Chapeau!

The only thing I'd been told about Troyes before we got there was that it was famous for hat making. Curiously the only sign we saw of that was this display in an antique shop near the cathedral.

Another trip to the magnificent cathedral. The stained glass is superb but my phone camera could just not cope. I got OK shots but none of them captured the glorious colour. A walk round the remainder of the old town and a trip to the wine merchant. It never ends well for the bank balance when after about 10 minutes of chatting they offer to show you the cellar. We escaped with Christmas wine for the next several years, some to drink now and a bottle of Prunelle de Troyes (which if we'd tasted before we got back to the UK we'd have bought lots more of). Too much to carry? No problem, you can leave it here while you collect your car.

First though we needed a bread knife (apparently), a quick coffee after being almost caught out by a sudden downpour and a trip to the market (where I was distracted by the world champion chocolatier) for the ingredients for a picnic lunch . Another dash through the rain to the car park and a quick plan of which basic direction we'd set the sat nav on to get us out of town and somewhere in the general direction of east of the Millau Viaduct in time for dinner.

Luckily, we'd barely reached the outskirts before we remembered the wine! How could we forget something we'd spent a considerable amount on earlier! Of course, in France they shut for lunch. For 3 hours!

Nothing else for it, lunch, wine and le Tour :-). Chapeau Monsieur Cavendish!

So what if we didn't make it to a hotel until late that evening. The picnic lunch doubled as a hotel picnic dinner. And the weather was slightly grotty anyway. A random sat nav route as far as Le Puy en Velay wasn't a bad way to spend the only poor weather day of our trip.

Vx