We have not returned to France for the last four years, in some ways because of our house in Spain, but largely also because of Covid-19 more recently. September 2022 provided our opportunity to cross the Channel again and renew…

This wasn’t actually a trip in its own right but was a single week tacked onto the end of our trip around Germany. Having gone out to Germany through Belgium and experienced a dreadful campsite, we were anxious to avoid…

After a 3-year break, we finally managed to return to France. We had something of an agenda meeting various people so we were partly playing tourist and partly odonata (and orchid) hunters. We knew we would visit our favourite dairy…

I learned of La Tourbière des Dauges a few years ago from an internet acquaintance also keen on Odos, one Nick Ransdale of Moulismes Nature. A few years ago we visited another tourbières [peat digging], Les Tourbières de Vendoire, and…

A.k.a. France 2014, Part 3. Inevitably, like addicts, we were bound once again for our favourite campsite on a dairy sheep farm, Les Brugues, at Fanjeaux. Actually, suffering from Tramontane tiredness, we were quite keen to leave French Catalonia and…

A.k.a. France 2014, Part 2. After our return to Provence looking for dragonflies, we spent four days at Loupian near the Bassin de Thau for a spot of rest and relaxation, including some photographic exercise for Carol. Then we were…

A.k.a. France 2014: Part 1. We had no trip to France hunting Odos in 2013, other than a 1-day pause at the Marais Poitevin en route to Spain in early August. Last year’s miss was due mainly to my having…

August 2013 broke our mould in several respects. Firstly, we were straying away from home during the height of rugrat season. Secondly, we would be experiencing the height of summer in Spain, our ultimate destination, for the very first time.…

Not that we’re stuck in a rut or anything, but we actually called in to Parc naturel régional de la Brenne twice during our 2012 spring trip to France. The first occasion was for a single night on our way south.…

Continuing our unusually slow trek back north during our 2012 spring trip to France, we called in at another favourite haunt of ours: the Marais Poitevin. A marais is a marsh and, rather like the Somerset levels, this French marsh…