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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 2889 |
29th January 2017 Hiking - Walking: Mont Dore Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny Max Speed: Distance Covered: Friday 27th January – travel, McDonalds and socialise – cloudy A milder night by the Canal du Berry but yesterday’s sun had been replaced by cloud. We had a relaxing start reading and after breakfast we even managed to do our exercises on the canal bank. We needed to check if our battery charger had arrived in Rancon so we headed to McDonalds in Montlucon, our third branch in under a week :( It was nearly empty when we arrived and settled in the corner, plugged the laptop in and connected to the free internet while Mag bought one coffee to show willing. There were no updated delivery emails so I added an entry to Forces of Nature and put some pics on Facebook then we had a message from our friend in Rancon saying our package had arrived:) We made arrangements with his wife Arwen saying we would arrive at 5ish and offering to pick up a couple of items from the supermarket next door as their car was out of action. So, with McD’s now full to bursting with young school kids paying for lunch, we headed to the huge supermarket to buy the bits and pieces plus cakes and croissants as a present for helping us out with the battery charger. It was way past lunch time so we headed down to park by the River Cher where we had our midday meal yesterday and were treated to over 20 cormorants’ eating the local fish stocks!!! It was motorway nearly all the way so with me dozing off Mag drove most of the way. We were way to early so looked for somewhere to park up for a cuppa and a read and after a bit of riding around we found a spot near the old bridge in Rancon up by the Moulin. We had a quiet hour or so relaxing before heading the short distance to Jace and Arwen’s, their youngest daughter Taren was at home having been off sick from school but seemed better and Mia arrived home from school soon after. We made ourselves comfortable in the kitchen with the lovely wood burner in the corner:) Arwen had to feed their two horses and a Hinky (that’s a horse crossed with a donkey apparently) They were lovely long haired Breton horses who are hardy enough to stay outside in all weathers!!! It was then back to the warm kitchen to catch up surrounded by their 5 cats and large dog. We were friendly when we all lived in Felixstowe so found lots to talk about and couldn’t believe they had been in France for nearly nine years!!! Arwen had made a delicious mushroom stroganoff with rice and we shared the box of cakes, retiring to the living room for coffee not going back to our van and to bed until about 12.30!! It was a mild 10 degree so very snug tonight. Saturday 28th January – socialise, travel and walk *** cloudy and mild Yet another good night in the van and being so much milder not so much condensation, By the time we had read and washed we didn’t get to the kitchen until gone 9.30! Sadly, Jace was under the weather and we didn’t see him again:( but Arwen soon had the kettle on and the croissants heated and we sat for ages putting the world to right before taking Arwen to feed the horses, dropping her home and then heading off at about 1.30! We are heading down to the volcanos below Clermont Ferrand in search of some snow but want to avoid the weekend so were stopping short today. With one of our favourites Lac Pardoux just down the road we went to where we spent a couple of nights last year for lunch. To our surprise the lac was not frozen and the water level was very low. With it getting on we didn’t stop long and moved onto another lac we also biked around last year the lovely Lac de Vassiviere. Parking up at the bridge across to the island we had a nice walk over to check out the funky artwork, old Russian submarine and lighthouse! Sadly the lighthouse was closed so we couldn’t climb the spiral staircase to the top but the sun made a brief appearance to make the surroundings look even better:) We then drove off to the carpark by the lac where we parked last year passing several noddy hunters dressed in orange, there is something seriously wrong with men sitting by the roadside with guns intent on killing the beautiful wildlife:( We noticed that there had been some serious trimming of the roadside trees and found they had dumped all the large cuttings in our lay-by!!! But we managed to squeeze in with a lovely Lac view and soon had the van set-up for the night with the kettle on and the biscuits out, we will never lose weight at this rate:( Mag made some delicious filled pasta for tea, then knitted baby blankets while I played cards and then did the daily blog wondering if our friends had arrived safely in Chamonix for a week’s skiing while several others were in Tenerife windsurfing – fingers crossed they get snow, sun and the windsurfers some wind!!! Sunday 29th January – travel then two fantastic walks in the snow ***** cloudy start then sunny. Had some rain in the night and woke to a cloudy day but dry. Relaxing read before Mag went for a wander doing some exercises while I sorted the van out. Couldn’t face porridge so went for Lidl Weetabix then headed off across country towards the snow at Mont Dore:) It was beautiful tree covered pasture with cattle including loads of tiny calves and hardly a car on the road! We found a nice little friendly shop and got a baguette that was still warm, then just around the corner we got our first glimpse of snowy volcanos and the sun came out:) We reached the spa/thermal town of Mont Dore built in the valley at the bottom of the highest peak in the area the Puy De Sancy at 1886m. We carried on up the dead-end road to Mont Dore ski station which is called Station du Sancy and being a sunny Sunday it was absolutely heaving!!! The lifts, bars and slopes were packed with skiers and boarders with a huge number of sledgers in a large designated area. We had a job to park but found a great space nearly under the Tremplin lift and had lunch as we were starving! I was hard not to get the skis off there and then but decided to go for a walk to get our bearings. We headed to the shop and caisse area looking in a ski/souvenir shop and saw the most adorable baby slippers in the shape of ski boots and had trouble resisting them!!! We then found the Caisse (lift pass office) and checked the prices, not too bad at just over 30 Euros for the day. The weather forecast was going round with other information on TV’s and we had to wait for ages for it to come around again. Sadly it looks like rain tomorrow:( We then were on the lookout for snowshoe routes and saw a banner advertising an hour and a half 10 Euro guided walk but couldn’t see any tracks? Then it was back to the cable car which takes you to the highest point and along the piste past the toboggan area to the Val De Courre where we spotted a couple of ski tourers walking up and decided to follow them. At the top of the button lift we turned left and it opened up to the stunning Val de Courre a beautiful snowy valley which looks like it leads to the very top as several ski tourers were heading up. At this point we found the snow shoe path and wished we had ours on as we kept sinking up to our knees in the snow especially where the snow crossed over streams! If we get another sunny clear day it looks within our reach to snow shoe to the top. We will have to wait and see but we were happy today to follow a circular path round the bottom section of the valley which we think must be the guided walk. The path undulated up and down back to the piste and we stopped and watched the hectic sledging action which included a conveyor belt for returning to the top but this was expensive and most just walked back. With it being so busy we decided to wait for things to quieten down and had a cuppa in the van, reading with a big chocolate biscuit:) At four we decided to look for somewhere to park for the night as it was not allowed in this carpark and reached Mont Dore spotting a couple of places on the way which might be suitable. We found a free carpark to explore Mont Dore village and hadn’t gone far when we saw some walking signs which included one to the Grande Cascade only 2 Km away which was too inviting to ignore! The first section of steep icy steps nearly put us off but we manned up and made it safely to the top where the path flattened out. We turned right and walked parallel to the town, then crossed the road before heading up on a well-trodden but much steeper path. It was a pretty tree covered snowy walk but with the sun setting behind the mountain we were a bit worried we might run out of day light before reaching the cascade. After about twenty minutes we heard the sound of water and soon made it to the wooden bridge over the mountain stream which was fed from the big waterfall to our left. It was lovely with a narrow chute of water falling a long way down with large icicles on each side. We scrambled up closer to the water and found a large pile of broken blue ice which had fallen. We thought it safer to retreat and then slip slided back down to the town and the snowy steps were not a problem. We had a walk around the town past the Thermes, through narrow side streets with vendors selling their wares in the open air and over to the River Dordogne which actually starts about a mile up the valley:) Spotting an indoor ice rink we went inside to watch several youngsters doing some top figure skating! Just around the corner was the Tourist office which surprisingly for 5.45 on a Sunday was still open and picked up an area map and brochure. We asked for the weather forecast and he showed us his computer screen, tomorrow is looking cloudy and wet but then hopefully three days with sunny periods so fingers crossed we can get a ski/snow shoe. Knackered now we headed back to the van to look for an overnight spot, we tried Les Longes first but no overnight there so ended up at a nice spot overlooking the pistes just short of the Station du Sancy. A top day ending up with filled pasta again and the promise of more adventures to come:) PS – We had texts from both boys: Rob has been offered the Trust Manager’s job with changes which he himself suggested 6 months ago, and the potential to tailor it to him. They will build them an extension onto their house!! It sounds perfect and just what we thought they might do but there are more details to come over the next few days :) So good news there but sadly Dan said that Jay hadn’t gone to work because she had been sick in the night and was feeling awful:( Mag, David and girls got to their ski holiday near Chamonix ok but their car died spectacularly with a big bang when they got there! That sounds expensive. Hurrells made it to Tenerife and had a sunny sail :) Photo Gallery Here |
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