We’ve arrived at the Mercure Hotel just outside of Brive for an overnight stop, after travelling a little over 400km south east of Le Mont St. Michel. It’s about 9pm and we’re both a little worse for wear, but looking forward to a good nights sleep before we set off for Carcassonne tomorrow in the AM.

We rose relatively early this morning, and after a quick breakfast at one of the island’s many cafes, we took another quick stroll around before we left Mont St. Michele just before the deluge of tour buses started to arrived.

Despite, spending most of the day on the road, we did manage to visit visit two historic sites en-route; the mysterious standing stones of Alignments De Pierre Droit (it’s creation and existence surrounded by dubious fairy myths), and the ancient passage grave of Roche Aux Fees; two sites (despite their differing purpose and origins) that were very reminiscent of Stonehenge.

Lunch seemed quite difficult to come by the route we had programmed into the GPS (there doesn’t seem to be a mode for “take me to the nearest boulangerie”), but we did manage to eventually find ourselves on the banks of the river Loire, eating pastry and baguettes in the afternoon sunshine.