A grey morning but it wasn't raining and it hadn't rained much during the night. We were somewhat delayed in leaving as an Australian arrived at the van and asked us if we could change two one Euro coins for a two Euro coin – he was staying in a tent and needed to use the campsite tumble dryer. It turned out that he was a very keen cyclist and was on a journey from the south coast of France to the Ardeche before returning to Australia. However, this was the second part of his trip – he had just returned from America having cycled from Vancouver to New York! Apparently it took him 31 days and he only had one day of rain. It had been different in France! I asked how he had been able to take so much time off work and he explained that it is enshrined in Australian law that if you have worked for the same company for ten years, you are entitled to three months leave on full pay or up to six months leave on half pay. What an excellent idea! We were just finishing that long and interesting chat when a Swiss guy joined us and explained that, in his youth, he had cycled from Switzerland to Czechoslovakia and toured that country when it still under communist rule. Apparently the Czechs couldn't understand why he wanted to come to their 'Godforsaken country' from the free and beautiful Switzerland.
Eventually, we got on the road, passing the Rocher d'Aiguilhe and heading out of town. We climbed again to well over 1,000m and east towards St. Flour (patron saint of millers and bakers?????). Evidence of volcanic activity was everywhere and our first target was an interesting volcanic feature in the village of Chilhac. We had seen a picture of it in an exhibition at the Rocher d'Aiguilhe and found that it only required a short diversion from our intended route. We parked in a car park just below the village that was perched on a volcanic outcrop. It was clear that the village used to be walled and some 15th century towers were still visible. All of the buildings were built of dark volcanic rock and we had seen this often over the last two days whenever we passed an area where extinct volcanoes were located. This gave the village a rather ominous look and the gloomy feel was enhanced by the dull weather and the fact that the village seemed to be deserted. Of course it wasn't, but everyone seemed to be indoors. We investigated the town and eventually found a sign to the 'Orgues Basaltiques' (The Basalt Organ) leading down below the village. Here was a cliff formed of basalt that had cooled into tall hexagonal tessellated columns, in a similar way to the formation of the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. The stone had obviously been quarried and it was easy to spot hexagonal stones incorporated into the village buildings. The quarrying probably only stopped when it was likely to endanger the defensive walls above.
Our lunch consisted of very large and very tasty cakes bought at the Chilhac bakery and then we continued on our journey. The sat nav took us on a road that rose sharply into the low cloud and I was soon driving very slowly through thick fog on narrow roads. Fortunately, there was virtually no other traffic on the road and after about 15km we descended back under the cloud. We drove through St. Flour (lots of bakers but no millers) and headed south to Espalion through a varied landscape and evidence of more volcanic activity.
We found the very pleasant campsite in Espalion next to the river and set off to investigate the town. Espalion is a very pretty town with a small château and old bridge both in the centre of the town just five minutes walk from the campsite. We hadn't had Internet access for a week and this was top of our agenda. The tourist office was able to tell us of two cafe's with WiFi Internet and we headed to the closest. At €5 per hour, it wasn't cheap and we had to rush to achieve everything within the hour.
Photos: Chilhac sitting upon the volcanic basalt outcrop; The Orgues Basaltiques at Chilhac; Part of the Chilhac defensive walls and towers; A view of Espalion from near the campsite, showing the château and the old bridge.
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