Vive la France!

I've been home over a week now. Home to miserable, muggy, wet weather. Away from my Grandad and his lovely sunny weather. Back at work and stressed as ever! The rested feeling never lasts long does it?

My desire for anywhere but here seems to be getting stronger with each trip abroad. The minute my feet touch English soil, I feel my jaw start to tighten, my shoulders becoming tense... I have to start planning my next trip straight away. I never used to be like this, I used to be happy to wait a whole twelve months for my next holiday. But now? I feel completely depressed if I haven't got something else in the pipeline, something else to plan for and look forward to.

The space between trips is getting shorter and shorter - this time we only have a month between one and the next. But it isn't so much the need for a holiday to me anymore, it's just me, it's who I am. I am a traveller. I don't want to be still. You never know when it all could just end, I don't want to miss one thing. I want to see the world, see how other people live, I want to absorb as much information as will fit into my brain and then I want to come home and write about it... while planning the next journey.

Our last few days in France were lovely. I spent hours at night, sat with my Grandad in the crisp cool air in the garden, talking about his life, the places he's been and how he ended up there. I love hearing my Grandads tales. He is a traveller too. So is my Mum. We always have to be heading somewhere.

We didn't do much for the last two days, just had a nice relaxing time on some long walks with the heat on our backs. We went to my Mums favourite little town - Auvillar. A lovely sleepy little place.

Full of lots of quaint little houses, with flowers dripping off the walls, each in competition with its neighbour.

We ended up getting stuck in there as well! It's a tiny little place, you have to go through a clock tower to get in and it's all walled with only one way out. When we came to leave, there was a wedding just starting up. The wedding car had parked right in the middle of the road so nobody could drive out! the way we came in is a no exit but we thought we had no choice. We reversed all the way back round the one way system to the entrance... only to find someone had parked a van right in the middle of the clock tower!!! we were stuck for over half an hour!

We had a long walk through the orchards with the dog...

...and took some silly photos along the way, playing in the dead sunflowers!

I wanted to measure myself against the sweetcorn - it's not even fully grown yet (I'm small, but not that small - I look like a hobbit here!)

I miss those big skies and that gorgeous scenery! My heart belongs to you, French countryside!