Road Trip, Day 13

This was another day where I didn’t make a lot of photographs. I’ll tell you why and show you a few photos from today, and then the rest of the post will include photos from the previous week that didn’t already make it into the blog. It’s a grab-bag of imagery—have fun!

This is my last night on the road; tomorrow I’ll set my course for home. Depending on the weather and my inclinations in the moment, I may take a detour along the way to see a couple of towns I found on the map. I’ll do one more post tomorrow to summarize the trip and sign off from the adventure of daily posting.

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Today was a day that had its own to-do list, the last day to see things in this area before I head home. I returned to the cute village of Recoules-d’Aubrac, in the hope of getting into that 12th century church, but still no luck.

Next up was a visit to the atelier (studio) of a potter whose work I’d spotted last week. I called her to see if I could meet her in her studio, and today was the day. I quite like her work, and bought a few things from her, while playing peek-a-boo with her 17-month-old daughter.

I enjoyed a delightful lunch in Laguiole at a place named Le Bardière, which has a fresh, inventive, delicious menu and a friendly staff. After that, I’d planned to visit a shop a few doors away, named 12 Whisky, a local distillery. Alas, they were closed, so it goes onto the list for the next time I’m in the area.

I stopped into a shop called Les Buronniers (the fellows I mentioned yesterday, who used to live all summer in a stone buron in the mountains), with the plan of buying some cheese to take home. But the clerk told me that since I don’t have a proper cooler for the car, she thought it would be better for me to return tomorrow when I leave. So, that’s now first on the list for tomorrow morning.

I stopped to fill up on gas, and then took a meandering route back to my lodging in Aubrac, turning down more of those tiny, twisty country roads. Puffy white clouds skittered across the blue sky, sending their own shadows dancing over the rocky land. I saw more cows, and more of the raptors that seem to follow the cows; there are definitely peregrine falcons, and there’s another, larger bird (vulture?). It really is lovely here.

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And now for a few new photos from the past week.

Parting shot
I’d stopped for gasoline on my way out of Laguiole today, finding a station next to a grocery store. While I was pumping gas, I noticed a car pull up to what at first glance had looked like a bus stop (I really wasn’t paying much attention). When I’d finished and paid, I turned to look and realized that the bus stop is actually a drive-up laundromat. I’ve never seen anything like this, but I think it’s a brilliant idea!

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