Family life

Betcha' goin' fishing, all the time
Baby goin' fishing too
Bet your life, your sweet wife
Catch more fish than you

A fine, blue, cloudless sky. Light breeze. Perfect!

We head towards Montélimar early, because Keith does not want to drive in a hurry. Nonetheless, he throws the van down the hill, swearing liberally at tourists, lorries, mopeds, and the French in general. Getting through La Teil is particularly slow, vast artics squeezing past each other and scaffolding.

We pull into another good bakery. Cheese tart and choc-almond croissant for him, cheese pasty (friand) for me. And when we get to the station it's coffee all round.

The train is 10 minutes late, but I get to Valence with plenty of time to spare for the connection. Then I'm at Lyon Part-Dieu, navigating the tram system - T4 towards Venissieux, picking up Hervé and the Marine, his wife.

We go to the crêche and wait for picking-up-time to collect their 2 year old daughter. Home is an apartment on the 4th floor. We drink a beer (Guinness Extra Stout made in the Cameroon for me) and catch up on 25 years of life. Hervé has many plans, including returning to Cameroon.

This part of Lyon (Les Minguettes) has a bad reputation, but it's getting renovated. The taller apartment buildings are coming down, being replaced by smaller, more pleasant accommodation. Hervé and Marine are waiting for the housing association to find them a 2-bed flat, but it could take a while!

We eat roast pork, plantain, rice - drink Brouilly 2015 and Cardhu 12. Early to bed, early to rise - Hervé leaves the house at 6 each morning. He doesn't even mention that tomorrow is his birthday.

An excellent end to my to my "itineraire en France."