Leaving Blois in bright sunshine we asked Jeanette to take us south toward the Auvergne region where we had planned a brief stopover to break our journey to Provence.
We have never been to this region previously but it has recently been voted one of the top places to visit by Lonely Planet with “Fresh styles and flavours in France's rustic heart..” The reason I had chosen it was one photo I had seen on trusty google images followed up by some recommendations on my trusty travel forum, more on that spot later.
Initially we started off on the main autoroute, fast but boring and by mid morning we decided that we had plenty of time to change our request of Jeanette to “no tolls” – meaning she switched us to the National roads, slower but far more interesting.
The French love decorating their roundabouts ( of which there are thousands) and we saw some very innovative examples today.
This one in Orval.
Serendipitously a brief toilet stop saw us discover the beautiful Hotel de Ville (town hall) in St. Eloy les Mines with its lovely WWI memorial.
Le Pont de Menat was another lovely 'leg stretching' spot where a group of kayakers were taking a break on the bank.
By late afternoon we were winding our way through lush forests on the look out for deer, oncoming crazy French drivers and our accommodation.
Luckily, we found the Auberge de Chabanettes without incident and even had time for a glass of wine on the terrace before dinner.
Tonight we were sharing the Auberge ( which has only five rooms) with three bikers from Belgium who have been coming here for 14 years, and another biker from Switzerland who had ridden down 'for the day' to check out a potential vacation property.
We were back in our room in time to see France score against Germany in the football but didn't know the final outcome until next morning, weariness getting the better of us.
Tomorrow.. getting our 'puys' mixed up 🙂