With Howard leading and navigating, I was free to sit back with one hand on the bars and the other on my lap, singing bits of Pink Floyd to myself and watching the world go by.
There were plenty of sights to see: the Little Prince-themed water tower in Poitiers, and the village named La Folie Poisson - 'The Madness Fish'? Surely not!
When you travel so many miles in one day, the landscape changes remarkably. The flat fields of the Loire, planted with ripe and drooping sunflowers, gave way to the wooded Haute Vienne. Roadworks and deviations brought us an unexpected treat of winding roads past blue reservoirs. Then we were among the conical volcanic peaks of the Auvergne, the temperature dropping ten degrees as we circled towards the summit of the Puy de Dôme and my fuel gauge briefly showing empty as we made the steep descent towards our destination.
Tonight's stop was another revisit, the Hotel Aviation in the spa town of La Bourboule. Back in 2005 it was notable for its grumpy proprietress. She hadn't changed a bit, and despite the aeroplane-themed lounge I'm not sure I'll go back for a third try.
