Journey to the middle of France

Saturday 27 And Sunday 28 September

The weather is continuing to be amazing and we left Sablet this morning with blue sky, sunshine and the promise of two warm days for our drive into the middle of France. We followed the main road through to Aubenas -which lies in the rugged hills of the Ardeche department, stopping to admire the views as we crossed the first range just west of the Rhone River.

Viewing point on the road to Aubenas - heading for the Massif Central

 Heading further west we followed the Ardeche River, climbing all the time towards the Massif Central. Today we had a picnic lunch and found a remote little spot, obviously frequented by fishermen, right beside the river.

Typical tree lined road through the Ardeche

 By now we were in the heavily forested hills and signs of civilisation were few and far between.
Although it is a long haul up into the mountains, the road is wide and beautifully surfaced making the drive quite straight forward. Being Saturday there were virtually no trucks on the road in fact very light traffic all the way.

Into the mountains - a beautiful drive

We eventually reached what appeared to be some kind of summit and pulled over for a view into the valleys and to check out the sign that announced the separation of the watershed in France - eastwards to the Mediterranean and west to the Atlantic.

Parting of the waters - the central divide

There were a lot more ups and downs on the journey but we were now in the region of Auvergne and the department of Haut-Loire - source of the river which is famed for chateaux and wine (much further downstream). The landscape here is very agricultural and simply stunning with wide vistas of rolling hills, green grass, crops and very contented looking cows. In the distance are the faint hazy bluish outlines of high hills. We really enjoyed driving through this area which is quite different from anything we have previously encountered.
By mid afternoon we made a short coffee stop in a village called Pradelles which seems to be very old and is set in the rolling hills with huge views over farms, forests and a large lake, Reservoir de Naussac. Pradelles is on the route of the Camino de Santiago Compostela and the church is quite significant with undoubtedly the best views of the surrounding countryside. Despite the sunny day there was a bit of chill in the air - probably an indication of the altitude -we seemed to have been driving uphill for hours.

View from Pradelles - a distinctly alpine feel to this place

A little further on we made a short detour to visit the Plus Beaux village of Arlempdes, dropping
down into a deep valley where the Loire  River has cut through leaving huge rock formations on either side.

Loire River near Arlempdes

 Perched on top of one of these high rocks is a small chateau, with Arlempdes village at its base. It is a spectacular and beautiful site, well worth the detour.

Approaching Arlempdes

We walked through the few village streets and up to the entrance of the chateau for a lovely view of the the river and the valley. It was so tranquil and scenic that it is hard to imagine a time when conflict would have necessitated the building of such a stronghold in this valley.

Loire Rive with Arlempdes beyond

 Our route out of the valley was a little circuitous but eventually we climbed back up to a high plateau with more gorgeous farming country and then descended into Le Puy-en-Velay, our stopover for the night.
We found our hotel, Ibis Styles, easily, along with a handy and free carpark, settled in and the strolled through the town which is the starting place for many who walk the Camino trail. In the town there are several curious rocky volcanic outcrops with religious structures on the top - a church, a huge Madonna statue - and these dominate the skyline.

View of Le Puy from the hotel window

 Le Puy is a very pleasant town and quite lively on this Saturday evening. We found a modern, funky restaurant on the square beside our hotel with the unlikely name of Hippopotamus where we enjoyed a very tasty meal - such enormous servings that we were both unable to have clean plates!
It had been a really interesting and beautiful drive up to Le Puy but we were both ready for a sleep relatively early tonight.

One of the many hills of Le Puy-en-Velay

Sunday morning was clear and bright for our drive across the Haut-Loire department and into the Puy-de-Dome to our destination, the village of Saint Vincent, near Issoire. Once again we travelled through beautiful country and were struck by the greenness of the paddocks - obviously appreciated by the grazing cows! Again the road was up and down through hills and valleys and we took a short detour to visit the pretty village of Lavaudieu which is beautifully situated by a small river.  It was a thrill to see a number of hunting birds, probably kites, swooping and gliding so gracefully as we travelled through the countryside.

Beautiful Lavaudieu

A little way along we stopped in the centre of Brioude thinking of coffee, and unfortunately an elderly gentleman reversed his car into us as he was leaving his parking spot. We all got a fright, but luckily the damage was minor and after filling out the necessary insurance forms we carried on. Did find a cafe on the edge of the town where we had cappuccinos and the yummy eclairs that Gerri had bought from a handy boulangerie.
As it was early in the afternoon we decided to skip the autoroute and take a more leisurely trip to Saint Vincent along a winding river valley. We entered the valley at a little town called Blesle and the hotel restaurant seemed to be doing a roaring trade so we enquired about lunch. Unfortunately lunch
service was finished but we were able to sit out under the huge plane trees which lined the main street and have coffee.

Too late for lunch but a nice place for coffee - Blesle

 Blesle turned out to have many streets full of medieval houses, as well as some quirky towers and ancient ramparts so we had a bit of a stroll around before setting off along the river valley.

Ancient streets of Blesle

 In these parts there seem to be fortifications on every high hill - some in ruins now. It didn't take long to drive along the narrow L'Alagnon River valley and back to the autoroute for the last few kilometres into Issoire which is a large town just 10 km from Saint Vincent.

Wandering through Blesle

 Although it was Sunday afternoon we did find a boulangerie and a small epicerie open for a few supplies and then it was on to our Hayloft Apartment - a large three bedroom gite attached to La Maison Bougeoise, a rather substantial house set in a lovely garden at the edge of the village. Saint Vincent is on a small river, La Couze Pavin, which flows from a crater lake in the nearby mountains. We are only 20 minutes drive from Super-Besse, the ski resort of the Puy-de-Dome area. The landscape has many mini Mt Fuji shaped hills, forests and lush pastures enjoyed by large herds of cows. Besides the extinct volcanos, the area is famous for its cheese, especially St Nectaire, which I particularly love. We quickly settled in to our nicely appointed accommodation and discovered that the only sounds to be heard were evening birdsong - not a breath of wind and so peaceful and relaxing.

Our trusty little Peugeot enjoying a well earned rest in the garden at St Vincent