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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 2882 |
15th October 2016 Mt. Biking: Billy to Vichy Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny and warm Max Speed: 17.15 (knots - unless stated otherwise) Distance Covered: 28.3 miles (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise) Thursday 13th October – Travel + McDonalds. Rain Woke up to a very cloudy day with only a misty view of the Millau bridge :( It started raining last night and rained all night so we packed up and barely got out of the van before setting out to get some miles out of the way on a day when the forecast was for constant rain!! We had seen cars going up the road from the car park and decided to try that as a way out to the motorway rather than going all the way into Millau just to go out again. We were absolutely right about which roundabout we would come out on (the one from the Millau bridge view point) but the road was a challenge! It got narrower then turned briefly into a track then went into a village and did one of those tight steep upward hair pin bends where the locals have made up the edge with concrete!! Then it just wound up and up but finally we came out onto the plateau at the top and when we reached the junction and looked back there was a brand spanky new Rolls Royce of signs with symbols for NO lorries, NO caravans, NO camper vans and saying it was a Dangerous road!!! Shame they didn’t put one at the other end but amazingly we didn’t have our usual trouble with such a road and headed out onto the beautiful motorway without problems. The scenery from this motorway never fails to be breath taking as it makes its way through gorges and over plateaus reaching heights of over 1000 metres and its FREE for hundreds of miles :) We kept on it until the last possible free exit just past Clermont Ferrand but we stopped at McDonalds at one of the services to have some free wifi and break the rainy day up. They were pretty busy and we didn’t even buy anything (how bad is that!!). We actually ate our lunch in the car park before pressing on, finally reaching Vichy mid afternoon. We were surprised at how elegant and beautiful Vichy was and managed to stop outside the tourist information so Mag could nip in and get a couple of local maps and speak to the most helpful and interested man she has encountered in tourist information this holiday. I had to go round the block three times and she came out armed with two maps with lots of black pen circles with his recommendations!! We carried on up the road to Billy which has ramparts and a castle. We thought we would stop here as there was a camper aire shown on the sign and hopefully bike back into Vichy which is about 15km away and explore tomorrow. We haven’t been on the bikes for over a week!!! It was still pelting with rain and when we tried to find the camper aire it appeared to be full of the cars of parents picking their kids up from school. However, we found a small lake underneath the village which looked perfect so we stopped there and managed to hop in the back and make home without getting soaked!! An evening of eating left over Lidl Lasagne and playing cards with numb bums!!! Friday 14th October – Short rainy stroll Oh dear it is still absolutely pouring and there has been no let up overnight. We read and had a leisurely morning and then at around midday it seemed to break so we set out for a wander up to the village. We walked round the castle and down to the river Allier to check out a possible route for tomorrow because we have been observing how busy the road around this poor little village is and don’t fancy biking on it at all!! The lake we are parked by is in the middle of the one way system round the whole place so traffic coming from Moulin passes us on the left and going to Moulin on the right but at quite a distance across the field so we are not disturbed by it. There is no free motorway around here so there are huge lorries, coaches and cars passing through all the time. They definitely need a by-pass. Back to the van for lunch thinking we would wander up to the tourist information this afternoon and also visit the one shop – a Vival – to get some cake as my supplies are dwindling!! BUT it started chucking it down again so we played ………SCRABBLE!!! Those of you who know me know that is the absolutely last resort! We had a laugh though and are hopeful that tomorrow there will be the forecast sunny day and we can carry on with our bike plans. It seems daft to leave here and drive further north to try and find something to do when we have got it here – we have just got to suffer the numb bums and wait it out. Saturday 15th October – Bike ***** Billy to Vichy – sunny and warm 28.30 miles, out 6 hours with max speed 17.15 kts. After two days of rain when we were going a bit stir crazy in the van we woke to clear blue skies at our nice spot by the pond in Billy with the castle behind the van:) We haven’t been on the bikes for ten days!!! :( so after breakfast we packed a picnic and set off, up to see the castle with the sun out then down to the River Allier turning off just before the bridge onto a fisherman’s track which we hoped would take us all the way to Vichy 15 km. away. With all the rain the river was definitely carrying more water and we were treated to lovely Autumn colours as well as Kingfishers, cormorant’s, herons and loads of Great Egrets. The track was a car width and well made for the most part even if we had to avoid huge puddles now and again! There was one narrow bit which was very short but Mag unfortunately caught her peddle and just saved herself from coming off :( We soon passed the village of St- Germain-les-Fosses where loads of anglers where fishing for carp in lakes behind the sports stade. The track continued close to the river on one side and, scarily, the railway lines the other with no fence in between as the trains sped past! For the last part we cycled through quiet countryside with the odd field of cows and tall strange bamboo looking plants. Then as we neared Vichy a few factories appeared with other people about including a group of mountain bikers and dog walkers. We came across a large field with loads of dog owners doing agility and watched for a while. Funny really, loads of whistling and shouting and the dogs doing just what they wanted which was mostly different to what the owners wanted! The track ran out on the outskirts of Vichy and we found a cycle path taking us towards the centre but we turned right at the first city bridge and headed across the river where a weir had been made to make the river wide and slow moving. On the opposite bank a man made canoe slalom course had been made so we went to have a look at that, sadly nobody on it today :( We crossed the road onto the promenade which passed an amazing horse racing oval track, golf course, sailing clubs and a lovely tree filled park made for running – it is just such an affluent place! The odd thing about the centre of Vichy is you just can’t see it! From the opposite bank, apart from a couple of blocks of prestigious and tasteful flats, all you could see was trees with the odd building showing above, very unusual for such a big city. The fantastic wide prom continued for about a mile which was flower lined and used by walkers and cyclist to the next bridge. We had a quick look down there but that is Bellerive, not Vichy so we soon returned to the bridge and crossed looking for somewhere for our picnic. The whole of the Vichy side of the river has been made into beautiful parks, with lots of green spaces, trees, man made beaches, cafes and promenades along the river. We stopped for our lunch at a huge bench in front of a zip line and watched the world go by for a while. Then back on the bikes to find the first point on the map given to Mag by the great guy in the Tourist information yesterday. We had to cross from one of the riverside parks into another park called Celestins. This houses the most beautiful open fronted pavilion where the Source des Celestins comes up through a very tasteful spout which is housed in a glass case but at the front there are a number of old fashioned taps where you can just get a drink and sample the Mineral water. It is a strange taste, like Mag’s favourite fizzy water but slightly more salty and it also has a slight natural fizz. You can buy Vichy bottled water so we will have to get some and see whether it tastes any different from our sample from these taps! We cycled round most of the numbered places of interest on the map including an art deco church and many buildings having links to Napoleon III who seems to have been a huge influence on the city. There is a Spa District where there were several more Sources in beautiful buildings and there are various Thermes and Spas too. The most central is the Spring Hall which has water from 5 springs coming from taps in separate areas of the building. Some of them are only reachable by ‘Curers’ but there is a public section where people were bringing all sorts of bottles to fill and there is a whole line of disabled parking spaces right outside the door. What a service to the public!! We filled our bike bottles and are getting used to the taste!! There is a beautiful square with a covered wrought iron walkway all the way round and a bandstand in the middle. The quaint shops around the edges are all very ‘bijou’!! There are several elegant casinos and the Palais des Congress and famous Opera House were beautiful but had such a huge frontage it was impossible to take a photo of them as a whole. The whole area of interest is very compact which suits us fine and we left via the row of chalet style houses which were the private dwelling of Napoleon III and his staff. Then it was through more beautiful parkland and promenade back to the bridge where we came into the city. We even found a small path along the river so that we didn’t have to go on the road at all before we were back on our track back to Billy. We were out 6 hours and biked over 28 miles. What a treat of a day it was and this only happened because we took the wrong exit off the motorway. Otherwise we would have been on our usual road going north! When we got back we cleaned our very dirty legs and feet from all the splashing through puddles! Had a quick cuppa then about 4.30 packed up and went to fill our water bottles up from the facility in the middle of the village. We headed out across the Allier to find another place marked on the map of the area – Neris Les Bains for another bike ride on a Voie Verte which sounds good tomorrow. Luckily we past a huge Carrefour on the way and were able to stock up because we were running seriously low on supplies!! We bought some Vichy water so we will have every opportunity to compare the taste!! Every Voie Verte we have been on has had its own small car park perfect for us to stay the night before a bike ride but unfortunately when we reached Neris Les Bains there was no dedicated car park and the parking in the town wasn’t particularly brilliant. The Camper Aire was at the old station where a wedding party was in full swing and next to a pizza selling van likely to be open until the early hours and for this they wanted 8 euros!!! We rode around a bit and found just the place for us down near an old mill directly under the viaduct the bike path goes over. We will probably go and park nearer to the start tomorrow morning. Had roti chicken, salad and bread for tea, so nice and easy and then to complete a good day the most wonderful sticky gooey éclair on special at the Carrefour!!! Great day, just what we needed after all that sitting around waiting for the rain to stop!! Photo Gallery here |
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