The Allier Gorge
It comes as something of a shock to the system to experience temperatures of 35C after the last three months of rain but the Auvergne which uniquely in France has a higher rainfall in the summer than the winter has been putting in a stunning effort to confound the French Derek Brockway’s and other meteorological giants– and with considerable success. It is very hot and very dry here at present.
This has provided a perfect excuse for a long lingering lunch today in Brioude in the south of the Auvergne region. It is an attractive town famous as the home of Lafayette and has a superb abbey church. It also has some excellent restaurants.
We also strolled around some of the narrow streets and I foraged through boxes of second hand books to find a Balzac that I hadn’t read.
We also took the opportunity for a good shop for food. Wonderful selection of cheeses, coffee, bayonne ham and wines in the chariot de gourmandise. In parenthesis, nothing could better illustrate the difference between the purchase of essentials in France and Britain than the fact that what we call a shopping trolley is splendidly if somewhat grandly called a chariot de gourmandise by the French!
We drove along the Allier gorge stopping en route in some of the very many attractive villages that hug the cliffs on either side. The roads are quiet and the tourists surprisingly few.
This has been sent via a blackberry, so please excuse any typo errors!
