This windy, but clear morning we came into Vaison de Romaine for the weekly market. It is a real contrast to other visits when the town has been very quiet, whereas today the streets and squares are clogged with stalls and shoppers. The products on sale vary from foodstuffs to clothing to kitchenware. The variation and quantity of socks is truly mindblowing. No darning of socks in the Valcluse region is necessary me thinks.

The market is open from 7:30am to about 1pm. As seasoned travellers, no early starts for us and we rocked up at around 10am to buy our essentials - croissant, tarts, olives, six eggs, red mullet, two avocados and a bag of walnuts.

There are stalls roasting chickens. We intended to take back one for lunch from a stall at the end of the market near where we had parked. There were 4-5 left on the rotisserie as we made to leave at around 12pm, but unfortunately those were reserved. We know better next time...

Having been cheated out of our roast chicken lunch, we hightailed it to Seguret, another medieval hill ghost village a few km away. According to the tourist blurb, it has been named 'one of the most beautiful villages in France'. And indeed, it is very picturesque - if empty. Whilst we appreciated the beauty of the town as we climbed, our hearts were sinking as our stomachs rumbled that we would find nothing to eat for a second time today. Fortunately, the Restaurant Le Mesclun was open and we enjoyed an excellent menu of terrine, fish mouseline in a filo packet, and fruit tart with fig sorbet.

One thing that we are beginning to realise is that bearing in mind this is a rural area, after visiting the local U-Mart hypermarket and the today's local market-- things are not as cheap as we had expected - particularly groceries and local produce.

This evening Pauline fixed a wonderful meal of fried red mullet like my Grandmother used to make and we lit our first fire in the fireplace. All went well for a few hours until we added a log, which was, we realised too late, still fresh. After popping noises from exploding sap, white smoke wafted away from the chimney and into the rest of the house. Humans, animals, and even clothes in the bedroom now have a smokey aroma...