Some of you may recall we
met a couple of bikers, Catherine and Djamal in Aléria when we were in Corsica, and we had promised each
other to try and catch up when we were back on the French mainland. We’d
swapped emails and our hopes were high that we’d be able to catch up with them
north of Orange. Unfortunately, we were only able to make contact live by phone
once we’d already passed where they lived and we were closing on Le
Puy-en-Velay in the Haute-Loire. It’s great when you get to meet new people from
other countries and we really hope to catch up with them when we are next in
France, or they are in the UK!
We’d had to drive through
Orange en route (the main road goes right through the centre) and we were
reminded what a fascinating place it is - and how interesting it would be to spend
time there (in cooler weather!) as we followed the road around the Roman
triumphal arch, probably dated from the Augustan period of 27 BCE to AD14 –
amazing!
The drive towards Le
Puy-en-Velay was slow but extremely pretty as we wended our way through hills
and valleys and started to slowly climb through the Parc Naturel Régional des
Monts d’Ardèche. As we drove higher, we both commented on the sudden change in
the quality of the air which was not only much cooler (hurrah!) but also seemed
to ‘taste’ cleaner!
As is often the case with
mountainous drives, it was taking us a little longer than we’d anticipated to
cover the distance, so instead of aiming for Le Puy-en-Velay for a campsite
that night, we had a look on the Campercontact app to see what was nearby – and
that is what led us, rather fortuitously, to take a side road off to St Arcon
de Barges, and a lovely campsite/auberge/restaurant run by a very friendly
Dutch couple, Ed and Elvire.
Their business, (Le Marconnés)
offers B&B, a small and intimate restaurant, and a fabulous little campsite
with views across the hills – complete with its own pool. Set in a series of
beautifully restored old stone buildings, the B&B and restaurant watch over
the terraced camping ground where we enjoyed our first cool night in a very
long time (940m above sea level), with amazing views and plenty of peace and
tranquillity.
After a very peaceful
night’s sleep, we continued our route to Le Puy-en-Velay, stopping to restock
and refuel at a supermarket that provided covered parking with its array of PV
panels – very enterprising!
As we transited past Le
Puy-en-Velay, we realised that here was yet another place we’d like to return
to, with its impressive buildings and monuments perched on top of narrow
volcanic outcrops – there’s just so much to see in France!
And having treated ourselves
to a night of cool air, we decided it was time to get back in the groove with
M. Perdu and his voyage from Paris to Sanary-sur-Mer, which is why we set our
sights on the small village of Cuisery in the Saône-et-Loire department, the
‘book town’ where he moored up in search of a mysterious author…
S&J
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