A Long Day

We slept well at Champagne Douard, possibly because of the champagne and wine consumed… The sun was out, blackbirds singing amongst the vines as I did 30 minutes of taiji overlooking the Champagne hills. Lovely. And there was even a Fiat Panda 4x4*, with supporting dog, driven by a young man who looked at me quizzically before continuing down the steep track and heading left. 

View across vineyards, down the Panda track

Eventually, after breakfast with the other guests, who’d visited Moet and Chandon the day before and seen their 10? 100? million bottles in leurs caves, we loaded up and drove away. Hopefully the additional weight won't make the rear mudguards rub on the tyres...

Doesn't look much, but hey, lunch was good

Lunch was a roadside stop and very welcome, especially as the cheese was as good as it had been the evening before. We shared the lay-by with a large truck, which left not long before us - the driver had looked curiously at my walking up and down and bending over to stretch my stiff left leg. 

Handy roadside cafe

A rapid reaction choice involving a swerve into parking across the road resulted in a welcome coffee stop. The locals were out in force, including a dodgy-looking chap, the local shouty man whom everyone knew, and owner of a docile seeming bulldog that watched the passing traffic very intently. That didn't stop madame knocking out a couple of big ones for us though.

We were heading for the Auvergne, but it seemed to be quite a long way away - 300+ miles from the start, and probably due to our reluctance to travel on toll roads, further than I'd have liked. But... the roads were uncrowded, the sun was shining, and if this is hard work, then more please! 

Finally, we found the Logis Auberge du Providence, tucked away in an obscure road in St. Flour. Right beside a fast-running stream, this has apparently been an inn since the days of the pilgrimages, and in the hands of the current owner's family for five generations, and in his since the 70s. Seems ok.

We headed into town to get something to eat - apparently St Flour isn't as well-appointed as it used to be, at least on the outskirts, where some places have no roof! 

Roofless in St Flour

It turns out that St Flour proper is on a massive hill, which we had started to walk up, using the "Chemin des chevres", a series of steep steps and narrow passageways winding up the side of the hill. 

Gate sculpture in St Flour

You'll note from the background of the fox sculpture above that it was pretty thundery, in fact, there were some big bangs and flashes some distance away during our walk, and our choice of possible food venue was looking a bit on the "with optional shower" side, not to speak of "includes mandatory cardio workout". So, both chickens and sloths, we headed back to the hotel which offered a local menu. Another time maybe...

The hotel was decorated in a very homely, traditional style - lots of wood panelling, odd stuffed animals, and a strange fossil-based table in the bar, where we enjoyed a paralysingly alcoholic local red beer. Maybe the wine didn't help either...

Ammonites embedded in furniture!!

Dinner was ok - duck for me with blueberry jus, Jen had steak, and I had the tartetatin (again blueberry!!) and Jen the creme brûlée with mysterious chocolate under-stratum. Not earth shattering, but we were hungry... Then bed time, and glad of it, it seemed like a very long day!

* James May, in the last of his short series “The Cars of the People” [check], posited that the European wine industry is entirely based on the bedrock that is the Fiat Panda 4x4, on the basis that without it, it would have become impossible to support so much with so few people. At least, that was my reading of it - perhaps he just wanted an excuse to consume wine on a car-based TV programme!