Not High in the Pyrenees

Not bad to wake up to

If any of you is thinking of going to the Aire in Alés in your van you might want to pick up some cheap bottles of wine, some dope and some heroine as that is what most of the people hanging around there looked like they were consuming. Needless to say, after our fabulous weekend consuming too much expensive wine, the thought of cheap plonk did not appeal so we moved on to a more civilised setting at St Jean Du Gard.
There was an ever-elusive British couple there in their Burstner (only the second one we’ve seen so far). Where is everyone??? The site was behind a barrier and had electricity, water, and WiFi - hoorah. We awoke to scenes of horses grazing in a misty field, a far cry from the drunks draped over the tables at Alés which was not that far away.
The sun has been shining as we’ve made our way across the Pyrenees and we’ve only had to wipe the mud off Hugo’s feet once or twice. He pretends he’s not keen but by the look on his face I think he secretly likes having his feet cleansed.

Aaaaaah

After a night in a cute village with absolutely no shops (not even a boulengerie) called Salesc we are now in the easily pronounceable (NOT) Duilhac Sous Peyrepertuse and tomorrow we’ll be in Spain. Olay!

The chateau above D S P

Still getting tele

A Truffly Visit

Who doesn’t love a truffle? Well, me but I do enjoy a truffle market that sells other stuff too. We’ve been lucky enough to stay with our friend, Carleen, in Richerenches in the Vaucluse region of France. Step outside her house on a Saturday and you can pick up veges, cheese, honey and wine within a few steps of her front door. What joy!

Les truffes 

A meaty feast

More truffles 

The local wine cellar, Le Cellier des Templiers, had a duck tasting on Saturday - yes, only in France would a wine merchant have a day celebrating the humble duck. We were treated to complimentary fois gras (average) Maigret (cooked duck breast - pretty good), dried duck (noice) and duck sausage (excellent).

A ducky day

Hugo was thrilled with this activity as was his little french friend Elvis the Yorkiepoo. In fact, Hugo refused to eat anything else but canard for the rest of the day, until the guinea fowl for dinner which he managed to consume with great delight. He’s back to Caesar today and is not impressed.

Elvis

A View to a Hill

There were many cats and, indeed, several dogs raining down on Dickie’s roof as we slept in La Courtine last night. They stopped just long enough for us to discover a peaceful lake when we got up this morning. Such a contrast to the less than attractive town with one patisserie, a restaurant fermé, and a one stop tabac. It was amusing to find a route barrée before we’d even left the village.

First and only one of the day

Hugo loving the lake

We managed to find a rainbow on our way along the route des fromage (how appropriate) across the Massif Central to the village of Cheneuges where we are now parked awaiting the next deluge of domestic animals.
The fluffy one found the only parking spot with an obscured view but, after some gentle nudging, he moved to our current spot where we look directly across the river to a basalt abbey on top of a hill.
Yes, we did walk up there and it was exciting to find it open. The carvings inside are particularly splendid. I managed to find a couple of rudie nudies dancing around the top of a column, a griffin, and, of course, a lovely Madonna.
Tomorrow, Richerenches.

A pretty Mary

Not a bad view - eventually

Nudies cavorting

Carved masterpiece 

Farm Tracks and Flambée

The fluffy one is under strict instructions to put the correct latitude longitude numbers into the sat nav after an interesting drive today through extremely skinny roads and tiny farm lanes. After yet another route barrée experience we finally made it to our Aire of choice, La Courtine in the Creuse area of central France.
It’s not a particularly pretty town but there is a military academy nearby so the view is improved by small groups of muscular cadets running past. The fluffy one doesn’t seem to be as interested as me for some reason.
It’s been raining most of the day so we’re happily stuck in The van reading (me) and fiddling with WiFi routers (Graham). Hugo is asleep recovering from the extreme shivering he does whenever the van is moving.
Last night La Flambée restaurant was .... interesting. Whoever thought French chefs cook meat extremely rare have obviously never been to La Flambée in Le Blanc. To use the description ‘leathery’ would be an understatement but their Il Flottante (a custard and meringue dessert) was exceptionally good. The thrill of the evening continued as none of our three credit/debit cards would work in their machine. Thank heavens I had enough cash to get us out of washing the dishes.
Have listened to our arteries’ cries of ‘noooooooo’ so forced the fluffy one to eat squid for lunch today and it looks like baked beans on baguette for dinner as the restaurant here is fermé for Christmas holidays.
To recover from our nerve racking drive today we finished off the advent calendar chocolates. Thanks Suzi.

Round and Round to Roc

The joys of a ‘route barré’ are ... none. We’ve had two in the last couple of days which have led to rather circuitous routes to our destinations. Oh, for an accurate ‘Deviation’ sign! At least we’re not in a hurry and when we’ve arrived the medieval quaintness of the villages has made up for our teeny frustration.
Our arteries are soon going to be blocked just like the roads if we keep on eating the amount of cheese we’ve been thrusting into our mouths. If we listen hard enough we can hear the soft ‘pff pff’ of them furring up as we munch away. Today it’s Le Crémeux de Bourgogne, a buttery soft cheese which tastes, funnily enough, very creamy.
Graham wanted to check out a Palaeolithic site called Roc Aux Sorciéres despite the fact it was closed until March 1st. It was worth going just to check out the lovely 70s style monstrosity of a building that encapsulates the fantastic site within. See below. We may come back next year to have a look inside as the rock carvings look amazing.
We’re currently in a town called Le Blanc and Matt is nowhere to be seen. There’s a massive river nearby and a lovely beardy young chap in the tourist office who is at a loss as to why we are visiting in winter. Dinner tonight in La Flambée so I’m hoping they don’t serve cheese.

Unattractive building

Photo of interior of cave

Hugo’s loving the view

Cheese Yes - Bells No

What better way to spend a Sunday than driving along a quiet road with the Seine on one side and forests on the other. It makes us desperate to return to the frantic English roads that we love so much - NOT.
A daily cheese routine has begun in earnest. Yesterday’s lunch was a baguette and a Picardie Brie that weirdly resembled freshly churned butter and had a pleasingly strong flavour which Mr Fluffy described as off yoghurt - perfect. Today we hoovered up a baguette and a Tricorne de Picardie, a hard yet creamy cheese in a triangular shape - who’d have guessed. Tomorrow Roquefort - oh, and a baguette.
Quasimodo would have loved the Aire we stopped at this afternoon - oh, them bells, them bells. The lakeside location did little to tempt us to stay at La Madeleine Bouvet once three o’clock chimed out from the pretty church adjacent to the parking lot. It wasn’t a total loss, however, as the Fluffy one got his graffiti fix at the church and we are now at a slightly less attractive location just up the road in Breconcelles - with no BreconBELLS.

The Bells End to our Pretty Parking

Not a total loss for Mr Fluffy

Missing Madame BovaRY

As I was choosing which books to take with me on the trip I looked at Flaubert’s ‘Madame Bovary’ sitting on the pile and thought, no, I’ll read that when I get back.
The Fluffy one then goes ahead and chooses Ry, the location where said Madame B was set, for our second night in France. Happily, the Madame Bovary trail around the village tells pretty much the whole story so now I don’t have to read it.
It really is a lovely village in the Seine-Maritime region with stunning houses and countryside. Mr Fluffy has already managed to find some medieval graffiti on the church and the flan is pretty good as well.

Graffiti to keep the old man happy

Mme Bovary was ‘ere

Hot flan action