Late awakenings


It was 9.30am when I woke on our first morning at Domaine Les Gandins. I was cross with myself for sleeping so late - we'd got a day of cycling planned. I was equally cross with Tony who continued sleeping after I'd got up. I didn't make him any coffee as punishment.

I sat under a tree at the far side of the campsite in the morning sun as Cleopatra was in the shade of the trees first thing. I sipped my coffee and listened to the birds. We were the only campers, for the first day anyhow.

Tony finally got up at 10am, saw me with my coffee mug and looked for his. Seeing it was unused he made his own before joining me under the tree.

My grumpiness was quickly forgotten when soon after we were on our bikes cycling to the old town of Charroux, a 40 minute ride with a little getting off and pushing on my part.

We mooched around the pretty streets enjoying the quiet and stopped to take photos of things we photographed the last time, including the shot where I'm holding a tower in my hand.

We stopped at a ruin with a for sale sign, discovering later it was going for just 40,000€ with a quarter of an acre of land. We could live in Cleopatra while repairing a tumble-down building. We'd like to - we just have to find the right ruin in the right place.

The ride home is easier because it's downhill in parts and flat for the rest. As we like to do at Domaine Les Gandins, we spent the remainder of the day doing nothing more than sitting in the sun and reading, and taking the occasional opportunity to swim.

Retiring to the riverside with a carafe of wine before bedtime nicely topped off a lazy day.
You can watch highlights from our stay at Domaine Les Gandins in the video above, or on YouTube

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