A long drive (for us) had us arriving in Clermont-Ferrand around 2.30pm and shortly after unloading at our accommodation which is a studio attached to the owner's residence on the side of a hill overlooking the town.
While there is a pool on site, the temperatures have dropped significantly over the passed few days and the pool while it looks nice is not that inviting.
On the journey we crossed the Millau viaduct, an impressive structure
The owner appears to be a rugby fanatic supporting the local team which he proudly tells me were the champions of Europe last season. The sole Kiwi playing for Clermont Auvergne is Isaia Toeava ex AB, ex Auckland.
Clermont-Ferrand is bicephalous being a combination of two towns, Clermont and Montferrand which were joined by a royal decree in 1633 and is surrounded by 80 sleeping volcanoes the biggest of which is Puy de Dome.
It sits basically in the centre of France, and as such is the crossroads of the main highways, and is also the gateway to the vast Massif Central which we crossed over today.
With the volcanoes being in such proximity the historic part of the town was built with volcanic stone and as such a lot of the buildings are black in colour something I took a little while to take to.
The Cathedral sitting in the centre of Clermont and as black as
The tourist information centre recommended 3 restaurants that served quality meals traditional for the area and on our first night here we chose to go to one of them, Le Kitchen - we were not disappointed with what they offered, cheese and walnut salad, truffade, boeuf with puy lentils all prepared by the husband of a delightful lady waitress.
The restaurant which did not present well on the frontage and which was in a street that 99 times out of a 100 we would choose to bypass was exceptionally nice inside and by the time we left appeared to be full - never judge a book by its cover rang true as we walked back to the car.
7 September
Dawned rather cooler than what we have experienced over past weeks - in fact would categorise it as cold though the warmth started to come through later in the day.
We drove into the city this morning (it is 3-4kms from the accommodation and our hosts suggested that it was a 20 minute walk!!!!) and had a wander round taking in some of the sites. It is a city dominated by the Cathedral which sits up on the hill in the Clermont historical area.
In comparison to Montpellier the city is less bustling, quiet even, cleaner, next to no dog poo and more appealing.
Found a luggage shop and brought a new suitcase to replace one of ours which gave up the ghost with a large cracking sound as we brought it in from the car yesterday.
There is a delightful garden on the main square, in fact the most colourful we have seen and folk were sitting around eating lunch - a nice spot.
Later in the afternoon we drove to Parc de Montjuzet which is an elevated parkland that overlooks the city and gives a good view of some of the dormant volcanoes in the background - if you were unaware that they were volcanoes you would just regard them as hills.
As we walked back to the car we saw a squirrel darting around picking up "things" to nibble on and then scurrying up a tree to safety - from memory this was the first squirrel either of us have seen in the wild.
Had another rugby discussion with our host Alain, he really is quite a character - his English is as poor as my French but nevertheless we were able to communicate. He was proudly wearing a Classic All Blacks jacket which I suspect was being worn for our benefit.
He seemed to know all of the ex All Blacks playing in France, names that he mentioned included Carter, Williams, Nonu, Cruden, McAllister and told me the clubs that each played for.
Alain Giraud
Tomorrow we make another jump north to Orleans, home of Joan of Arc for a two night stopover before arriving in Paris on Sunday.
8 September - A day to remember or perhaps quickly forget!
The journey to day was almost all on the motorway (A71) so we picked up the toll ticket just after leaving Clermont-Ferrand. On route as is normal we stopped at a service stop for coffee in weather that we are no longer used to, 16 degrees.
About 15 minutes after leaving the stop I was heard to say "Sherry, where did we put the toll ticket". After a search of pockets and a look inside the car there was the realisation that we (I think she thinks I) had lost it at the service stop. There were moments of panic but I thought we weren't the first to lose a toll ticket so I guessed as we exited the highway there would be someway of dealing with it - if you don't put in your ticket and pay the toll the barrier arm stays firmly down!
Turned off the motorway at Orleans and pulled into a toll booth, there was a button you could push for assistance so explained to the operator our predicament - in no time at all a € amount appeared in the screen and the operator said "That is the cost of a lost ticket".
Gulp - €58.40 or approx. $98.00. There being no alternative the credit card was inserted, the deal was done, the barrier came up and we were on our way again.
Arrived at Orleans and found the entrance to the road leading to the hotel which was protected by bollards that can be dropped into the ground to allow vehicles to pass. Beside the bollards there is a button you can push to speak to the hotel's agent telling them you require entry as you are a guest - well bugger me all the pushing in the world wouldn't raise the operator so Sherry had to go on foot to the hotel and ask for entry while I stayed with the car. Long story short, it was a shambles but finally got entry as a resident in the street dropped the bollards to exit her car and while they were down we scooted across hoping like hell they didn't rise as we were going over them.
Weather today cold and some showers en route and also on arrival.
No comments:
Post a Comment