Toot, toot

 Sunday 30th April

Shopping day today for groceries. Armed with Google translate we spent nearly an hour in the supermarket getting a couple of meals for the next few days. I wasn't about to make the same mistake as before with 'rognons' (kidneys). It's a challenge and entertaining to find what is normally so easy at home.

We had stopped in a smallish town for their biggish supermarket and then headed in to centre ville in search of bakery and coffee for breakfast.  Was a late start this morning so it was now close on lunchtime and instead of breakfast we just shared a pizza for lunch. 

Sometimes you just need to follow your nose down little side streets
and find interesting little nooks. 

Our plan had been to visit a Chateau in the afternoon but we had found a brochure on a steam train ride nearby (only today we thought) so headed for the train. Only a 1 hour trip, but pleasant and scenic. It was amazing how many people were on the train. In our carriage there was a group of 18 English from Great Train Journeys - we've watched a lot of these types of shows in recent years (much more interesting and educational than MAFS). And there were as many people waiting again for the 4pm ride.

It stinks!

The train went out backwards, all downhill, and through a series of tunnels. One of the bridges was a Gustav Eiffel bridge - he of the tower. 

Engine worked a lot harder on the uphill return.

Odette was also enjoying the scenery. 

Looking back at the town of Martel - a medieval village with seven towers.

Dog of the day - love our border collies. Too much noise
and too many people for his comfort.

Eating our way through France - and WOW!

Saturday 29th April 

We woke this morning to rain. It had been raining most of the night. No umbrellas so we hoped that the weather would clear. First stop was a nearby town with a market, but first job was to buy some antihistamines as Rob has got a bad hayfever attack. Then breakfast while we waited for the rain to stop. Wandered through the market and bought cheese, of course, strawberries,  and couscous.  We'd hoped for paella but were too late - note to self, buy the paella first. 

Markets are so boring! Are we done yet?

Where to next? A nearby village labelled as one of the most beautiful villages in France, Rocamadour. We had no idea what was there, but this one blew us away. We were driving along this narrow, winding road down into a valley and through a gorge, and came around the corner to the sight of the village built on to the side of the gorge. This was just - oh wow! The photos probably don't really show how impressive this place was. The sad thing is it is very commercialised - lots of shops selling lots of touristy stuff, and high prices for food and drink. Lots of people there today, in spite of the rain, and possibly because Monday is a public holiday, so a long weekend. Not a place to buy a house if you aren't fit and don't like stairs. Thankfully for tourists they have a series of two elevators to take you from the top of the village to the bottom, and back. 

This was what we saw as we were driving down to the village. Wow!

We just had to try a bit of this. It's pretty pricey though. 

This one joined us at the restaurant for lunch. 

A great day - and the couscous for dinner was good. And the cheese and strawberries also yum. We've also bought an umbrella but hopefully the rain will stop. 

So, how do we find these villages? We have several books listing lots of villages, including a michelin guide published each year (and free at tourism offices) so we visit some in the areas we are staying. They don't all turn out to be worth a visit, but it gives us half a plan.

Further south and warming up

 Friday 28th April 

Yesterday and today have been travel days. Yesterday we travelled to Clermont-Ferrand which is in the mountains sort of in the centre of France. It is a large university city and is surrounded by a chain of volcanic mountains. On the way yesterday we stopped at a village listed as one of the most beautiful villages in France in our Michelin guide. It is a spa town but we were hoping to view the gallo Roman museum - unfortunately not open till 2.30 so that was a bust. We did stop at the old station which has been renovated as a function centre. Beautiful coloured sandstone.

The old railway station.
Nearby was a park for leisure vehicles - 9.50 euro pn. About $16. 

The drive was very twisty and lots of up and down, generally good roads. Once we left Vierzon we moved out of the crop growing area and there were a lot more smaller 'paddocks' often bordered by hedges. Not sure what the main agricultural activity was in the area. We stopped at one viewing point to look at an old castle - Chateau Rocher from 13th century.

Stayed at Clermont-Ferrand for one night and had a lovely dinner. I had butter chicken and Rob had brochette de canard (duck).

Today we have travelled further south and west but first a visit to le Puy du Dome which is a high point above Clermont-Ferrand in the ring of volcanoes, 2600m. You go up to the top on a train which works its way round and round and up. Spectacular views over the whole area from the top. This is where Pascal was able to prove that air pressure varies by altitude.

Very cute - there were a few people with dogs at the top of the Dome.

From the top Rob spotted the Clermont-Ferrand racing circuit. Ok Dora - take us there. We couldn't get a look at the actual track from where we were but he with the silver tongue talked the girl in the office in to taking him down for a look at the track. Now we had to get back on track to get to our next accommodation.  

A lot of roads in the area are closed due to snow in winter. We were pleased to see a lot of 'col ouverte' signs so we didn't need to have Dora find an alternative route. The route further Southwest was again twisty and hilly but generally good roads travelling through a lot of pine forest areas. There was quite a bit of logging going on but no timber jinkers thankfully. And the weather has improved heaps. Today it was 28deg and still quite warm at 8pm. They say maybe a storm tonight. 

I was a bit concerned about finding this place as the car gps didn't recognise the address so I'd written down the instructions that google maps showed on the tablet - but not my phone. We missed it on the first pass but stopped to ask at a garden place down the road and they set us right. We are very happy with our little gite and are here for 1 week. Tomorrow morning we continue eating our way around France with a visit to a nearby market.

Chateaux and Cars

Wednesday April 26

We are currently in the Loire Valley - known for its many chateaux. The valley extends to the west as far as  Bordeau. We haven't been to Bordeau on our previous travels in France but may get there this time. Not all chateaux are open for visiting and a lot of them are hard to see from the road - I guess they don't want Terry tourists like us rubbernecking at their home.

Today we just picked one chateaux to visit - the Chateau de Valencay (about 40k from where we are staying). We left the route up to Dora - no motorways, no tolls - and she took us along some interesting roads and through some lovely villages along the way. We stopped at a village called Gracay for breakfast, and like we found previously it was OK to buy croissants from the bakery and take them to the tabac where we could get coffee. 

Further along a little country road we spotted our first deer but too slow for photos. A lot of the areas we passed through today were forested and alongside the road were little raised platforms, I guess for hunting deer. There are signs up everywhere warning of deer - like kangaroo signs at home.

The Chateau was pretty speccy - not as ornate as some we have seen. Much less colour, few tapestries and hardly any wall frescoes that we saw. One thing I did like was one of the most recent owners had a club foot and he redid the stairs to be nice and shallow and even. I tell you though these French aristocratic types were pretty immoral, living with their wife and moving their mistress in to the same castle. And secret little stairways and passages to allow all sorts of shenanigans

We found a lovely little relais for lunch - packed when we arrived at 1, empty by 2. We shared a table with a lovely couple - limited English but we did manage to communicate.

Veal was the hit of the day. Followed by cheese and coffee. I resisted the dessert.

This is fairly typical of a relais - very crowded from 12 - 2,
then I guess they spend the rest of the day getting ready for tomorrow. 

On to Le Musee Matra - a motor museum with a display of British cars. The museum is dedicated to the Matra company. We know it primarily through formula 1 in the 70s and following on with an extensive successful history of winning the Le Mans 24 hr. Rob said the sound of their V12 engine was just stunning.

No dog today. Weve got the house cat.

Last exercise for the day was fuel for the car and fuel for the bodies. Thought we may have had a problem with our card not working at the pump, but moved pumps and all OK. Phew!!

Anzac Day - lest we forget

 Tuesday 25th April

Another cold day today with rain overnight, but not as cold as yesterday.

Today we have moved on a little further south and west and now in a town called Vierzon (and the weather has improved). We weren't really expecting anything much to see or do - it was just about getting from a to b. Our first detour was as we were driving through a village we could see all these crooked, half wood, medieval buildings. We stopped and had a wander through the town. It is sometimes known as little Scotland and in the tourism office they had a piece of McLeod family tartan (which is Rob's family clan). This town called Aubigny sur Neve is 600 years old this year. Apparently a lot of the town centre burnt down sometime in the 1500s and was rebuilt. You've got to wonder why it is that 600 yr old buildings are still standing - and we can't build anything to last these days.

Crooked as ....

Centre ville - burnt down in 1500s and rebuilt

Rob spotted this beautifully kept Peugeot 403.

On to our final destination of Vierzon and spotted a Chateau along the way. They usually have quite impressive gates and are set a long way back from the road. This one had some large statues along the driveway and a few trees stopping us from getting a good photo.

We were too early to check in at our hotel so we visited the local tourist office and found a castle to visit and from there a porcelain museum - this is the area for porcelain, we are not too far from Limoges. We got a guided tour of the castle - in English  - it was great. The castle had quite a long history of who built and owned it - the last owner was Charles VII of France.

This looked like a good puff of wind would blow it over. Apparently the castle used to be 60m higher but the top 60m was taken off by a storm.  

This piece was actually a fountain and the water fell from the hair.

There was also a small exhibition of dresses from a designer (whose name I don't remember). These I think really are art pieces, not dresses to wear - or certainly not where I come from. 

And what else does one do when on holidays? Spotted this little fixer upper in the agent's window. There seem to be a few cheapies in the area.

Easy dinner tonight - microwave meals from the supermarket, and for Rob, a 3euro bottle of red from the supermarket.