Plan C

Did I say that Plan A had involved me preparing a picnic, so that we could visit the Pont du Gard en route back to Le Colombier?

So picture me at Nimes airport. It's only the end of April - but in retrospect it was probably one of the best summer days visitors from the UK were to have.

5 crumblettes with Anne. Me, a bit harrassed. Jean somewhere between Luton and Stansted. 2 cars. Lots of luggage. A picnic. And I'm the only driver (crumblettes don't drive outside of their native habitat. Anne doesn't drive.)

No-one wants to be without their luggage possibly overnight. Anne had tried to fit everyone into the Zafira with luggage. This was never going to work. After 20 minutes Anne was forced to agree with me. So Plan C was to put Anne with luggage into local cab to go straight back to Le Colombier. An air-conditionned Mercedes. She was ok to miss out on the picnic at Le Pont du Gard (she'd done it a Christmas on a trial run).

One down; luggage sorted. Just 2 cars, 5 crumblettes, a picnic, and Jean still somewhere between Luton and Stansted / Marseille. And me, of course.

Nimes is not an international airport. The arrivals/departure hall and the 2 car hire desks close when there aren't any flights.

I went to reclaim the keys to the Kangoo I'd left with Hertz ... preferring to leave them on the wheel so Jean could get them if the hall was closed.

So we set off to the Pont du Gard. We had the picnic. The crumblettes did the tourist bit. We returned to Le Colombier. Luggage was distrubuted, bedrooms allocated, pots of tea made and drunk, and as I prepared dinner I had the phone to my ear organising Phase 2 ...