And so the journey comes to an end!

This is the view from Tina's home looking down onto the Loue river. The house in the middle is a bed and breakfast, or Gite as they are known in France.

I am going to miss my daily dose of tranquility. The trickling water of the river is enough to calm anyone who has had a hectic day. Not that the people in Lods have stressful days. Most are retired and relaxed. Some, like Tina and Osvaldo travel to Lausanne for work.

At Doha International Airport.

Yes, the real departure actually happened yesterday. After a major gremlin crept into the paperwork for what should have been my departure on Thursday evening!

All resolved and here I am sitting in Doha.

My special friend awaits my arrival in Paris tonight.....we are going to need to crack a real bottle of Champagne after all this trauma.

In the end I can only praise the Cape Town Qatar staff for bending over backwards for me. Thank you Marium and Tracy Lee, you both deserve medals for perseverance!

The interior of the  Silver lounge in Doha.

Great service, free wi fi,drinks and snacks.

This one is for you,Nirmal. A lovely bowl of Lentil soup with lemon @ 10 am. My breakfast!

So if this all works, I will do many more posts. Trial completed!

More later folks.