St Restitut

What a glorious morning, this morning, a bright blue sky, showcasing the top of the palm tree that we could see from our bed through Marge's glass sunroof. We could have been in Morocco. Once again it was very warm from early on, the little rain of yesterday evening having done nothing to clear the air.

Today we needed to travel slightly north, to avoid the mountains.

When when we stopped at a supermarket at lunchtime, there was a Westfalia LT31 Sven Hedin parked in front of us. As, you know, Marge is a modern day Westfalia Sven Heddin, registered 2008, this vehicle probably registered around 1990. Thinking it probably belonged to a young German couple, we were surprised to see a couple of around seventy return to it. The LT31 left, and we followed shortly after. Our planned overnight stop, was in the village of Rochegude. As we drove to it, we could see the alps in the distance, the hills around us, mere hillocks. We are retracing our steps back through the Rhone-Alps region, following the Rhone Valley to avoid Marge having to summit any mountains.

Arriving at Rochegude, the aire was not the same as the one shown in the picture in our French Aires book, but we parked the van by the trees and went of to explore the pretty village and chateau, which is now a hotel.

From the chateau viewpoint, you would have been able to see Mount Ventoux, had the trees not obscured it. However, down at the bottom of the village, we could see it, rearing up over the mountains around it. In a garden near the viewpoint, hidden amongst the under growth of a garden were three Rolls Royce cars, one we could see had an English personalised registration plate.

We were fascinated as to how they'd arrived there, and the story attached to them.

Back at Marge, we had a feeling of 'not sure', so decided to move on a little further to the town of St Restitute. It is a city of character, a medieval village.

We visited the church, not one of the best, but it was cool inside which we welcomed, at lunchtime the temperature was 27c. Upon leaving the church, we saw a very elderly gentleman re-positioning his car. After a cheery 'bonsoir', the man began to leave his car, which slowly started to roll forward. All French dialogue abandoned, we both shouted a warning in English to him, at the same time, indicating with our arms, that his handbrake wasn't engaged. The Frenchman just shrugged, 'c'est la vie'. Next to the church, was a stone cross, where a lady was putting out food for the stray cats. We have seen this practice now many times in both Italy and France, but this was the first time we'd actually seen tinned food put out, rather than dried. Sadly, the cats looked in very poor condition, their eyes streaming, they were a really sorry sight.

Returning to Marge, we decided to move her more into the sun so her solar panels would benefit. In the grass on the bank next to us, John spotted yet another giant grasshopper.

Overhead swifts dart busily about in the evening sky, it's funny to think, that wherever we are, Rome, Siena, Catellane, these same birds are carrying on with their busy lives. Nearby to tonight's aire are the Cathedral Caves, we may investigate them before we leave tomorrow.

From the power of the Internet, we are informed (by Clive) that it is 'no knickers' day in England. Please don't tell the Germans!