakery. We are also a few weeks later in the season this time, so it will be a bit warmer. The rest is much the same – just us and our little leased Citroen car moving on every Saturday.

The seven towns are: Lyon, Isle-sur-la-Sorgue (in Provence/Luberon, the only repeat), Albi (just north of Toulouse), Arreau (Pyrenees), St Jean Pied de Port (Basque Pyrenees), Ambois (Loire), Dinnan (Britanny). So a big loop across the south and up the west. We pick up the car in Lyon after a fast train from Paris.

What do we plan to do? With a bit of luck, mainly eating and drinking. We have been and seen before. In Paris, we will visit a few old favourites, but not much else is planned. I’ve got the French Michelin guide recommendations app on my phone.

All the bookings for this trip were made in June last year. We have stayed with the HomeAway group as their site is by far the easiest to use, navigate and make payments.

France and Paris might be a little different. Because of the various attacks and bombings, France is still in a State of Emergency. We can expect much more military and police presence in public places and tourist attractions. What else will have changed? Are the Parisians still as happy and friendly as we have found them in the past? We will see.

Leaving this small village of ‘The Grange RSL LifeStyle Village’ even for a few months is not as easy as you might think. So much is going on in this very active village that we are seeing grow up around us. It is almost exactly a year ago that we came down here and put the first deposit on this house. We have now been here for 7 months. Loving it.

This will be the first time for many years that we have not been able to find house carers to look after our cats. Finding someone for Cherrybrook was always easy. Find someone for Wagga, not at all easy. No one replied. Neeka will spend the 10 weeks in a cattery.