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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 3071 |
14th October 2014 Mt. Biking: Lac de Charpal Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny periods Max Speed: Distance Covered: Tuesday 14th October – sightseeing, travel and bike **** rain then sunny periods. We woke to torrential rain again and it was foggy too but there were several cars turning up in the car park of the little ski village with their sticks and baskets to go searching for mushrooms!! One old couple we watched took at least 45 minutes to get ready and were back in about 5!! There were even whole groups going off – we assumed it was some guided ‘know your mushrooms’ kind of masterclass! Whatever it was they were all drenched! We did see lots of fungi yesterday on our walk including the ones in fairy tales – all red with dots on:) The weather had made our minds up – we were heading for home. We negotiated the really windy road down to Villefort. It was very beautifully autumnal especially as the rocks were glistening in the rain and there was a waterfall every few metres, in fact, the whole hillside was leaking and there were lots of rocks and debris in the road. The road surface had even lifted in places:( After getting bread in Villefort we headed for Mende passing places we had been to last time we were here, like the lake where we canoed to the chateau etc.. Although a main road we saw hardly any cars and the scenery was quite stunning. We were diverted and this change of route changed our whole day and the weather bucked up too! The first wonderful sight was two red kites and what we think was a short toed eagle, giving us a great display which ended with one of the kites landing on a fence post to tear something disgusting, which we think he had pinched from the eagle, to pieces! A little further up the road there were 5 red kites, a buzzard and 2 ravens literally playing together on a ridge quite close to the road. They were soaring around and then play fighting, passing things to each other with their feet and generally just having a great time! We decided to have our lunch watching them:) Further up the road again we saw a turning to Lac de Charpal so thought we would go and have a look. We parked and walked along the barrage and didn’t think it looked overly interesting. When we walked back to the van we saw a noticeboard showing an 8.5km bike ride/walk/raquette walk in the winter. It looked really good so we thought we would get the bikes off and give it a go. Our first impression of the lake completely changed once we got on the bikes and we spent a great hour and quarter going round the lake on lots of different terrain, -a plateau, forests, duck boards over boggy ground. Mag’s tyre went flat again in the middle of a really long length of duck board so I did the slime trick and she was back and cycling away in 5 minutes:) The only sad thing is that we weren’t allowed to stay there the night so when we had loaded the bikes back on and had a cuppa we headed off to find somewhere not far up the road. The countryside completely changed really quickly. Very pretty but more pasture with lots of beautiful Limosin cows and calves. Lots of rocks too and we actually followed a sign at one point to the Pyramid de something and went under a huge piece of rock balanced very worryingly on another and assume that was it because the next sign we saw was back the way we had just come! The problem with pasture is that it is all fenced off so there is nowhere to park to enjoy the beautiful view! Consequently we carried on to the motorway and to the Viaduc de Garabit where we have stayed before and also stopped for lunch. We are in a small parking place right in front of the bridge just off the road through the village – cheeky! Wednesday 15th October – Travelling and a couple of short walks, mainly cloudy We left the Garabit quite early for us – 9.15! Travelled up the beautiful free motorway. The scenery is stunning and the road so good and so free to Clermont Ferrand:) Then onto the smaller roads with patches of motorway - Moulins and Nevers leading us to the Loire. We stopped at La Charite sur Loire for lunch on the river bank by the bridge. Afterwards we walked into the old town and up to the ramparts. It was all a bit mouldy really with empty shops and you couldn’t access the ramparts but they were doing odd buildings up here and there and they did have a huge church! Walked along the river and back to the van a different way then carried on a bit further. When we biked the Loire at the beginning of this holiday we saw some excellent spots to stay the night so we went over the bridge at Bonny Sur Loire and drove along roads on the opposite bank until we got to Mantelot Ecluses (lock). It is an ancient lock that was used to cross the river Loire before they built the aquaduct at Briare which is just down the river. There is a promenade road where various art exhibits made by local artists and children at the local schools are hanging in the trees. There are picnic benches and bins and we have seen people parked along here for picnics. Not today as it had started to drizzle when we got here. It cleared up later so we went for quite a long walk up to the lock and on to the main canal, all paths we had cycled. Then back along a lane where we came across a field of the most vocal cows, calves and a bull we have ever heard! The farmer was bringing them hay on his tractor and they were bellowing at him and looking at us. It was very funny:) Back to the van – nearly dark! Thursday 16th October – Travelling and short walk at Ambleteuse - Cloudy We left our lovely spot on the river bank – the flow had slowed a little bit – and as it was still very cloudy we were not too depressed about leaving as we couldn’t have done anything new anyway. Went to shop then drove and drove to Pont d L’Arche for lunch by the river Eure. Then off again – we decided to pay the 12 euros to carry on on the last section of pay motorway to Boulogne as it is such a stop/start way if you don’t! At Boulogne we filled up with the cheapest diesel we have seen this holiday at E l’clerc – 1.18 euros which will be about 95p!!! At least 40p less than at home per litre! Stopped at Ambleteuse in our usual spot for a cuppa and cake then a short walk on the beach. It was blustery and the sea had very surfy waves. It was really crashing up the sea wall. Arrived at our usual last overnight spot at Escalles about 7. So that’s it for another autumn in France. We had nearly 6 weeks and a mixture of weather from beautiful sunny blue skies to ridiculously extreme rain thunder and lightning. We had 13 nights by rivers, 3 by the sea, 3 by a lake, 2 in ski resorts and 16 in hills or mountains, one in a town and two in the car park at Escalles! Stephen’s favourite activity was biking down Mt Ventoux and closely followed by my favourite – the hike in the Oppedette Gorge:) The bikes have been great fun and we have also enjoyed going back to hiking which we both thought we had got fed up with! Oh and tonight is the decider for our Phase 10 tournament!! |
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