DAY 133 SUNDAY AUGUST 5 A VOLCANO

Today was our last chance to use the rental car and as the storm had abated overnight we headed west to the passes and mountains of the Cantal. Pam found a gorge nearby as our first treasure of the day.

We found a little tunnel which had a path and some steps next to the main way through. Must be very old.

 We continued through to Brioude where we had been by train on Friday. At Murat we turned uphill into the Cantal Volcanoes area. We parke at the saddle below Puy Mary at 1600 metres and climbed the steep concrete steps

 to the top at 1800 metres. Fantastic all round views.

People built cairns from the loose rocks at the summit.

ONE OF MANY VOLCANOES IN THE CANTAL

 On the way back we again passed through villages dating back to the 11thC and another beautiful gorge only five Ks from home. As we came inside another storm broke and hailstones hit the windows. When the storm finished we went for a three course meal for 12€ and watched Olympics at a restaurant.          

DAY 132 SATURDAY AUGUST 4 A 12K WALK

Today we walked along a road to a small town called Bonneval about six Ks from home base. This is our front door.

And this is our house.

And this is our alley.

 Bonneval is a beautiful settlement with many flower boxes and chainsawed benches. The main features are the cemetery, the church and the Auberge de Dorette. We peeked inside the little church and it looked quite personal.

ONE OF THE CHURCH WINDOWS

 The Auberge was an Inn named after the Dorette river nearby.  The gate said ferme (shut) but the waitress let us in and the boss offered us a small plate to take lunch from an amazing buffet for 5€ each. As soon as we sat down to eat hordes arrived and filled the place up. Such a pleasant time and we were well prepared for the walk back home.

BONNEVAL TOWN FOUNTAIN

WATCHING THE FISH IN THE DAM ON THE WAY BACK

 We relaxed the rest of the day reading or sleeping then drove along some of the roads we had walked past to explore more villages. A violent thunderstorm hit our town about 4pm.

DAY 131 FRIDAY AUGUST 3 ANOTHER GORGE

Yesterday we picked up a brochure at the local Tourist Office for a tourist train ride through the Allier gorge which sounded more interesting than the trip to Arlanc we did on Wednesday. But strangely there were no trips scheduled for Friday, Saturday or Sunday. So Malcolm googled the trains from Clermont Ferrand to Nimes and return and found that if we started a train trip at Langogne south of Le Puy en Verlay and travelled through the gorge up to Brioude, we would be able to get a return trip back to Lagogne. There are only two trains each way per day on this line so we were lucky this worked out. So we drove south or an hour plus and showed our Eurail Passes at Langogne Ticket Office where no one spoke English and received return tickets for no charge. The tourist train would have charged over 100€. It was a two carriage diesel train with a small first class section similar to this one parked at the station.

 and it passed through spectacular scenery along the Allier River which falls 400 metres during our two hour trip.

 Left the train at Brioude

 and explored the old town for an hour. As usual there were many old churches and a large Basilica. This had been renovated recently and they had painted the interior stonework white which we had not seen elsewhere. Some of the windows contained modern looking bright colours.

One of the streets featured a date which may have marked liberation in this town.

We got on the returning train at 13.39 and it was a three carriage but more crowded.

We got a different perspective on the gorge on the way back.

Arriving at Lagogne a crowd of people made it difficult for us to get off. The train was going to Marseille on a Friday afternoon so was filling up. As we got in the rental car Ken noticed that someone had opened their car door next to us and left a scrape on our rear door panel. We drove to Pradelles which is classified as one of the four most beautiful towns in France. It is perched on a hillside with spectacular views across the river valley. The houses and lanes are beautifully cared for.

WHERE DID THE WISE MAN BUILD?

WHY DID THIS ONE CRACK?

Then we went to the Pradelles Station which was 3km away and saw the VeloRail facility which was widely advertised. This is a means of transporting four people on a trolley with two pedalling seats and two canvas seats in between.

 A great way to use a discarded rail track. Next we drove back along the road that goes through the Allier gorges and enjoyed seeing some sections for the third time today. The road passes through some of the little villages along the river where our train stopped and climbs over the top sometimes to avoid the steep gorge walls. We were able to look down on the railway and its viaducts.

 It has more than fifty tunnels. This trip was up there with the famous ones in Switzerland for scenery and we saw it from three different perspectives in one day. We claim that as a record. On the way back we saw a statue of La Bete which had killed women and children in the 18thC and we had read about it at Langogne Station where a display was mounted. It is now assumed that it was a wolf or wolves.

Nearing home we passed Allegre where we saw a huge arch fortress which seemed even bigger than the Arc de Triomphe and was built in the 15thC.

 Home at 7.30 for a dinner of scrambled eggs tomato amd onion cooked up in record time by Pam and Lyn.

DAY 130 THURSDAY AUGUST 2 THE ABBEY

We had a quiet day at home in La Chaise Dieu today after three days of travelling around the district. We started with our usual pre-breakfast walk outside he town along a quiet country road. Then we bought the baguette at the bakery like all the locals and had breakfast. The Thursday Markets were in the square.

 Lyn and Pam had a coffee at the Tabac then went to the patisserie (there are three in this little town) and selected four small cakes which were beautifully packed in a special box.

 Took them back to the house for a delicious morning tea. After lunch Malcolm, Lyn and Pam did a tour of the Abbey of Saint Robert which lasted an hour and was of course in French.

QUITE A NICE OLD ORGAN FOR THE MUSIC FESTIVAL

 Malcolm understood about one tenth but the other two followed a two followed a booklet in English which explained the stories on the huge tapestries that surrounded the worship area, as well as the paintings on the wall called the dance of the Dead. Also called Danse Macabre.

CLEMENT THE POPE

ONE OF 11 HUGE TAPESTRIES

HOW THEY WERE MADE

THE DANSE MACABRE

Pam and Lyn spent more time in the shops. Thursday and Sunday are Market Days and there are plenty of interesting stalls to browse. Early dinner of lasagne and leftover irish stew followed by CDs and reading. No TV or radio in English here.

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.

DAY 128 TUESDAY JULY 31 RHONE VALLEY

The rental car was due for return today and as we could not get Avis to answer the phone we drove to St Etienne and extended the contract to Monday 6 August. Pam navigated us to a beautiful gorge east of the town and we had a huge lunch at the Hotel Rochetaillee. The stairs were guarded by a fox.

 Across the road was a derelict fort right in the middle of town. Great views of the gorge from both the hotel and the fort.

 We drove to Mont Pilat via numerous villages and parked near the Cret de l'Oeillon which had a huge transmission tower at 1370m.

 We saw groups combing the shrubs for myrtilles which we have been eating as jam on our baguettes. No one has ordered escargots for a meal but we are considering trying grenouilles.
There was also a large group of young teens riding scooters with bike wheels. We drove down from the mountain and followed the Rhone river south for a while then headed west to come home. We stopped at a Lidl supermarket on the way and found groceries were ridiculously cheap.