Tsukiji Fish Market, Hongwanji Buddhist Temple, Hama-rikyu Gardens, Imperial Palace Gardens

We started our day with a little breakfast in a local coffee shop to the hotel then walked over the the famous fish market at Tsukiji. It's am amazing place - starting every day at 5am with lots of auctions and fish from all over the world. It was fascinating to see, and quite smelly!

After the market we visited a Buddhist temple and then the Hama-rikyu Gardens which were absolutely beautiful.  We stopped for traditional confectionery and Japanese Green tea in a little tea house that the Duke of Cambridge had visited just last week apparently.

After the tea we found a little sushi place near the market and had really quite a substantial sushi lunch for about £15 in total.  It was fantastic and extremely fresh as you might expect.  The chef was on full view for us to watch as he made the sushi to order, even making the rice blocks by hand - not like the machine at Yo! in the UK.

After lunch we had a wander around the start of the Imperial Palace gardens and saw some excellent fountains.  We walked back through Tokyo Station and then back to the hotel for a rest.

Flying out to Tokyo and meeting Alex

We left home at about 7.45am this morning to get the bus to Heathrow from where we had a short flight to Paris CDG and then a long haul to Tokyo Haneda airport.  The long haul was 12 hours but Air France did a pretty good job of making it comfortable.  We arrived in Tokyo just before noon on Sunday but with the 9 hour time difference that's 3am back home.

We had a fairly easy day and met an old work colleague who has moved to Tokyo to be an English teacher.  We went to an amazing little restaurant that has a machine at the door where you make your food choices, buy a ticket then hand it to the staff and take a seat.  The machine had not a word of English on it so I was glad Alex knew what the Japanese words for "beer" and "ramen" were.

We got to bed around 9pm slept pretty well after a dose of melatonin to reset the body clock.

The trip to the ferry home - Caen and Ouistreham

We left Le Colmbier fairly early today as we had a long drive to Caen ahead of us to get the overnight ferry home.  The drive was uneventful.  We got to Caen itself early in the evening and had a wander around the City and the Cathedral as well as doing some shopping for holiday gifts etc.

The ferry terminal is actually at a little town called Ouistreham so we drove there and still had plenty of time to spare so had a wander around the sea front and then had a delicious dinner in a small local restaurant.  We got on the ferry in plenty of time ready for the overnight crossing back to the UK.

Niort & Lucon

We had breakfast at the ten this morning but inside as it was raining on and off.  After making sure everything was secure we went for a drive, first going to Niort.  It was quite an interesting town and after exploring a market and some more religious places we had a nice lunch.  We visited the Donjon and then drove on to Lucon where we saw a cathedral and a funfair.  We got back to the campsite to find the porch pole on the tent broken due to the high winds.  Fortunately we have a repair kit so managed to repair the tent for its last night.

We had a light dinner of soup, bread and cheese at the tent and then went to the bar for a few drinks and games as our last night in France.

The Marais Poitevin

Much better weather greeted us today so we had a nice cooked breakfast at the tent and then drove to Fontenay le Comte again as Saturday is market day.  There was lots of interesting stalls and a very nice indoor covered market that puts Oxford’s to shame.  We bought a few bits including some more interesting cheeses and then drove to Marais (marshes) Poitevin to see a lovely ornithological park there.  It was also offering trips on boats that were drive a bit like punts.  We cheated and had one with a guide who did the punting for us.  There were some lovely views from in the marsh waterways and thankfully no crocodiles.  On the way back to the campsite we stopped in Vouvent to check out a recommended restaurant and we also had a little look in the church there.  Dinner was some nice poitrine cooked at the tent with French beans and some prepared salads.

La Roche sur Yon and a chocolate museum

Today started bright but heavy rain set in from about 11am.  The tent seemed to be keeping it out so we went to explore La Roche sur Yon, a town that Napoleon had re-founded in the 19th Century.   We had a nice lunch in a brasserie and sat there for a while waiting for the rain to subside.  After that we visited a little museum with some art and modern art.  We then had a brief wander around the Place Napoleon and had a play with the mechanical animals in the water there.  We visited a local church – name – and then went back to the car to drive to the chocolate museum just outside the town centre.

The museum gave a fascinating history of chocolate and how it came to Europe.  It also had a rather good chocolate shop!  Our evening meal was on the campsite again because it was still pretty wet.

Fontenay le Comte

We woke up to more rain today but it stopped fairly quickly and the day brightened up nicely.  After breakfast and some time relaxing on the campsite we went to visit Fontenay le Comte – a very pretty town about 30km away from our campsite.  We started the visit with a nice lunch in a brasserie then did a fascinating circular walking tour of the town.  It took about 3 hours and showed us lots of historically important sites including the Eglise Notre-Dame, the Pont Neuf and the Maison a Pan de Bois.  The walk was very well set-out with clear signposting and nice explanatory plaques by each site of interest, including with a small piece in English.

We returned to the campsite around 6.30pm and I had a swim then we had a nice dinner of steak, vegetables and salad cooked at our tent.