Today was my Dad's birthday so we began with a face time call back home. It was lovely to see my family and chat to them, even though they did look a bit weird all rugged up against the cold. No such thing here. Another beautiful summer's day in France.
We were heading off to our next accommodation, a house in Saint Remy de Provence . We packed up and locked up before heading to the garage and our car. We had left the keys and gate beeper in the house so had a bit of a dilemma as how to get the garage door open. We pushed buttons, waved in front of sensors and pulled on bits of string until finally the concierge came along and saved us. We were out and on the road.
As we were driving along we had a frantic call from the same concierge who was checking our apartment, telling us we had left a phone. We all frantically reached for our iPhones in a state of panic and then worked out that she was looking at the wifi station the owner had left for us to use, which was still plugged in.
We had plenty of time to spare so we called into the village of Aix en Provence on our way. It is quite a large village. When you read about the French villages, you think of a quaint little country town. It is quaint, old, but larger than I had anticipated. There were some markets on so we had a wander through them. When looking at Tripadvisor on the way in it said that there were 1000 fountains in Aix, so we started looking and counting . We were in the old part of the town. It is really pretty, with some lovely old buildings and lots of fountains.
We had coffee in a muffin place. A bit generic, but we did get to sit in an old chapel, perfect for a Sunday morning! After a stroll through town and a fountain count of 11, we left and got back on the highway.
Following the directions of the GPS and our next host (go to the top of the road, turn left, turn right up the hill, past 2 green letterboxes and you are home) we drove up and down the road for a while before cracking the code and driving into our little piece of paradise. Our house is perfect. It is set amongst pine trees and the smell is divine. There are cicadas chirping rather loudly, but it adds to the charm.
Lydie is lovely and showed us around.The house in beautifully appointed and has 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and comes with a pool, shared with Lydie's family. It is totally private from their house. Mike and Jude chose the downstairs bedroom and we moved into the upstairs, Both rooms here are great, we have lovely views and a very comfortable room .
We are all pretty chuffed with this one, it really is a perfect location.
After unpacking and checking everything out we drove into town to get some supplies and investigate the town. It is quite large with lots of nice shops and restaurants. We will have to come back and spend some money.
We hadn't eaten lunch and it was about 5pm, so we had bruschettas at a cafe.They were like cheesie toasts but really delicious, and really filling. I had a pesto, tomato, cheese and anchovy one.
We drove back home, only getting a little bit lost. We are about a 5 minute drive out of town. Each of our destinations has been so different from the others. This is a little country villa, and our favourite accommodation so far.
We sat and enjoyed the ambience of the evening. The cicadas eventually quietened down and a great big moon was rising through the trees. No one really felt like eating, so it was chips and chocolate tonight as we enjoyed some local wine sitting out in the fresh, pine scented air.


Steps 6,503
Kms walked - 4.9
Tolls €14.20 + €2.50
Fuel €89