promenadingpeacocks

a visit to la bourboule means not just a visit to the espace nordique but the chance to pig out on truffade or potee auvergnate, not to mention crepes.  the architecture of la bourboule and mont dore is fin de siecle and now a little sad as so many buildings are boarded up and  ‘a vendre’ signs are everywhere. however, there are still some lovely cosy interiors where you can while away a wet afternoon over coffee and a crepe.  we particularly enjoy the ‘comptoir de cyrano’ where you eat well to a background of jazz playing.

meanwhile, i’m a tad confused by this blog which seems to have gone from the sublime to the ridiculous. it used to place my photos randomly in and amongst my text and now they are posted as huge slabs of colour between the black and white!

we came to do some raquettes around lou’s birthday so we felt obliged to have a go despite the n’orrible weather!  a chap in the hotel garage told us it was quiet up at la stele and there was less rain than in la bourboule, so we set off.  the car park was pretty quiet as we arrived which i was thankful for as i’d left my walking stuff in the car the day before in case we got lucky with the weather.  i struggled into longjohns, trousers and over trousers, thick socks and my walking boots, so many layers!

at the guichet i discovered there was only one raquette piste open although we could walk alongside two of the ski de fond runds.  we don’t enjoy that.  you plod along while skiers glide past, usually small children, seemingly making no effort at all! not good for the morale.

oddly, the new raquette piste plan showed the walk we were going to do as being shorter than on the plan i had saved from last year.  it still crossed rather a lot of contour lines, i noted.   as we set off the rain began to come down more heavily and there was a moment when we looked at each other and nearly bailed.  but we didn’t!

it was wet and misty but better under the trees where the colours of the mosses, lichens and last summer’s beech leaves positively glowed in the damp conditions.

as expected there was a lot of trudging upwards but it was quiet and we didn’t meet anyone except when we crossed a ski de fond track.  normally this would be bliss, we just needed some sunshine!  happily, all that climbing meant the last part was downhill, through thick powdery snow rather than the slushy ice we’d been trudging on.  the thought of the cafe/bar with its wonderful soup and cheese spurred us on. sadly the lack of customers, bad weather or change of management meant the cafe had changed and the soup and cheese was not advertised.  with a bit of wheedling i managed to order two bowls of soup and some hot coffee. we did ask very nicely!

as we left to go back to the comfort of the hotel a group of children on a school outing swished by…..oh, to be young and talented!

Back in la bourboule again and the aviation hotel. Last time there was loadsa snow on the pistes and the roads.

And it sleeted on us. Not nice. This time, sufficient snow on the pistes, none on the roads but rain and mist everywhere. So today we drove around until  we found a splash of blue sky. That was at st nectaire, a name that conjures smiling farmers wielding large cheeses.

We didn’t see any but saw an enormous church and a cafe/bar opposite where we took some lukewarm coffee. Onwards and chasing the blue took us to clermont ferrand, a town we have passed many times but never visited. Now we have! We parked under the place de jaude, a huge space full of fountains and statues.

there are two big shopping centres at one end of the place where we found lunch and then strolled through the older part of town up to the enormous and very blackened cathedral. Inside the stained glass is beautiful and  i was keen to buy the guide book but couldn’t find the ‘gardien’ in charge of sales.

Back outside lou was window shopping at all the outdoor clothes shops. All very expensive,  bien sur. I contented myself with a needed black cardi from c and a. I have simpler tastes!  🙂

The drive out of clermont required tomtom as signposting was not brill. We should have just headed for the greyest part of the sky! It became wetter and mistier the nearer we got to ‘home’.  No matter, tomorrow’s another day and we’ve booked a cosy restaurant for tonight. Meanwhile, i’m going down for a swim in the hotel’s delightful little pool.

so i never did write up the blighty trip on here. we were having so much fun there wasn’t any time to do so. plus the usual rubbish wifi in the hotel when there was a possible moment. tucked away in desk drawers and boxes in the loft are notebooks full of my scribble written in the days before technology took away the skill of pen on paper. holiday packing always included a notebook and still does. now it gets used to scrawl down notes for later transfer onto here. but i feel guilty for not recording our first trip to cornwall in ten years so here are a few photos!

but now i find i can’t because i have copied them onto a usb key and deleted them from this computer.  thwarted despite my best intentions! 🙂

bags packed …and repacked, due to looking at next week’s weather forecast -very cold. gale force winds in the channel and scary events in paris sending out shock waves across l’hexagon. not the best conditions for a holiday trip but travel hopefully!

gav’s chrimbo cake ready for the oven…

Years ago when our working hours were silly and our house full of teenage boys’ music and rivalry and the word ‘datenight’ hadn’t entered the vocabulary i told lou we needed a night out once a month to remember who we were and why we were. Now retired it is easy to slump into a sleepy routine apart from holiday times. So i felt we needed a day out. Truth be said i was feeling the anticlimax after the road trip. in 2014 we had been to lots of photo exhibitions and enjoyed them and the towns in which they were, so when i spotted a small report in la depeche it was seized upon. Several photographers exhibiting their works in black and white, lou’s preferred option, around the town of Rodez in the Aveyron, two hours away. We picked a day which turned out to be dry, warm and sunny after one of pelting rain. Quelle chance! I had hoped the first venue would yield up a comprehensive programme with town map. But no. Luckily i had researched on line and noted the ones we would probably prefer and related addresses. None opened before one o’clock so after a drive through lovely autumn countryside we found our way to the nearest car park and searched for place Foch –

which had an underground car park, stupid viamichelin for not knowing! A nearby bar/brasserie done up like an english pub provided a surprisingly good ‘formule express’ menu.

Then the grand tour of Rodez began. The galerie Foch was a single room on the first floor of a building that housed the conservatoire of music and was displaying work by serge clement. they looked like composites but the blurb said not!

From there we wandered back into the’Centre historique’ behind the megalith that is the cathedral.

The lovely waitress in the bar had given us a map of the town as my printout from viamichelin lacked most vital street names (plus a handful of beer mats for lou)!  We passed one gallery which wasn’t open but squinting at the photos displayed near the door decided it wasn’t for us, apologies to antonin pons-braley! Then i spotted a watch shop and went in to get a battery fitted in one i had brought along on purpose. My eyes fell on a case of colourful swatch watches and the bill increased accordingly! By now we had located the tourist office and asked about a specific map for the expo. But, no, clearly, beyond producing a programme no one had thought of that. On we went to find another shop gallery still shut.

No matter, we wandered further and found the galerie saint Catherine, a beautiful space in an old building overlooking the same square as the prefecture.

The square itself was decorated with floating pink umbrellas to celebrate ‘octobre rose’, the campaign against breast cancer. in the cool and lofty gallery I loved jacques pugin’s work with light.

By now we reckoned the shop, galerieAJx, should be open and it was. And quite a treat. Photographs taken with a plate camera by a canadian. olivier meriel, and a very enthusiastic curator keen to explain the work to us. Behind the shop was an exhibition space formed by enclosing an interior courtyard with a glass ceiling.


Lou was captivated! The surrounding buildings were very old and there was a stunning 14th century stone doorway. our own cameras were working overtime, comme d’hab! 🙂

The next group of exhibitions were away from the centre and in the ‘Jardin publique’. En route we passed the Mercure hotel with a very colourful mosaic exterior, 20s? 30s? An american, mitch dobrowner’s work, was displayed on huge posters around the bandstand.

Works depicting weather so a good spot but a bit neck breaking to look at if you are short! Onwards to the cinema passing the new musee soulages on the way.

The gardens were full of children already on holiday and students newly liberated for theirs. At the cinema the heat through the full length windows was overwhelming and the photos badly displayed with half of them in full sunlight which negated their misty effect. a shame for guillaume ducreux. Over heated and needing drinks and a sitdown we swiftly left and took our break on the busy corner of place des armes. The waiter twigged our accents and wished us a good afternoon as he took our order. Such pleasant bar staff in Rodez! 🙂 ready for home we stepped into the cathedral to gaze at its enormity with an organ to match. The blurb said it formed part of the fortifications of old Rodez but i do wonder if these huge edifices have more to do with the vaunting vanity of their commissioners than with an extravagant religious fervour.

Slight confusion about in which car park our car was waiting but soon sorted and heading for home, postcards and magnet nestled against that jolly new watch!

Our last evening of the trip and a catch up with some of the swiss family. We ate in a nearby restaurant and had filet de perche, the speciality fish dish of lake geneva. This morning the sun was shining again and a beautiful drive home over the nantua viaduct and across the auvergne.

A brilliant road trip but always good to come home….still in one piece even if the car might not be!

Well, himself always checks the weather forecast for our next day and destination. The forecast for the milan – geneva leg was ‘brouillard – persistent’. Persistant fog, wonderful, after a day of torrential rain. Not!

But when we went out for breakfast (down in the basement) the sky was blue although there was a nip in the air. And it stayed that way all day. The autoroute around milan was rammed with traffic. The m25, said lou! But after the last turn off for milan centre the road gradually cleared and we had a lovely drive through to the valle d’aoste

and then up to the mont blanc tunnel. We had seen snow on the mountain tops from a fair distance away and mont blanc gleamed as we approached. The valle d’aoste is very craggy with buildings clinging to ledges that look far too small.

At one place there was a hamlet below a rockslide. Bet they can’t get house insurance! Our last border crossing of the trip and into the tunnel. It is well organised and i tried to remain calm as the eleven kilometres slowly passed. On the other side the views of mont blanc were even more spectacular and we parked up to ‘aim and shoot’.


At annemasse lou and i played round and round the roundabout. Despite staying at the campanile there several times, we always manage to miss the slip road! 🙂

We can tell we are near milan. Our room is sleekly and discretely decorated in slate grey and coffee, with a very modern matching bathroom with touches of black.

The mix lou likes of old outside and spanking up to date inside.

We had driven all day in pouring rain and lowering skies. It lulled me to sleep at times but lou stayed sharp, thank goodness.

We joined the autstrada that runs from trieste through to turin. Lou noticed that the road surface tended to be a good one that inhibited spray which was just as well given the number of lorries on it. We arrived in cernesco sul naviglio (say that on a tube of wine gums!) with it still bucketing down. The gps said we had arrived but i had to get out and read the house numbers while lou waited, hazards flashing. We were right on top of the place except it was through an arch in a terraced row of lovely houses.

A very narrow arch. The chauffeur negotiated it with centimetres to spare but denigrated his driving skills as per! We were led down a tiny staircase in the corner of a rustic patio and found ourselves in a very prettily decorated room used for ‘chicken and breakfast’. The young owner quickly did the ‘checkin’!

And showed us where everything was for a do it yourself breakfast as ‘ me and my girlfriend, we work tomorrow’. A keycard works everything so i felt very secure.

The recommended restaurant around the corner was simple but good and the little town old and lovely…with some great clothes shops.
That wonderful italian styling. But they were all shutting, sadly! 🙂

Up fairly early to make sure we left the apartment as pristine as possible. A chatty farewell with photos and hugs and we were off northwards again.


It was a lovely sunny day and we enjoyed the ride and the banter.

No problems at the border apart from a sarky young slovenian policeman who seemed to be having a bad day.

We got to bled around four o’clock, in time for a stroll along the lakeside after checking in. Hoards of japanese tourists everywhere taking photos of everything and anything. I heard one of the mute swans hissing and hoped someone didn’t get a nasty memory to take back home.

Many were taking rowing boat rides to the church on the island. I heard and saw fish jumping in the incredibly clear water of the lake.

A nearby fisherman told me they were fishing for black bass, whatever that might be! My mother visited here years ago on her first foreign holiday and i always wanted to come and see it. Ivana had told us it was beautiful and we would love it.

It was beautiful yesterday but soon clouded over. We ate dinner in our guest house which was a tad odd. The waiter cum desk clerk never smiled and looked pained when i asked for the veg from another menu choice. All out of the freezer, we mused. It all tasted a bit indifferent, like the service. I said it felt stuck in the 70s and when the jolly tyrolean style canned music started it only made it worse. I could imagine that polizzi woman off the telly trying to sort them out!  🙂  

But the bed was comfy and i slept well.  Lou said he didn’t but we were happy with the shower albiet a bit snug! We are becoming very critical of the bed/shower combo on this trip. As we got ready for breakfast the japanese were using brollies as they waited to pile into their coaches because it was drizzling. Our first wet day if you don’t count the montenegran downpour!