Monday 13 July - With Michael Ayrton & on to La Ferme Jacquin, Lamothe-Fenelon

An important anniversary day: M1's daughter Fiona at 40 and M2's Ma-in-law at the magnificent age of 98! We think of them both.

We breakfasted in the delightful and charming old village of Boussoues before arriving at Le Mian at Polignac the home of the Ayrtons. Michael was a lively and gregarious 70ish retired officer who, with his wife Nicky, had renovated their beautiful house over several years when he retired fron the Army in about 1994. What a place it was with a most beautiful aspect and lovely grounds. We were filled with envy.

After a warm welcome and expressing due interest in our travels and the old banger in which we had arrived, we settled over a coffee to pick Michael's brains and tap into his knowledge. This was fascinating and we found that we had enough knowledge to explore quite a few facets of the campaign and the battles. Michael then took us to his impressively presented study high in the pigeonnier to show us some original stuff he had collected over the years - plates, engravings, documents and even some bullets and buttons from the Tarbes battlefields. Wonderful stuff. Michael now concentrates on military silver and is well on his way to achieving a significant collection. All in all, a most enjoyable and worthwhile interlude with a charming and informative host. We felt all the better for the visit.

We night stopped at La Ferme Jacquin, another France Passion gem of a place. No fuss - just park and get on with it. We set up shop under a large walnut tree quite close to various pens of free range 'foie gras' geese with the temperature at 38 degrees C. We were more discomfited than the geese who seemed to cope fine in their own way although they were surprisingly quiet! We had seen some impressive CBs building to the north and sure enough once we took to our beds (shelves as we describe them), the lightning cracked, the thunder god roared and the rain lashed down most of the night. All our bikes, golf clubs etc were left outside and suffered accordingly so we had a soggy morning. Nature unconstrained is a wonderful spectacle. We are suitably insignificant.