DAY 129 WEDNESDAY AUGUST 1 LOIRE VALLEY

In the morning we drove south towards Le Puys en Velay then followed the Loire river through the gorges next to the railway line.  We stopped  and looked at the river from the bridge.

 Two famous rivers in two days. This one was heading the opposite direction towards the Atlantic.

LAVOUTE WAS ONE OF THE LARGER TOWNS ON THE UPPER LOIRE

THIS IS THE OTHER PONT NEUF. IN THIS CASE MEANING 9 NOT NEW.

We turned away from the river at Retournac and detoured to a village called St Maurice de Roche where we walked up to a tower quite similar to the one we climbed yesterday.

 From the top we looked across to the Loire gorges we had just come through.

 Then we followed a backroad through native forest to Lavoute completing a circle. From there we returned a different way following the Arzon river through native forest again up to its source rejoining the highway at Bellevue la Montagne. That name summed up today's trip. Several times along the roads we encountered these strange signs.  By the look of the flowers we presume they were fatal crash sites.

 We were back home in time to catch the tourist train north to Arlanc at 2pm. The return trip cost 14€ and we paid an extra 4 to do a tour of the Jardin de la Terre. The train was a rail motor with a loud commentary in French so was not inspiringbut it is the only round trip available from our station and only runs on Wednesdays. When we got off at Arlanc we wondered where to go for the Jardin and eventually realised that the bus that was to take us had not been booked so we waste 20 minutes getting our money back. Lyn and Pam visited the hand made lace museum while Malcolm and Ken watched France v Sweden in Women's Handball in the Bar.

ARLANC WAS ANOTHER SMALL TOWN WITH A HUGE OLD CHURCH

When our train arrived back at La Chaise Dieu it hooked up with the other one taling people back to Ambert.

 The day was hot and we were glad to get home at 5pm to a cool breeze and a plate of Ken's Irish Srew. We are making excellent use of our rental car thanks to Robert's maps, Ken's driving and Pam's navigation skills. Once again people are spoiling us wherever we go.