Breaking baguettes with the man who could have been Jean-Pierre Rives

Letter from Tours: There can be few better places to unwind after an honest day’s toil than by the banks of the river Loire, which runs gracefully through the city

SOARING TEMPERATURES: A general view of an Ireland rugby squad training session at Complexe de la Chambrerie in Tours, France. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Tours, as is the case across the whole of France, is slowly saying goodbye to the customary August national summer shutdown and turning its attention to going back to school, college and work.

Not that the climate gods have received the memo.