A bit of a round trip to Lille to the Carrefour, then off to Vanuxeem at Ploegsteerte (where we took photos of the war memorial and cemetary). Finally we tried to get food in Oosteende and dithered a lot, before getting back on the 'Pride of Bruges' ferry and getting told off by the entertainments manager for taking a photo on the boat .

Doing it all in reverse as we head back up through France, hitting a 3-hour traffic jam within 10 miles of leaving...

Our final full day, and at 33C it'd be a shame not to spend it on the beach and the pool. We slobbed on Cap d'Agde's Plage Richelieu Est in the morning then pottered back to the apartment for a splosh in the pool. Finally, off to La Marine restaurant for loads of seafood and wine.

This time round we missed out the rubbish dinosaurs but did have fun in Dino-Land, a small theme-park full of blow-up slides and ball pools. A stroll back into Cap d'Agde led us to the La Marine restaurant again, where we were served by a waiter who looked like Bono out of U2.

Not our best day really - we stopped in the apartment until lunchtime, the weather wasn't brill, so we took a boat-taxi ride to see what was on in the middle of town. It seemed every restaurant we tried was full - with low blood sugar kicking in, we took another seafood restaurant which was a load of overpriced bollocks. Let's make tomorrow a bit better, eh?

Up to Beziers, where the Feria was in full swing. We had lunch in the 35C heat of the festival street-restaurants before the dry heat just got too much and we returned back to the coast. Ben and Ellie wanted to head to the local funfair, which sounded like a great idea; then Ben got stressed out on a ride which went a bit fast and Ellie couldn't be prised off the car ride.

Pottering around on a relaxing day, having dinner at the salmon restaurant at Place du Mole, and a ride on the roundabout.

Saturday's market day again; the kids wanted to find the hill of beans, and we wanted to find 'Domaine de les Filles du Septembre' - sounds like a plan in progress! There was some pretty nice muscat too - another 9 bottles of wine manhandled down the road. Once we'd got back and had lunch, Ben and Ellie tried out their new armbands and learned to swim around while we caught more rays, and finished the day with more seafood smothered in garlic.

Hurrah! The sun's come out! With the temperature pottering up to about 33C how could we not hit the beach? Then off to find a huuuuuge pile of coquillages for tea.

Getting all the visiting out of the way while the weather was changeable gave us the opportunity to go to Montpellier - finally the sun broke through and we spent the evening paddling on the beach, followed by a drink in the local beach bar listening to a band do Police and Sting covers.

We did try the beach in the morning but it was just a little too windy for Ellie, so after lunch a trip to our favourite vineyard was called for. The owner had a new kitten (which is probably called Syrah by now), and that kept Ben and Ellie happy while we tried the rosé.

This visit we discovered the other end of Cap d'Agde, the Mail de Rochelongue area. It was a bit full of French chavs but there was a rather large market every Tuesday, and since it was overcast we took a visit down there followed by a ride on the marina boat-taxi up to the town again.

The first day on the beach, obligatory really. It was a bit windy but we managed to get some good sunbathing in before Ellie stood fascinated by games of pétanque, and we had a walk into Cap d'Agde via the marina and played hook-a-duck.

The final (and longest) stint of the journey, travelling through the Pyranees. We arrived at Cap around 7ish, and immediately went off to find some seafood at the restaurant with the waiters dressed as sailors

First stop was Lille, where the Christmas market was a bit of a dead loss. Then onto Carrefour in the Euralille complex and back up to Zeebrugge via Vanuxeem beer and wine warehouse at Ploegsteert. Finally on the boat we enjoyed the company of the ship's bar pianist, a pleasant chap called Charles who was quite happy to let me practice my photography on him.

We managed to cram some more wine into the car before getting on the ferry at Boulogne, then landing in London and happening upon a mad free concert in the middle of Trafalgar Square.

An odyssey of Aires and graces, including the Viaduc du Millau; Nicky even got to see the Eiffel Tower as we passed round the Peripherique. Some of these pics have specks of dust on the camera's CCD, unfortunately.

Our last day, so bedclothes to be cleaned and hypermarket shopping needed to be done. Ellie had requested that we go to 'La Marine' whose restaurants were dressed as sailors, and we had ice-creams on the way home.

Dinoland in Cap d'Agde is possibly the worst done theme park ever - it contains pneumatic plastic dinosaurs which hiss and go 'clunk'. Thankfully there was the Luna Park fair which Ellie and Ben loved; next year Ellie wants to go on the roller coaster.

Precisely what it says on the tin - a walk to the cybercafe in the morning to sort out a few bits and bobs of hotel bookings and check finances while I took some more photos, then the beach in the afternoon. Contains fine pics of Joel in speedos - be warned.

Saturday morning brought a market across the road from the apartment: it was too tempting for Joel, who had to purchase sausages, wine, and tablecloths - and even found some St Jean de Minervois to take back to the UK. Then we went off to the beach to get back to working on our tans, and Ellie ate a whole crab to herself for tea.

Joel wanted to go visit some vineyards and we'd been recommended Domaine La Grangette - the GPS found the place and off we went. After some tasting (and slight worry about being over the limit for driving) it was getting close to lunchtime, and pottering to Montpellier seemed like the best option.

We took a trip to Beziers for the day, where we visited the Cathedral and saw what the region looked like from high up. Then off to Cap d'Agde for tea again, with lots of shellfish!

A quick visit to find the local hypermarket in the morning, followed by another beach trip and finally into Cap d'Agde itself for dinner.

Our first day on the beach, where we remembered that we'd left the buckets and spades in Wrenthorpe and had to buy some more. Nice chilled Orangina on the beach is one of God's own creations, I feel.

Final leg of the journey, taking in various Aires en-route and climbing a really big hill - Ellie enjoyed being on top of France, and we waved to Grandad and Grandma in Australia; don't think they saw us though...

Second leg of the road trip, leaving London and heading to the Speedferries terminal at Dover. We got there a bit early so stopped in the town centre where the children dragged us round Dover Museum. The crossing to Boulogne was windy and at a steady 32 knots was fast: the kids loved it! Finally we stopped at the Novotel in Amiens for the night.