01/10/09

Day 23 - October 1
Well, here we are on the first day of October and shock horror! We were woken in the early hours by rain on the roof, so maybe that tells us it is time to move on from Biarritz and leave it to the surfers.
We left there in cloud and moved inland, following brighter skies and potentially better weather and before long were rewarded with more sunshine. Today we aimed to cover quite a distance to make our way towards the Dordogne for the next leg of our journey. We made it as far as a very small aire on the banks of the canal that feeds off the River Garonne at a tiny village called Caumont sur Garonne. The location is idyllic, taking only five motorhomes but with only three occupants, and is so very quiet and peaceful. We had lunch of bread, cheese and – of course – wine, on an adjoining picnic bench under plane trees on the canalside. The village is very quiet, we took a walk through and the only signs of life are a café that closed on 16 September and a post office that is only open in the mornings! The occupants of both neighbouring motorhomes are French too, so no nightlife or gossip tonight!
In the hedgerows we found wild miniature cyclamens flowering alongside vivid yellow crocus, and there are masses of butterflies and tiny lizards still darting around, so summer is far from over here at least. But having said that, the leaves are starting to fall, the village square is full of fallen conkers and there is a definite change of colour in the leaves on the trees. Yet we sat out in strong burning sunshine on the banks of the canal, just as hot as the coast yesterday – and still wearing shorts!
Today’s photo, if it works, shows that we are both actually on this trip, not just me doing all the writing!