Fill up on France!

The beautiful countryside of the Charente close to the border with Haute-Vienne is where my sister and her husband live. A summer visit gave us family time and a chance to experience ‘French living’ under clear blue skies.

After the Eurotunnel, we had a leisurely drive south with overnight stops by the Somme on the outskirts of Abbeville and on an aire in the pretty little town of Valençay. Tucked behind the friendly tourist information office, this aire made a great spot from which to explore the town with its grand château. Valençay had been on the 2021 route of the Tour de France and decorated bicycles popped up in the most unlikely places.

Next morning we stopped for a wander in Argenton-sur-Creuse, a busy riverside town with a mix of beautifully restored and sadly dilapidated historic buildings. Perhaps it was here that my holiday fascination with doorways began: grand and porticoed or shabby and festooned with cobwebs, each has a story to tell. On a more practical level, we noted the town’s aire was well located, spacious and one to note for future travels.

With a loud ‘toot toot’, we disturbed the peace in the hamlet, part of the commune of Roussines, where my sister