Camping down by the Vonne at the foot of the hill town of Lusignac, the temperature dropped sharply overnight and I got up to a tent soaked in dew.

Climbing back up through the town and up towards Vivonne, I found these fields of golden wheat and of poppies.

A short pause at Vivonne for croissants and then on to Château Larcher, which is known less for its ruined medieval castle, which dominates the small town, than for its 6 m high 13th century "lanterne des morts" in the cemetery.

On through Gençay, past the handsome hotel.

On the way to Usson-du-Poitou there were several fields of blue flowers.

This is perhaps flax (linseed) being grown as a "green manure" to be ploughed back into the soil.

A long lunch break and tent drying opportunity at the large peaceful Jardins de la Clouère.

Then a straight 15 km on to L'Isle-Jourdain.

My first visit to an unmanned "Camping-Car-Park" site. You pay a machine which issues a card (supposedly) granting access to the site facilities. It wasn't only me who found himself unable to get into the washhouse using his electronic card. A French cycle tourist, even more weathered and haggard than me, was in the same boat. After a while we spotted a well dressed woman with a folder making a tour of the site. She turned out to be the major of the town, with duties including checking on the campsite. She wasn't surprised by our problem and commented that the technology wasn't exactly cutting edge. After disappearing off to phone the operating company she returned our cards with the reassurance that all would now work. We shall see. As my French counterpart noted " everything is being done by machines these days, but they don't do a very good job of it".

Had a friendly chat with an English couple in a motor home who are en route to the Périgord / Dordogne (like me). They are dawdling as the weather is apparently currently much better up here...