Week 2 - Monts du Cantal and back to base camp

Sunday 9th August

During the night, we had a storm and when we woke it was absolutely going stair rods. It was a late rise morning. We made it for breakfast at just before 10 and I enjoyed a hot chocolate with my croissant and bread. The jams were gorgeous and looked home-made. The family had been up when we went to bed; they still had a café full and they must have been up for some time this morning. They can't have had much sleep but they all looked remarkably fresh. It struck us again how hard they work.

By now the rain had stopped and we popped down to see Rose marie; apparently the lease had run out on their gift shop and it had been bought by Utile – a sort of Tesco express. She summoned Rene and we had a little chat. Apparently, because of so many teams entered and because as the Tournoi ran on, some of the teams took to the bar between matches, it didn't finish until 12:30! Rene and Rose marie then had to have something to eat before bed and then up for work on Sunday – I don't know how they manage it. We were invited to stay with them next time and I guess we shall but I don't suppose we shall get much sleep!

We were given a basket of goodies and a €15 token from the shop which we spent before leaving. We decided to go back via Vic Sur Cere, then do a circuit of the monts du Cantal, passing through Murat where there is a huge statue of Madonna and child overlooking the town on a puy then on to Salers before returning to Argentat. The weather all the way was pretty awful; the temperature dropped to 13°C on the way across the Auvergne plateau. But through the rain, the scenery was spectacular. We stopped at a rest area just north of Vic to go for a short walk to see the Cascade de la Roucolle.

Cascades

With the rain, it looked pretty spectacular. There was a sad note on the belvedere overlooking the cascade asking people to be very careful with young children as 4 year old Julian had fallen to his death there.

the cascades

Our next stop was the col de Peyrol which is apparently the highest pass in the massif central. I spotted a sign confirming that the pass was open, which was reassuring but I guess during the winter it would spend most of its time closed. Sue spotted a sign on the approach road saying that camper vans should not follow this route; needless to say we saw a number of either illiterate or simply careless people in their vans tackling the route. Fortunately, there was only one occasion when this caused a problem when two vans met one another on one of the many stretches of single carriageway (steep drop one side steep climb the other) necessitating some manoeuvring into a passing place complete with the inevitable queue of traffic behind each, which took time and some delicacy to avoid disaster.

cafe at the pass almost hidden in mist

When we arrived at the pass, the rain was only falling gently but banks of mist floated across the top giving an eerie feeling. The views were constantly changing as the banks of mist cloaked the scenery as though it was playing hide and seek. We saw enough to know that this was a pretty spectacular place; if it was as crowded as this on a poor day, what would it be like in good weather?

Mist at the pass

The route back through Salers was just as good; we decided not to bother stopping as it was pouring when we went through. We decided as we got back that it was amazing that we hadn't done it before and well worth the trip.

Monday 10th August

Got up quite late and went into town and got the blog started – ran out of battery before we could email everyone. Went shopping and had a late lunch. Generally had a relaxing day. The good weather has returned.

Tuesday 11th August

A very warm day, it started cooking quite early. Went into town again, added a bit more blog, uploaded some more photos, emailed family then went for a wonderful ice cream at Roger's new place on the quay.

Ice cream at Roger's glacerie

This is ice cream as an art form and tastes as good as it looks. We went shopping before heading back into town to collect some hasticots for fishing later and then parked up in place Delmas

Birthplace of Gen Delmas, old Argentat

for a walk through the old town along the riverbank. It was wonderfully peaceful.

Back on site the temperature mid afternoon was 28°C. We had merguez and chipolatas for tea with an oriental taboule and salad. After this I spent a couple of hours fishing from the harbour wall. There was plenty of fishy activity but I only managed to attract one small chub to the hook.

Wednesday 12th August

Another hot day in store, our neighbours left early at 8 and we waved them off. The night had been cold and the mists clung to the slopes around the site, drifting in spirals up through the trees but it was clear they would soon burn off. We put the boat together at the pitch, loaded it up on its trolley and then took it down to the launch point by the pool. The whole exercise was much less hassle than it used to be. We had a nice cruise up the river and back for an hour or so which was very refreshing with a bit of a breeze and the occasional splash. Since we have been here, we have been buzzed by a couple of Eurofighters flying at low level with a lot of noise, most days but while we were on the river, it was a Hercules flying just over the tops of the valley; at least it was a bit quieter than the jets! We have left the boat assembled outside the 'van ready for our next trip.

After lunch we sat out the hot (30°C again) part of the day reading (in my case) and sewing (in Sue's). Late afternoon we had a trip in the car to cool us down to survey the possibilities for tomorrow's lunch. We went up to Roche Canillac and back through St Martin la meanne. We have settled on Les Voyageurs once again.

Log cabin, St Martin La Meanne

We saw a lovely house on the outskirts of St Martin – a huge log cabin.

Quite a huge exodus of the Dutch contingent today; many of the pitches around us have been vacated; I suspect that most are trying to get past Paris by the weekend to avoid the congestion of the bank holiday weekend.

traditional dutch tent

Noticably absent this year are the traditional dutch triangular tents that we used to see in profusion around the site 10 years ago. Only 2 to be seen at the moment.

After a barbeque, we chilled again with a glass of wine as the heat of the day subsided to a lovely, quiet balmy evening with the cicadas in full song as dusk fell. This is why we keep coming back.

Thursday 13th August

After opening my cards and pressies, we got up and through the course of the day spoke to all the family. We managed to make it into the street market in Argentat and had a nice little wander around the stalls, finding something in a toy stall that may be of interest to a certain young member of the family in a few months time at Christmas. This market wasn't as big as last weeks – I noticed in particular that the 'choose your own trout' stall where a tank of fish was kept in the back of the van, one netted out for your decision – which in the event of a positive selection resulted in a swift dispatch by a wooden priest and hey presto – very fresh fish to order. Another stall that had caught my attention was the 'choose your own pig'. The stall had cartoons of very happy pigs going about their business and if I understood the blurb at the front of the stall, it was advertising that all the produce was free-range and organically grown. The pigs had very happy lives – in fact they were so confident you would agree they encouraged prospective customers to come and see for themselves and choose their own porker for dispatch. Now I know I'm an old city dwelling softie but the idea of looking a pig in the eye and sizing him up for slices of bacon etc before passing the death sentence on an individual whose only crime was of being born with 4 trotters goes rather against the grain. Of course I shall not be thinking about this next time I have a bit of pork and lets face it, if it were a matter of the pig or I in a 1:1 situation, I'd make sure that he was the one who ended up on my plate!

After leaving the market, we went straight up to the restaurant, having had a slight disagreement at the crossroads as I had encroached while unsighted. Anyway it gave a young French woman an opportunity to use her full range of vocal talents and accompanying hand gestures before screaming off up the road at considerably more than the 50kph normally permitted.

Les Voyageurs was very similar to the last time we ate there. As a Logis restaurant, it is immaculately presented and feels cosy. An old building with ceiling beams and a very ornate grandpere cloche, beautifully laid tables and older clientele. There were 3 others when we arrived and I guess the staff were pleased to see the numbers increase by 67%.

We chose the set menu at €16.50:

Birthday lunch

I had the most delicious rump steak in a pepper sauce with tomatoes and a white sauce with courgettes and leeks accompanied by a sort of yorkshire pudding or pancake. Anyway it was very good. Sue had pave of salmon in a langoustine sauce with pureed carrots, cabbage in white sauce and the pancake yorkshire. She enjoyed it but thought that the sauce was a bit delicately flavoured. I thought I ordered 2 glasses of wine; 1 of rose and one of red; what I got were 2 rose and 2 red – oh well!

Birthday lunch

For pudding I had a chef's selection of 4 puddings and they were all fabulous; I finished with a lovely lemon sorbet. Sue chose une assiette chocolat sweet and thoroughly enjoyed it.

We intended to go for a walk we have done before, maybe 10 years ago, but couldn't remember where the start point was. We moved off down the road then into some woods along a path but after ¾ of an hour decided it was not going anywhere and headed back. At least in the woods it was slightly cooler!

Chateau le Gib at night

Back on site we chilled off in the shade and at about 8 felt peckish again so went down to the chateau for a pizza. It was very busy so we had a kir at the bar while we waited. After our pizza, decided to walk down to the chateau again to take some pictures of the new wooden decking for the tables as well as the view of the chateau from the pool while all lit up.

Chateau Le Gib at night

This was rather difficult as I had forgotten my monopod which would have stabilised the camera for the longer exposure needed. They have made a feature bed in front of the chateau which is rather nice.

Friday 14th August

Up and into town quite early to do our shopping. Back on site we took the boat out for a run for just over an hour. While out we saw a lovely buzzard fly about 20 feet over our heads from one side of the river to the other to rest on some rocks. Sue tried to get her camera out in time to catch him but we are not sure she did. Once again, the breeze from our travel and the sounds of the water were very relaxing, although there are several bits of timber floating in the river and you need to be careful not to hit these; or indeed the many swimmers who take to the water.

Spent the middle part of the day trying to keep cool as the temperature reached 31°C in the shade in which we were sitting. As it started cooling at around 7ish, we went down to the pool area where I fished for a couple of hours off the quay. I caught 2 small roach and felt quite satisfied, especially as some people seem to have a strange idea of what constitutes acceptable behaviour and even when I had been there some time, people would come along and splash in the water feet from where I was fishing. Even less so when there was a nice clean swimming pool uncontaminated with mud, oil from boats and other detritus! There's none so queer as folk.

Back at the pitch we barbequed some sardines and very good they were indeed, washed down with a lovely rose.

written by

rickandsuejohnson on August 15, 2009 from Argentat, France

from the travel blog: Argentat de nouveau

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