Our next stop, and free overnighter, was Arre, arriving to it in moody low cloud! – another unspoilt little town, full of charm and history, where you feel time has stood still. We love these places that are not trying to be something!

It is so often the case, that an ugly, unsympathetic satellite dish or modern day car is the only indication one has not stepped back in time to another age!   

Certainly from a photographic perspective the ‘raw’ unscrubbed, unpolished villages and towns invariably give a lot of pleasure – there is so much of interest to capture. I suppose it’s true to say though I do still enjoy ‘chocolate box’ subject matter, but it’s perhaps a bit more predictable – but lovely as well, with its own merit.   

The bottom line is, whenever we are on our travels, my finger is at the ready, wherever we are, and my head is ‘darting’ about looking up high and low, ahead and behind me, for what, in my mind, and through my eyes, are beautiful and atmospheric pictures. 

Whilst walking further into the village, we had no idea to expect the lovely scene that we came across – there are so many lovely surprises!

Our only disappointment with Arre was that the little boulangerie patisserie had no almond croissants, so instead I ‘made do’ with a very nice ‘pain au raisin’ and Michael had a chocolate croissant, but neither a substitute (in our eyes anyway – or our taste buds!) on our absolute favourite, the ‘Croissant aux Amandes’.   

In fact, so far this trip, the almond croissant has proven rather elusive! We’ve only had the pleasure of two so far! – the scrummiest one from the boulangerie in Vouvray. Bang on perfect that one! The hunt for more continues!!! – though my incrementally rising weight tells me otherwise!!! Hmmmm!!! Most inconvenient!
   

 

   

 

  
   

 

   

 

  

   

 

   

 

   

 

   

 

   

   

 
   

 
  

   

 
   

 
 
 
  

  

  

  

 
 
  

 
[We’ll be continuing our drive through Gard tomorrow – M]