This morning we drove around Mount's Bay through Penzance to the small fishing village of Mousehole. It was pretty cool again today so we needed to put our coats on before wandering around the village. I put my coat on and Bernie pointed out something grotty on the front of my coat. Hmmn, looks like bird poo which I think I must have picked up when I leant against the sea wall in Marazion last night? Fortunately we had some antiseptic wipes to clean my coat with. We walked around to Mousehole's harbour where we stood looking at the boats bobbing on the water ... and the intrepid English holidayers sitting on the beach in their wooly jumpers and swimming in wet suits. Before we could head down the steps to the beach, Stephen flew overhead ... read more

The plan for today was to catch the train on the South-Eastern Line from Greenwich to Woolwich and then swap to the light rail service to London City Airport where we would pick up a hire car and drive to Bournemouth with stops at Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral. Bernie was keen to return to Stonehenge to see how it looks after the closure of the A344 and the redevelopment of the visitor centre. The Salisbury Cathedral stop was to view its copy of the Magna Carta which this year celebrates its 800th anniversary. BUT, it's a bank holiday weekend this weekend and the first day of mid-term break for schools across the UK so, of course, that's not quite how it panned out!! We towed our bags back around to Greenwich Station to find a notice ... read more

We had another early start this morning. Although we were booked on the Eurostar service from Calais to London at 2.00pm, Bernie checked the Europcar site Wednesday night and they close their rental desk at Calais between 12.00 noon and 2.00pm meaning that we HAVE to be in Calais before noon and it's a three hour drive from Giverny to Calais! Add to that Bernie's need to allow for contingencies and he was adamant that we needed to be on the road by 8.00am, 8.15am at the very latest. I think we made our hosts a bit uncomfortable with our sense of urgency but, with our lack of French and their lack of English, it was difficult to explain why we were so anxious to get away early. Michel kept saying - 'It's only a three ... read more

We were too late yesterday afternoon to book one of the walking tours of Lyons included with our City Passes. Bernie rang first thing this morning and the only tour available today is at 2.30pm ... in French. Bernie asked if we could book onto the French speaking tour anyway so that we could be guided around some of the traboules - the hidden passages that the silk workers used to use to transport goods - in the old city. We figured that as long as we were guided to some of the secret passages to take some photographs we could manage without the commentary. We were booked onto the tour and asked to call at the Tourist Office before 2.30pm to collect our voucher. We caught the train into the Bellecour Station, found the Tourist ... read more

This morning Nicole served another HUGE breakfast. This morning we had strawberries and yoghurt/crème fraîche again which was yummy, but it's still like having dessert for breakfast! Then Nicole presented us with Nutella mousse in martini glasses garnished with cake which she told us is a specialty of hers. OMG we'd already eaten one dessert for breakfast, but felt obliged to eat the Nutella mousse as well. I guess there are worse things that can happen when you are travelling than being served two desserts for breakfast?! We said our farewells to the delightful Nicole and Robert who plied us with gifts as we were paying our bill. Water for our journey, a tin of their home-made pâté (the one we were eating on Friday night) for Bernie and a tea-light candle holder for me. Thank ... read more