A perfect day in the Auvergne

We had a fantastic day on Sunday, our last day in the Auvergne. We got up early to get to the boulangerie before heading off to a church on the west side of Clermont-Ferrand (we were staying on the SE side).

We had found the church listed on a website that gave details of English-speaking churches in France so thought we would give it a try. Not a long journey but we left ourselves plenty of time which was just as well as one of the roads the sat-nav wanted us to take was ‘BARRÉE’ due to a cycle race taking place.

Our baguette and pain au raisins were superb by the way. We ate the pain au raisin on the way to church and the baguette helped to make our picnic later in the day……anyway to get back to church. From the description we thought it might be quite ‘high’. The building was small, quaint, and 18th century. To our surprise as we entered we heard a lot of American accents. We were given a wonderful welcome, several regulars came to talk to us and we discovered that there is a large American ex-pat community in Clermont who work at the Michelin headquarters based there. The service was excellent, led by a Belgian pastor who gave a fantastic sermon that was very relevant to us.

From church we went on to visit “Le Puy de Dôme”, the highest of the range of volcanic hills and mountains in this area. On weekends you are not allowed to drive to the top and have two options: park at a nearby summit car park and walk the remaining 3 Km, ascending 350 metres, to the top, or take the shuttle bus. We went for option one, carrying our picnic rucksack and water for the journey. We noticed that everyone else was wearing proper hiking gear and we were dressed for church, sandals and smarter clothes. We soon concluded that maybe the shuttle bus would be a better option – so we had our picnic about a third of the way up the walking trail, and then went back down to catch the bus.

We were in for a real treat when we got to the top. A 360 degree panoramic view over all the other volcanic craters. They were beautiful, partly because they are covered with vegetation which makes them look like they are adorned in green clothing.

The view really was breathtaking. We spent a while on the summit just taking it all in and watching some hang gliders take off and slowly descend to the bottom.

We’ve not stayed in the Auvergne region before….only driven through on our way to somewhere or another. It is majestic, the people are friendly and the scenery spectacular. We recommend this area to everyone, it’s unique.

We got back to the caravan a little after 4pm where we slowly packed the car and ended the day with a superbly cooked entrecote steak on the BBQ by Peter, dauphinoise potatoes and a green salad prepared by me. Not forgetting our lovely cabernet sauvignon from the ‘cave’!

All in all a perfect day.

We have travelled west, more or less on the same line of latitude and yet the difference in the weather is amazing, much hotter for longer each day.

We had a few problems with the electrical lead on the car/caravan connection while towing. Our car is so heavily laden that it is sitting closer to the ground, which also places the leads closer to the ground…..and what happened? You can guess, they rubbed along as we drove, but Peter being Peter….clever man that he is, sorted it all with connectors and insulating tape in a service station while I made the usual travelling lunch…ham, cheese and salad baguette.

We’ll have to order a new lead at some point. But no one else has such a distinguished looking lead as us, it has little connectors half way through it and works just fine now!

The site we’re on now is a little disappointing. The book promises that it’s open all year with low season facilities beginning at the end of September, well they’ve started early as the bar doesn’t seem to open, but we do have free WIFI if we sit outside it!

However the area is fantastic. There is a wonderful small town just 3km away which has everything we need. We can either walk along the river to it or cycle along the cycle route. We’ve done both and it’s lovely not having to use the car.

The town is called Le Cendre and it even has it’s own ‘cave’ where you can you’re your empty container to be filled with delicious red, white or rose wine for just 1.5 Euros per litre. That makes up for the bar being closed in my opinion!

We have found an English speaking church in Clement-Ferrand which we are going to visit on Sunday morning, and from there we are going to sightsee ‘Le Puy De Dôme’ which is a natural phenomenon.

We’re getting on very well living in the caravan – each stop we set up differently depending on our needs and length of stay, sometimes a full awning, sometimes just a canopy, sometimes nothing. Benji is a little confused, especially as on the site we’re on at the moment they have two ginger toms who closely resemble Bumble, our cat at home! But he seems happy with all the extra walks and attention that he’s getting.

We’re not sure how long we will stay at this site. The boys have sent our post out to us at this address and the French postal workers are talking about going on strike so who knows?

Chez nous hier soir

Is it a bird, is it a plane, no it's a turtle!

Some interesting wildlife around this area including red squirrels - much more attractive than their grey cousins. I haven't managed to photograph one yet, but I did catch this turtle sunbathing on a log in the lake.

En France

Not much to report on the sight-seeing front – just a couple of observations about life in France.

Today we walked to a small bar-café-restaurant on the banks of the Saône for lunch. With amazing views of the river from the terrace, we had a superb lunch cooked and served by the owner – the bill for food, wine and coffee for two was 35 Euros and we were the only customers!

This evening we are sitting outside our caravan being serenaded by a French couple a few pitches away. Early each evening they sit outside their caravan – Monsieur plays the guitar, Madame the accordion. You wouldn’t buy the CD but like a lot of live music when it’s in the right setting it’s magical.

Slowing down

We arrived last Wednesday at a site in the southern Bourgogne region of France. A lovely peaceful site next to a chateau - just the sort of place to chill out which is exactly what we've been doing so we have very little new to report!

We're off to to a local market and to do a bit of sight-seeing tomorrow so may have more to say then.

A day of contrast yesterday.

In the morning we walked to the Blockhaus d'Eperlecques, a historic monument about 1.5 Km from where we are staying. Neither of us were prepared for what we found. On the outside there was a typical reception and tourist shop. The entrance to the Blockhaus was at the back of the shop through a large steel door. The experience of walking through the door was a bit like the wardrobe in Narnia - but it wasn't so much the area we'd walked in to but the atmosphere. It was heavy and there was a sense of great sadness.
In a wood there were six stations to visit and these started to explain what the Blockhaus was for and why it had been built. Blockhaus is a German word for bunker and this bunker was to be used to manufacture and launch V2 bombs during World War 2, with London as the main target. The stories of the construction using prisoners from concentration camps and other slave labour were harrowing, and we heard As

we

accounts of the harsh conditions and the many hundreds who died at the site. rounded a corner to the third station we were not prepared for the sight before us. In our minds we had expected a bunker like we see on the cliff tops at Dover. The huge scale of the mass of concrete in front of us stopped us dead in our tracks. When you see the size of it it seems incredible that it is not visible from the village or the roads around - the dense woods were one of the reasons the Germans picked this site.
Most of the building is still intact although part of it was destroyed by Allied bombing which thankfully caused the Germans to decide to abandon the site during 1944.

Visiting this place stirred up many emotions - sorrow for the pain and suffering endured in building the bunker, thankful that it was never used as it was intended and grateful that our lives are so much easier than those who had to endure the horrors of WWII.


In complete contrast we spent the evening in Lille at "Le Braderie" - the enormous flea market which is held once a year. The scale of it was amazing - like hundreds of car boot sales throughout the city centre and the range of items on sale was incredible - everything from Victorian farm machinery to the latest hi-tech products. The moules frites were good though and served in generous portions, as you can see from the picture.

Moving on tomorrow to the Champagne region - I wonder what local produce we might sample there?

Tunnelled our way out!

We've hit some interesting weather over the last few days. The day we took our awning down in preparation to leave Kent the wind really picked up. This picture shows what happened to our neighbours' awning while they were out. The awning is supposed to be on the left hand side of the caravan!

We were very pleased that we were using Eurotunnel as it would have been a very choppy crossing across the straits of Dover.

Fortunately we had already planned to stop in a site near St Omer for a five days as the windy weather seems to have followed us into France and we wouldn't fancy towing in such strong winds.

Despite the wind we've had lots of sunshine and have enjoyed exploring the local area on foot. Having spent two weeks in Kent in a field with no facilities it is also good to be on a site with a bar, restaurant etc.

At the weekend we plan to visit Lille to experience La Braderie - the largest flea market in Europe which runs non-stop for 33 hours and takes place this weekend. It includes a competition between the restaurants to see who can serve the most moules frites over the two days. They pile the mussel shells in the street outside each restaurant and weigh them at the end of the weekend - we plan to do our bit to help!