Pauline, Magnus, and the town hall.

Having finally returned to the UK in mid July, we have enjoyed settling in and rennovating our new house. We were pleased to remain in the UK after 9 months of continuous travelling in Europe, but there was no denying that from last Summer to Spring of this year, the weather was pretty poor. Summer was not particulary warm and we had 3 snowfalls in London during the Winter, which is unprecedented. Then Spring came very late. So, when some of our Hong Kong friends invited us to visit them in Northern Spain, we did not need much persuading.

Fortunately, we had somebody to housesit that cats, but there was no staying at home for our intrepid travelling dog, Magnus and inevitably, we were on another roadtrip! Without the cats' paraphernalia, there was plenty of room in our car, which was lucky as we had the firm intention of bringing back some goodies from France and Spain.

Our online map said that the trip was 700 miles and would take 12 hours of driving from Calais to San Sebastian along the autoroute going due south of Calais on the Western side of France. This was too long a journey for one day of driving, especially as we had to get from London to Felixstowe to catch the Eurotunnel train in the morning and would adjust our clocks forward an hour after crossing into France. We decided to break journey in Tours.

Tours is a city located on the Loire River and is the administrative centre of the Centre-Val de Loire region. It dates back to ancient times and was an important city in Roman Gaul. It is most famous for the Battle of Tours, when the Christian French Army defeated an Muslim invading Army from the Al Andalus or Muslim Spain. In later periods, the city's fortune elevated with the presence of the Kings and royalty of France and the wine and silk trade, but as these trades became relatively less important to the economy, so the city's importance declined until the arrival of the railways, when Tours became an important railway hub. Tours was affected by both world wars. In World War I, it was the main camp for the US expeditionary forces, while in World War II, the German army established major fortifications, which were bombed and eventually led to huge fire that almost completely destroyed the centre of town.

Our visit was very brief. We arrived in late afternoon in dull conditions, enjoyed a brief walk around town and a pizza in one of the main squares. The city is pretty, but was not remarkable enough for us to feel minded to stay longer. However, the surrounding area is reputedly dotted with fine chateaux from France's golden era and famous vineyards, so if the town is no great shakes itself, it is a good base for touring the region.