We met up with Tim and Will, and pottered off to London Zoo to see giraffes and lions and crocodiles and bears. Because of dust on the Canon's CCD, I was using the Powershot here and it kept running out of batteries, but not before I'd got some nice shots.

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.

Another long walk to find somewhere to change Travellers' Cheques, culminating in a rubbish paella.

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.

One wrong turn led to another wrong turn, and before we knew it we'd walked round most of the region.

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.

The first day of our holiday involved driving to London so that Joel could sort out some maintenance in GS1. For dinner, we pottered to Canary Wharf and had pizza, then strolled back to Docklands Travelodge to get some kip.