Knowing our invites had been lost in the post we thought it would be rude not to attend the wedding anyway.
Dressed to the nines our intrepid team braved the rough Mediterranean Sea for the crossing to St. Tropez. Sneaking past the bodyguards and trying to avoid the autograph hunters that have been plaguing our every move we made it to the church on time. However the wait was boring so we decided a brain freeze drink and sit by the beach would be a much more fruitful use for our day and anyway they will probably be divorced by tomorrow.

Today we take in Europes' version of the Grand Canyon, but not before a visit to the 'Village in the Sky' or Tourtour as the maps call it.

The canyon is not a drive for the feint hearted so it's best to be for-warned of the terror to be faced whilst driving its cliff edged roads. Knowing that it's big enough to fit Portugal in there doesn't help, but keeping your eyes closed at the wheel of the car does.

Next stop - Lac de Sainte Croix for an afternoon dip and cool down in the lake.

All in all a days tour not to be forgotten.

Today Chris and Roger joined the Monte Carlo Grand Prix . Surprised by the traffic ( something they don't show on television or probably Photoshop out ) they may well have failed to set a new lap record.

Other important news today is the exciting discovery made after a few bottles of Leffe beer . Brace yourselves :-
Contrary to popular belief that Elvis died in 1977, or the less unbelievable theory that he was abducted by aliens, we can exclusively confirm that he is alive and well and living in Port Grimaud.  Laugh if you must but we have the pictures to prove it !

After last years exciting day trip out on the train we thought we would give this mode of transport another try. Getting the platform wrong for the TGV this time though, far from the rapid transport solution expected we seemed to have chosen the somewhat slower train.

The end of the line came at Grimaud village which at least offered us some great views, and atmosphere of a medieval village with castle to boot.

It's fast and it's dangerous , we call it 'Man Shopping'. Today the men try to train the girls. 'Move swiftly and silently, get the job done, get out fast and mind the machine gun turrets' . The more we say it the blanker their faces look.
Anyway we give it a try - the men approaching the cornflakes in a pincer movement while the girls take out the milk. Eventually it runs to plan and we get out with sustaining any life threatening wallet injuries , or unidentified trolley items.

So with shopping to hand it's on to the cookery class .Here's the instructions should you want to try at home :-
    1. When you *bleeping* answer me shout 'Yes Chef'. Do you understand ?    
    2. Well *bleep* do you ?
    3. Right that's sorted so get the ingredients and cook according to the *bleep* instructions
    4. Slice four large cloves of *bleeping* garlic and add.
    5. Evacuate the *bleep* caravan due to overpowering *bleep**bleep**bleep**bleeping* garlic smell.


Also today it was time to get some sand between our toes so with only one stop to visit the 'auto toilet' , a new and dangerous experience I can tell you, we made it to the beach :)

A year on, the destination remains the same - Abroad, and the people remain the
same albeit a year older and wiser.
This year we chose the tough travel day as day one and so it proved. Rain and a dense sea fog greeted the arrival at Dover followed by gale force winds. The Channel was crossed in treacherous storm conditions!
Even those of us taking the land option had to brave broken rails on the rail line but this did not deter them.

Troyes is the Mecca of shopping with three outlet villages, but should really be called Troyes-A-Result-For-The-Boys, because they are all closed on a Sunday which is when we had planned to visit.

Well the final countdown to 'Tour De France '13 ' has begun. Whatever we have not sorted now is not going to get sorted at all.
Toasting to a successful trip occurs on two fronts............ 

Beer and pub grub for the humans.