Tain-l'Hermitage

If I was too express one reservation about Ventimiglia Alta, it would be the parking. As you might expect, a town that is hundreds of years old is not really geared up for the motor vehicle.

Consequently, our car was parked about a quarter of a mile from the apartment, so while the Minx sorted out the cleaning and tidying, I made several trips back and forth, ferrying our holiday possessions to load them up. It's not often I have cause to quote Teresa May, but it was "boys' jobs and girls' jobs".

But we were all done and ready to leave just after nine and after a quick stop at Aldi, we set off for Tain-l'Hermitage. 

Our original plan had been to spend two nights in Lyon, but we decided we didn't fancy a big city and two long drives, so the Minx found us a couple of places to stop off, so we could stop in some quieter places and split the drive to Calais in three.

Our drive took us pretty much due east, loosely following the coast for quite a while before we turned north for the second half of the journey. The traffic was heavy and the drive took almost twice as long as planned, but it was still very pleasant.

As was Tain-l'Hermitage. We checked into the hotel and went for a walk, finding a nice little bar to sit outside and enjoy a cold drink. We weren't quite ready for dinner, so we took a walk over the footbridge crossing the Rhône (see Extra), and explored the town on the other side.

In the end, though, we returned to the first bar for dinner, and then walked around our side of the river. It was a lovely balmy evening, and lots of people were out drinking, but we decided we fancied somewhere a bit quieter and headed back to the hotel.