Having had to get up whilst it was still dark on Sunday morning, September 20, we made excellent time getting to Auxerre. There was even space at the car park we had chosen (P4N#3021) despite the fact that none of the overnighters had yet left! Liz went back to bed for an hour or so before we had breakfast and ventured into town. Auxerre is another medieval town so the car park was on the other side of the River Yonne but with a footbridge nearby. It was a lovely town with a 13th century cathedral, a medieval clock tower and a 5th century abbey. All visited via the old cobbled streets. The town itself dates back to the 1st century and was the capital of the Roman Empire in the 4th century. Delightful place and because it was so early, devoid of people. The whole visit was done and dusted by 10.00.

Onto the village of Vezelay, a UNESCO site with a religious context. It wasn’t in our guide book which seems strange given its UNESCO standing. The abbey at Vezelay supposedly holds the relics of Mary Magdalen and as such became a major pilgrimage destination from the 11th century. In fact, it’s the starting point in France for the Camino de Santiago de Compostela. We parked at the bottom of the village and walked up. Why are all churches at the very top of steep hills??!

It was actually quite nice wandering the streets after visiting the Abbey although fairly touristy. We succumbed into buying a bottle of the local beer and a cheese brioche thing called Gougère. It was rather delicious.

Next stop was Sancerre. We had low expectations as one review had described it as not one of the beau villages en France. We thought it was delightful. Again, it probably helped that it was mid afternoon on a Sunday. We popped into a wine shop and bought a couple of bottles, of course!

When we were driving out of Sancerre, we noticed a viaduct that had a water tap halfway up the wall. No idea why!

From there we continued heading vaguely south towards the Massif Central. There are a number of extinct volcanoes there that make up the Chaîne de Puys. You can see why the French Resistance squirrelled themselves away so effectively when the Germans took over Vichy France. The woods are vast with lots of trails making it very difficult to follow if you were not a local. Apparently, the Tour de France came up the Puy de Dôme this year. We were very impressed given the gradients! We stayed overnight near the Puy de Dôme at a free park up (P4N#444818) nestled amongst trees. Lovely end to the day.

On Monday morning, we drove up to the train station to the Dôme as we didn’t fancy the trek up. We’d bought tickets the night before, not realising that there would be low cloud in the morning so we wouldn’t be able to see a lot from up there! We could have waited but we had lots to do so we caught the train anyway.

It was a lovely journey up and even though there was zero visibility most of the time, it was still fun. There was even a Temple to Mercury up there that was discovered in the 19th century. The museum was very interesting. One of the first longer distance airplane flights landed on its crest in 1911 to claim the prize of 100,000 Francs from the Michelin brothers. They had to take off from Paris and land at Puy de Dôme within 6 hours.

Back down on the midday train before heading onto Chateau de Val. The castle was on the Dordogne River. It sat very majestically on its promontory but was less impressive inside. The best part was the modern art exhibition by Jo Di Bona.

We finally made it to our overnight stop at Rocamadour (P4N#17495) around 19.00 in preparation for an early start in the morning.

Miles since last blog: 411

Miles this trip: 1,286

We had a leisurely morning packing up and saying goodbye to our friends in Èpernay on Saturday, September 19 before continuing our journey south (ish). First stop was back to Avenay Val d’Or where we had stayed on Wednesday night to pick up some more of their lovely champagne!

Then onto Vertus, a sweet town before Troyes, a wonderful medieval town. We were able to park up just outside the historic centre of Troyes and walk in. The car park was very busy but a van pulled out just as we entered so the parking goddess was definitely looking out for us. One of the reasons the town was so busy, apart from being a Saturday afternoon, was that it was National Heritage Weekend. This was to celebrate all the traditional crafts across France. So, in front of the cathedral were many different apprentices showing off their skills. There were blacksmiths, carpenters, roofers – you name it. Lovely to see such artisan skills being celebrated. Further into town there was a fete as well, where they were letting kids try out wheelchair basketball to see what it felt like to be in a wheelchair. Clever idea.

From Troyes we went onto Chablis. We stopped at another France Passion winegrower and managed to snaffle a tasting for 18.00. Lovely wine and we learnt more about the difference between Petit Chablis and Chablis. The latter grown on land that was once a seabed and has fossils in the stone. Consequently, Chablis has a more salty taste to it. We then offset our free night’s accommodation by buying several bottles of his wine! A wander into town where we purchased some local cheese and bypassed the shop selling andouillettes (tripe sausages!). On the way back we spotted some locals playing boules in a dry river bed. The only downside to a lovely day was the fact that our host, M Jacquin, needed to leave by 07.00 the next morning to set up a stall in a market in Dijon that morning!

Miles since last blog: 117

Miles this trip: 875