Tuesday - La Bruguiere to Vence

Since we had a big day for travel, we set the alarm, had an early breakfast at 8am and managed to get away at about 9:15am.

Ralf decided to move the car before breakfast from the car park to the front gate so it would be easier to pack the car. This seemed to alarm Marie-Claude because she came running out after him.

We had decided to travel through some of the towns that Carol & Trevor had suggested we visit on the way to Nice.

The first town we stopped at was Gordes - a spectular town on the side of a steep hill. We spent a few hours there because there was a market there today. The girls loved the shopping and found even more shops that sell tablecloths.

On our way out, we bought food for a picnic lunch and I walked back down the road to take lots of photos of the town from across the valley.

Leaving Gordes was a challenge for a couple of reasons. Firstly, we forgot to close the boot. We wondered why so many friendly people were waving at us until it dawned on us what they were saying. Secondly, Gabrielle insisted on taking us back through the centre of town - through the market, stalls, people, narrow streets, etc and then back to the parking area where we started.

It wasn't easy to find a spot to stop for lunch. In the end, we improvised and stopped in a field on the side of the road. We spread Suzy's raincoat out as a picnic rug and enjoyed our bread, cheese, sausage and fruit.

We passed through Roussillon and stopped at Bonnieux for a quick look around and a cup of coffee.

Originally we had planned to go to Aix-en-Provence as well but decided against this because we had run out of time. The road did take us through Aix-en-Provence before we got onto A8 freeway.

Freeways are very good in France. They are two or three lanes in each direction. The speed limit is normally 130km/h in good weather and 110km/h in rainy weather. On many stretches, there is a toll. Sometimes you pay a fixed toll and on other stretches you take a ticket at the toll plaza at the beginning and pay at another toll plaza at the end.

Other French roads are not so good. Even the major roads are narrow and windy. The roads in the towns are even worse. At least the French drivers are fairly sensible (most of the time). However, they cut in sharply in front of you when overtaking or when coming out of side streets.