Owner:
squiz
Member
Member#: 5359 Location: Registered: 25-02-2007 Diary Entries: 78
|
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!!
|
Toys Used:
Statsbar:
About MY Statsbar
|