Peter's Hospital Diary

We are now back in UK – seems hard to believe that it is over a week since I last posted!

The weekend in France proved a little damp, but by Monday the weather improved and we went on a trip to Perigeaux. We have been there before with Mark, but only as far as the Brico-Depot (French version of B&Q – even down to the store colours, so I suspect it is the same group ownership – Kingfisher?) but this time we travelled on to the town centre, a view is shown here.

We missed the initial turning but eventually found ourselves round in the older part of town by the museum.

Perigeaux has a Roman past, and one of the larger remaining buildings is a temple. The museum itself was closed, but we had a wander around the town, and eventually stopped for lunch at one of the pavement restaurants. The sun shone, the beer was cold, and we relaxed for a pleasant hour or two before having a walk round the town.

The streets round the town centre are largely residential, and very pleasant to walk round – we saw this fountain in the middle of a large square, and then walking down the road came across this remarkable station building – very grand!
We were amused to see this faded advertisement on one of the walls – a memory of times past when Gauloises were de rigeur – although we noted that the French have not embraced an anti-smoking culture as fervently as the UK!

Finally we set off for the house – where the pool waited invitingly!

Tuesday was another glorious day, and after a little bit of shopping for things to bring back, was spent at the pool side before starting to pack and the house closing up routine.

We were up early on Wednesday morning to complete the closing up, and left at 8:15 for the tip up to Caen for the ferry back. We stooped for a picnic at one of the toll road rest areas, and arrived at Caen in comfortable time, although we decided not to bother stopping off at the big Carrefour Supermarche just outside Caen.

The final highlight of the trip was dinner in the a la carte restaurant on the ferry, which represented excellent value for money for a really good meal that made a perfect end to the holiday – and passed a good three of the six hour crossing! We arrived 15 minutes early at Portsmouth, at 21:15 – 45 minutes later we were unpacking the car at home. A great ten days!

Of course life doesn’t stand still while away, so the last couple of days have been spent catching up, and I will be travelling back to Corsham tomorrow evening to start back at work, refreshed, on Monday!

Onwards and upwards

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