During the planning for this trip, the inevitable question of “what clothes should I pack?” arises.  For a normal 2 week vacation to a climate of relative stability, I usually have no problems.  However for a month long trip to alpine, beach and forest locations through  Northern and Southern Europe, the problem took a bit more time…well, not very much really.

I’m not a man for multiple versions of each item of clothing, yes, I have many t-shirts and work shirts, but I don’t have a shoe collection,for example. I own 1 pair of each type of shoe, after all, they each have a specific purpose and I’ve only 1 pair of feet !, so 1 pair of each that would be used were packed. Then it comes to the more delicate decisions of the “smalls” – how many to take ? I’m away for 30days, I certainly don’t have 30  pairs so inevitably at some stage through the journey a ” laundry day” or 2 would be inevitable.

This preamble serves the purpose to warn you that on this entry there will be no tales of Roman ruins, of windy roads, of navigation systems that try to to trick you ……today was a laundry day … and a well earned rest.  The French weather website reliably informed me that this morning would be clear and about 18 C with light showers this afternoon, so laundry was prepared and Reg suffered the indignity of having 2 washing line tied from his nether regions to the nearest tree and the day.  As it turned out, the entire day was sunny and about 24 C….it seems the French Met office is as accurate as the British one !

George bounced  around the place, playing with a brindle Boxer on the campsite, I settled down with my kindle, holding some deck chairs in place all day as vultures circled overhead, on more that one occasion I’m sure they were circling since I hadn’t moved for some time.  Meanwhile, Reg resembled a battleship arriving in port,  regaled in Maritime flags of many colours, some significantly larger than others!

With the local church bells seemingly peeling every half hour, I have just enjoyed what appears to be 48 hours in the sunshine, enjoyed a gin and tonic, a steak dinner and a Baileys coffee and even done all the preparations for tomorrow’s journey.

A final note, if you are, for whatever reason, moved to calculate how many pairs of smalls I possess, ask yourself, did I go Commando at any stage so far?

Hopefully normal service will be resumed for the rest of the journey.