Riom to Charroux

The rain continued for most of the night but by morning the rain clouds had all moved on and the day was cooler even with the sun peeping though. 

We took an early morning walk again. This gave us a chance to view Riom as it was waking up. We are always sure that a boulangerie, or should I say the boulangeries, will be open. It always amazes us of the number of boulangeries in any given town or village, each seems to be well stocked and doing a continuous trade. The French cannot go without their daily baguette, and it seems as if it a little contagious - we have become a little pathological in regards to getting a daily baguette as well! 

Back to Riom. Riom is quite an elegant town, being the former capital of the Duchy of Auvergne.  Its historic centre has preserved some of its architectural evidence of its prestigious past. 

It was at Riom that the Vichy French government in 1942, with the support of the German overlords, held the Riom Trials attempting to blame previous leaders of France’s defeat by Germany in 1940.

Late morning we were on the road again and headed for the village of Charroux, just west of Vichy. 

Charroux is an ancient village with Gallo-Roman heritage. We found that it was a very popular Sunday outing for many French. 

It was also the location of a French Motorhome Club rally. When we arrived we found a large part of the aire roped off for the exclusive use of the rally folk. A GB branded rego plate was not  a van that would have been accepted too readily - but there were other vans in the rear of the aire that were friendly enough. 

Leader of the pack!!

Riom

Oh for the cooler morning this morning. As usual, we took an early morning walk around Massiac - even with a jacket on. The overnight rain had disappeared but the temperature had significantly dropped. 

After breakfast we completed our preparations to depart from our riverside campsite.

We planned our next stop to be in Charroux, a drive of a little over a hundred kilometres - a long drive for us!  Some interesting hilltop dwellings were dotted along this part of the hilly landscape. 

The scenery along the route was very picturesque with the patchwork landscape of summer being very dominant. The cloud covered sky was an interesting change after so much total blue skyline. 

This all changed very rapidly. As we approached Clermont-Ferrand the heavens opened up and it became nearly impossible to see very far ahead.  It became quite dangerous to continue, with heavy traffic on the highway and torrential rain, so we pulled over and took an early lunch. 

After lunch we decided to cut our trip short and drive on a short way to the town of Riom for the rest of the day and the evening. Riom was previously the capital of the province of Auvergne. 

It was still raining! And all through the night. 

Massiac

Woke to the sound of the stream alongside the van. The stream is actually the Alegnon River but running very low at the moment. 

The very cosy aire by the Alegnon River - with shade. 

We spent a good deal of the day waiting for the rain to eventuate - the weather apps kept altering the time for the event to occur. It kept getting later! 

We could see it approaching, it even appeared to be overhead, but for quite some time it would not rain. Some thunder sounded in the distance but it always seemed to be a long way away. It probably wasn’t the rain we were looking forward to but the cooler temperatures that would accompanying the change. 

So we just kept occupied, reading, eating etc. 

When it did rain (at about 5 pm) it was very much an anticlimax - lasted about twenty minutes without much ferocity!  But just enough to drive us inside for the rest of the evening. 

So, a sintilating day, eh!

Also, completed another book. Ben Elton’s “Identity Crisis” - worth a read and very timely!

Moved on Today - Massiac

Another warm night and day! 

Not only are the natives suffering but we have been reading that the nuclear power plants around the country are under stress, too. 

France, like many countries, pinned their power policy to nuclear power back in the 70s and are currently running 58 nuclear power plants. Because of the need for an abundance of water to cool the reactors down, the very dry summer has caused the rivers to start running well below what is considered normal, thus causing a shortage for the cooling system of the nuclear plants.  

 The French government has placed a number of these on a reduced capacity as a safety requirement - just when the need for power for cooling is at its peak. 

We finally moved on today from our very pleasant aire at St Flour - under the trees on top of the hill where the old town was built. 

Again, an early morning walk, breakfast, some house work and shopping, we set off northwards for the town of Massiac. 

We arrived here just at lunch time, parked up in the aire - by the river Alagnon, and, in more shade!  

From St Flour we had an eleven kilometre decent on a gradient of 7% - we hadn’t realised just how high up we had climbed over the past week or so. 

The heatwave had struck again across Europe and we had not escaped it - just trying to minimise its effect on us. The co-driver even went for a “dip” in the river for part of the afternoon. 

Thunderstorms are forecast for tomorrow so we may stay put here for another day. A very pleasant spot. 

St Flour - Another Day!

Yes, another day here at St Flour. With northern France copping the brunt of the increase in temperatures, we have decided to stay put for another day. 

But we did get out for an early morning walk around St Flour - just about walked every street in the old town. We came across some more interesting shops and buildings. 

The local product shop caught our eye - the layout and the product display was very old French. 

This building had some typical but interesting features. 

The news from London was of some interest - particularly the predictable newspaper headlines:

It will be an interesting ride - fasten the seatbelts. Perhaps The Mirror sums it up best. Perhaps it makes one feel ones age!

St Flour

The temperature dictated everything we did today. But last night was cool for the Cathedral Light Show and fireworks. 

We had seen this type of lighting previously at Reims and this was equally as impressive. It told stories of St Flour and the surrounding area in beautifully animated colour. No language problem with this!

After this had finished our lovely French van-neighbour - no English - tap is on the shoulder and motioned down to the ramparts for the fireworks which we didn’t realise was about to commence. 

So, it became a late night, and consequently we had a little sleep-in this morning. 

Once up, we needed to refill with LPG and buy groceries for the next couple of days.  

Le Tour came through here a few days ago and there is evidence as to the importance to the town. Some ironwork along the city boundary caught our co-pilots eye. 

St Flour

Another early morning walk around the town discovering aspects of this thousand-year-old town of Saint-Flour. It is perched on a rocky outcrop, built at the tip of Europe's biggest volcano. 

The town’s appearance is one of a sombre grey because of the nature of the dark volcanic rock that has been the main building material.

We took time to admire the view of the upper town, with its natural ramparts of volcanic origin and its medieval fortifications. 

A tour of the historic centre led us to the 14th and 15th-century Cathedral of St. Peter, a Gothic building made of black lava stone. 

The rest of the of the day was spent  planning and organising our next couple of weeks before we leave France. 

The week is getting hotter again all thru France, in fact, thru the whole of Europe. Even London is forecast to be 37 deg phew!!, 

So we think we might spend the next few days here parked under the shade of the trees in St Flour. 

Off to Cathedral Lights tonight and fireworks. 

Millau Viaduct

Our major excursion today was to experience the most impressive viaduct at Millau which spans the Tarn Gorge. 

The inspiring Millau Viaduct from the northern side. 

But before we checked this out we had an early morning walk down the lane into Peyre, one of the Beaux Village of France. 

Peyre is situated 7 km downstream of Millau,

on the side of a colossal rock that dominates the right bank of the Tarn river.

The village is built against its tuf stone cliff full of caves. Most of the houses are troglodyte (houses built into the rock and used the caves as part of the home) as is the church of Romanesque origins and fortified in the 17th century. 

Its narrow flower lined stone streets remind you of Mediterranean villages and offer a welcome relief from the early morning heat.

It really was an exceptional and unusual site that provided superb views of the Millau viaduct, the perfect combination of old and new.

We returned to the van, had breakfast and then drove onto Millau. Not a lot to see here so we drove further south again to get another view of the viaduct. Here we met Vikki and David - just call us the Beckhams! - lovely people. 

Thanks Vikki for the  photo of us with David.  -  under the Millau Viaduct

The world is a small place. Vicki and David are from Stratford-Upon-Avon where we know only one couple, Helene’s cousin, and sure enough they know them well! 

Then we joined the motorway that led to the viaduct. 

Two and half kilometres of viaduct, sitting on top of the Tarn Valley. 

RECORD BREAKING VIADUCT (from Tourism Aveyron material)

Millau viaduct holds the world record for the tallest bridge, culminating at 343 metres (higher than the Eiffel tower), 2460 metres long and touching the bottom of the Tarn Valley in only 9 places.
Conceived by the French engineer Michel Virlogeux and designed by the English architect Lord Norman Foster, it fits perfectly into the naturally intact and grandiose landscape: a very thin slightly curved steel roadway supported by stays gives it the appearance of a huge yacht and the ensemble rests on 7 very slender pillars.

WHERE IS IT ? Millau viaduct constitutes the most spectacular link in the A75 motorway, linking Clermont-Ferrand with Béziers and Narbonne, which is the least congested and cheapest route between Paris and the Mediterranea.

Millau viaduct crosses the Tarn valley, a few hundred yards from Peyre, one of the "plus beaux villages de France" found in the département of the Aveyron. 

The viaduct was of great importance to the French community because it linked the Mediterranean coastal towns with the centre of France.

We later used the motorway to visit Sérérac-Le-Chateau for a late lunch, and then continued on to St Flour for the evening. 

St Flour as we viewed it late this afternoon.