The Long Way Home: Aurevoir London, until we meet again...

It wasn't without sadness that we said our final goodbyes to London, a city whose moods change with the weather, whose atmosphere changes with postcode, whose secret nooks and crannies are so inviting and yet whose sprawling urban jungle can feel so isolating. Despite millions of inhabitants London can at times be surprisingly lonely, but then will quietly remind you that you're part of one big community; a shared love of beer in the park in the summer (and all three of those things separately), standing on the right side of the escalator, queuing, the front seat on the top deck of the bus, the front carriage of the DLR, meeting friends at the pub, being annoyed when the next tube is more than two minutes away.... A city best enjoyed by jumping in and then holding on for the ride, pinching your self every so often with the realisation that you live amongst 2000 years of history in one of the most metropolitan cities in the world. But, it's the people who make a place special, who make a place feel like home, and I'd like to thank each and every one of you for making our time in London an unforgettable experience.

Watching the sun set over the Thames on our last evening

Now that I'm finished with the deep and meaningful, here is a bit on our travel through France: from Normandy, to Mont St Michel and Bordeaux before driving down to San Sebastián, where we have just arrived.

We picked up the van and got out of London without much hassle, and boarded the Eurotunnel to Calais. From there we spent a night in a traditional French beach house just out of Bayeux where we met up with our friends accompanying us for the weekend.

Our home for 60 days - let's hope it doesn't literally burn out....

The next day we explored some of the important sites in WWII. We first stopped at Longues Sur Mer, a German battery with four large guns still in place. The battery was defeated in June 1944, but not until >3000 tons of bombs were dropped on it. It is the only historically listed battery in France.

We enjoyed some crepes for lunch and then headed to the American War Cemetery at Omaha beach. Omaha Beach was one of the landing sites, given code names Omaha, Gold, Utah and Juno, Sword. The rows upon rows of crosses brings the tragedy of war into sharp relief.

We also did some celebrity spotting, as we saw John Lithgow from Third Rock from the Sun....

We then visited the Overlord Museum - Operation Overlord was the name given to the D day landings.

Our last stop on our day in Normandy was Pointe du Hoc, where the US Ranger Division landed and scaled 90ft high cliffs under German gunfire in order to capture the artillery that could fire on the D Day landing beaches. How they succeeded seems seems like a miracle when you stand there and think what they had to endure.

The guns lined up at Longues Sur Mer

View from inside one of the gun emplacements / bunkers

The things in the water are prefabricated break waters that the allies used to unload cargo without having to capture one of the heavily defended harbours, giving them a distinct advantage

Crepes for lunch

American War Cemetery

'To these we owe the high resolve that the cause for which they died shall live'

Looking over Omaha Beach

Overlord Museum

The cliffs at Point du Hoc

Landscape pockmarked by explosion craters

Paul for scale

Celebrating an eventful day with strawberry pie!

The next day we visited Mont St Michel, an abbey built on an island in 708AD, built in honour of the archangel Saint Michel, whose statue adorns the spire. Following the French Revolution and until 1863, the abbey was used as a prison.

Mont St Michel

We also visited the impressive old port town of St Malo

Saying goodbye to our friends, Shaun and I then headed to Bordeaux to celebrate my birthday and our three year wedding anniversary. On the way we stopped at Rochefort en Terre, a tiny picturesque village.

Rochefort en Terre

As well as explore Bordeaux, we spent a glorious day in the small nearby town of Saint Emilion, enjoying the sunshine and some of the local wine.

Saint Emillion

There are >200km of tunnels beneath St Emilion which was quarried for the limestone since the 9th century. They are now the perfect place to store wine barrels!