22 feb

We’re on the road again. Just like we should, because we are, as Julie says, rolling stones. We have to move on.
Said Au revoir to Chassenat. Realized I hadn’t made that many photographs of the inside. So went around and made memories memorable. I am afraid that is the way it works. I remember my youngest youth from one picture in the family album to the next picture. The rest is a blur.
We travelled east again and know it. We arrived at Orcival, one of the unmissable stops on our 12th century tour. A little south of Clermont Ferrand. On the way there were a few hurdles, as there should be. The first one we took willingly. Le boulanger in Brantome had been closed for two weeks, but had opened again on friday. We bought our last Galette. With the first serving I found my newest porcelain friend. A little Garfield with a Teddybear. Julie was disappointed, because she wanted something more magical. I have decided not to care and am just delighted by these gifts, sponsored by the French dentist union.
We were hardly outside Brantome when there was a sign that the rue was going to be barree in 4 kilometres. Road closed, those things happen. I was happily driving along, waiting for the ‘Deviation’ signs that I expected at some point. They didn’t. I’m still puzzled by it. We had to drive all the way back. I have a mental inability to drive the same road back, so we saw some quite narrow lanes before we were back on some kind of road into the right direction. A satnav is no help, because you can not trust it not to go past the part of the road that is closed off.
Not good for my blood pressure, these manoeuvres. Lost an hour. Made that up by taking the toll road. Very efficiently we drove higher and higher up to what the French call the Massif Central. It wasn’t long before we saw the first strips of snow.
At the campground we got stuck in the mud. Looking for a little bit of a flat area I didn’t realize the ‘road’ on the campground had changed from asphalt to mud. The owner of the campground, (actually a quite busy bar with some (muddy) fields around it where people can camp) got in the funniest old tractor and pulled us out. Just park on the road he said, he didn’t expect any other guests tonight, or in the next month he added.
Ah well. We have a great view on the volcano’s that once were active and shaped the Auvergne landscape. I don’t think I can see the Puy de Dome, with Tour de France fame, but the area we are looking at is called Vulcania, which could be a Star Trek planet, I suppose. It’s cold outside. Our minds were already in spring-mode, but suddenly it’s winter again.
‘Shouldn’t you start a little bit more South’, Julie asked me. Which is exactly what I’ll do. Tomorrow there are a few more Auvergne Romanesq churches to be discovered. The day after we’ll travel to Le Puy en Velay, from where I will start my walking journey on tuesday. Looking forward to it.