Leaving Les Andeleys, we headed west along the Loire into the agricultural heartland of the Saône-Loire department, seeking out a small market town that had featured in Rick Stein’s ‘Secret France’ series: St Christophe-en-Brionnais.
As we drove along at our customary leisurely pace, we were amazed at how many river/canal-side Aires there were as we got closer to our destination, many of them pretty new too by the look of them.
Which is how, on a gloriously sunny evening, we decided to stop short of our planned campsite further west, opting instead to try out one of these new Aires, this one at Thiel-sur-Acolin. By this time, we’d already driven 268 miles, so were in need of a rest! With around a dozen spaces, all hedged and some with electric, plus water and toilet emptying, all free, we could only endorse others’ comments on the Park4Night app in thanking the local municipality for their thoughtfulness and generosity. A lot of these Aires are to promote tourism in the wider area too, with no expectation of immediate benefit! Take note Royaume Uni!
With space as generous as a good campsite pitch, we joined the other (all French) camping-caristes and got our table and chairs out for a lovely sunset dinner, followed by an excellent night’s sleep.
Next morning saw us make the short hop to Digoin, right on the Loire and an excellent base from which to make an early start south to the cattle market. Except, after we had taken a short stroll into town (complete with stork nest atop the church!) from the basic but lovely municipal site, and discovered yet another Voie Vert that ran along the Loire canal, we decided that we’d stay an extra night and have a fun day on the folders, or at least that’s how Mr B described it…
As part of the ‘foodie’ rationale for this part of the trip, we had to go off and shop for our steak of choice – Charolaise entrecôte, with Mrs B leading the way off site and off road too…
With the thought of our first BBQ of the trip as a reward for the ride, we headed out along the amazing aqueduct that carries the canal over the Loire in Digoin…
Passing from the canal side one of the Aires we had seen the day before…
We made it as far as the locks at Coulange, where we met an interesting British couple (and their two Scottish Wolfhounds) who had sailed their canal barge across the Channel – piloted by a qualified skipper – and who had spent time since travelling around the French canal network.
Returning with enough time to get the BBQ lit and take a much needed shower, we enjoyed a lovely cold Pastis, whist waiting for the BBQ to get to temperature.
And what a fab bit of steak it was too, accompanied by a lush bottle of Rully, as recommended by Rick; we did our bit for the local producers!
We set an alarm for the Wednesday morning, market day, which is the only way we managed to get up and off site by 09:15 – a record for us, if not as early as the regular cattle market goers!
The drive to St Christophe was through some very lush pastureland, with a good number of Charolais cattle munching their way through the fields. It’s the grass that gives the beef its distinctive flavour in this region, apparently.
We arrived at the village in time to have a wander around before a guided tour, taking in this attempt to manage a typical French habit…
And passed by the resto that Rick had visited and which set us on the Charolais trail.
The tour, with our very friendly guide Georges, was exhaustive and exhausting! I’m sure had there been an NVQ Level 2 exam at the end (in English!) we would have passed. We learned loads, and it’s great to see how the locals are able to make the most of a market that has been running since the 1400s!
We weren’t allowed to take photos inside the bidding ring, but hopefully the pics give some idea of the extensive range of info we were exposed to, including some of the different names for cuts of beef used here in France, compared to the UK.
Our tour (all of €5 each) also included a ‘degustation’ of some grilled Charolais rump steak, also yum and luckily not accompanied by a glass of red!
Our next stop after St Christophe was a leap south to the Puy de Dôme – a 10,000 year volcano (non active) that we have driven past loads of times but never until now, taken the time to visit. Its distinctive peak is visible for miles.
After a long, hot drive which unfortunately coincided with Clermont Ferrand’s rush hour towards the end, we arrived at the paying aire in Orcines, near the Puy. Big and spacious, with entry and exit by barrier and payment by card, we had a lovely quiet night in the fresh mountain air for a bargain €8!
Although there’s a dedicated campervan parking area near the start of the ascent to the Puy, as it was so quiet, we joined other vans in parking up nearer in the general car park, where we saw the first of many parapentes!
It is possible to walk up to the top, but part of the point of the visit was to take the cog railway, opened in 2012. We were very excited!
The views from the top are fabulous, with maybe 20+ paragliders launching themselves off the side of the summit at any one time.
And to top it all and especially for Mr B, there were the ruins, and ‘reinterpretation’ of a Roman temple to Mercury right at the top!
With enough time to start the first leg of our great leap south, we headed off towards Millau where we planned to stay on one of the riverside sites we used to drive past before the viaduct was built. But first we had to drive though some pretty heavy rain and hailstones…
Which luckily had stopped by the time we reached Millau!
We stopped at the ‘2 Rivieres’ site – one we know we have driven past, and decided to stay an extra night and explore Millau given how the weather seemed to be defying the forecasts…
Which was a mistake, as although we wandered into town and just caught the end of the market, we had to take shelter as another storm rolled over, letting up just enough for us to squelch back to the van and mop up from where Mr B had forgotten to close the skylight over the entrance – eek! Luckily, as it’s also the shower area, no damage was done!
Our next post after this will hopefully be from the Mediterranean where, we hope, we will turn into sun-kissed beach bums for a week or so – weather permitting!
S&J
02.06.23
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