We came into Royan via Saintes and found the Lafeuilles' home without difficulty. We were done camping for the next seven weeks since we were on our way to visit London, Bangalore and Beith. We had driven close to 10,000 km and Megs was going to enjoy a long hiatus from driving since she has been the one to drive every one of those kilometers. Over the next few days, we relaxed and visited with our friends Didier and Sandrine. Sandrine is an amazing cook and pampered us with delicious meals that always left us wanting more. One meal of particular note was a stew of deer with wild mushrooms, served over baked potatoes. Somewhere in between all the food, we managed to finish booking our return journey from Scotland and pack for India. It was an interesting challenge packing for +30 degree weather in Bangalore and near-zero weather in Beith but we managed to fit it all in to a single checked bag. We managed to get out for a visit to the Royan market which is quite a lot of fun. We wandered through most of the stalls outside and Megs picked up her favourite honey candies. I particularly enjoyed a colourful stand only selling chillis! We look forward to a longer visit in 2013 when we come back with James and Sheahan.

On the day of our departure, I removed the fuses from the car (so that the battery would discharge slower) and then showed Didier how to plug in the car so that the leisure battery wouldn’t discharge completely. After a quick lunch, they kindly dropped us off at the La Rochelle airport and we said our goodbyes knowing that we would see them again in the first week of January. We checked our bag in at the tiny airport of La Rochelle and soon after boarded our Ryan Air flight to London Stansted.