After breakfast we visited the Auchan store in Avallon. This is part of a ritual we follow at the end of French holidays; we stock up on some of those distinctly French things it’s impossible to find at home as gifts to ourselves and our family. We did pretty well and managed to get away by 10.30.

As we spent just about all day on the motorways there were few chances for photography but at our pic-nic stop I took this

which I hope gives just a hint of the miles and miles of flat cereal growing country we crossed.

Finally a certain melancholy descended on us as we returned again to the Somme, a name forever linked to the horror and death in First World War.

We’re back at the same hotel as our first night. We did go out for a walk but I just couldn’t find anything to inspire me. It’s that sort of town, OK in transit but I wouldn’t come here for a holiday.

Home tomorrow!

15 May 2014