IN February we held our customary Déjeuner Annuel in the Riverside Restaurant at the college where, as usual, we enjoyed an excellent menu from the kitchen.

This month we had a talk by Terry Cudbird entitled Une Radonnée Autour de l’Hexagone, the Hexagon being France, as it is affectionately known because of its roughly six-sided shape.

This celebrates the publishing of his recent book Walking the Hexagon, which is an account of his tour of the entire perimeter of the country by foot over three years.

In the company of his wife, or sometimes of friends and pilgrims he met along the way, he delighted in meeting people, celebrating regional customs and cuisine, the magnificent scenery and styles of architecture as he journeyed on.

Admitting to often looking like a tramp, he was warmly greeted as something of an English eccentric and encountered many such French characters himself.

His descriptions of this adventure were most interesting, and there was a good attendance in spite of a rather miserable evening.