Lo Vedo Life

Road Trip, Day 7

Today marks the midpoint of my road trip, and it was a day unlike the others of the past week. I woke up a little tired and groggy, which I chalked up to the weather: continued rain, clouds down to the street, the barometer even lower. Grey, grey, grey.

One necessary chore was to find a laundromat. I could easily hand wash a few things, but they’d take a week to dry in this weather. After a couple of false starts, I got that chore taken care of, along with a visit to the Mont Dore visitors center. I scrounged up some lunch, had a nap, and then got myself out the door again for a return trip to Orceval. I’d noticed yesterday that they would be offering a guided tour today, and that sounded like a good idea.

This is a long way of saying that I don’t have a full day’s worth of photographs and stories to sort through for this blog post. Instead, I decided to look through the past week’s haul, and I chose at least one previously-unpublished photo for each day, including one for today. I grouped them by subject more than by time.

Have fun!

Road Trip, Day 6

A soggy cow came over to say hello, and began using the barbed wire to scratch an itch on her throat. She was very curious about me.

This morning we awoke to a grey and drizzly day. After breakfast, we checked out of our chambres-d’hotes (B&B), and bid each other goodbye. Maryse and Claude were headed west to visit friends, and I was headed east to higher—and it turns out, even wetter—ground. An hour later I arrived in Le Mont Dore, in the Puy-de-Dôme. With the wet weather and low clouds, I really have no idea what the surrounding country looks like. Except that it’s green.

Road Trip, Day 5

This weekend is Heritage Days in Europe (Journées du Patrimoine in French), when an astounding list of places are either open when they usually are not, or are free of charge, or include guided tours. It’s a great time to visit Europe, because it’s a time to see things you otherwise might not be able to visit.

The Château de Val is generally open, so I don’t think much was different. But the Patrimoine people were there, handing out all kinds of information, and the local fishermen were doing some kind of event on the lake.

Road Trip, Day 4

Earlier this summer, I posted a photograph of sparkling water bubbles on a lemon wedge. Here’s its cousin, a photograph of a teaspoon paved with diamonds, er, sparkling water bubbles.

We could tell that night was becoming day because the grey was a slightly lighter tone. There was little drama: the rain that fell was soft, barely making a sound; the dampness seemed to wash out colors before our eyes; all was quiet.

We got our raincoats and umbrellas, and drove into Égletons to see if the visitors center had any suggestions for rainy-day things to do in the area. Not much, it turns out, so three somewhat soggier souls piled back into the car for the one-hour drive toward Collonges-la-Rouge. We drove through low, thick fog and occasional rain, but by the time we arrived, the grey was lighter and the rain had stopped.

Road Trip, Day 3

A very intriguing flight of stone steps in Le Trou de Bozouls (The Hole of Bozouls).

Today was a transition day. We made a couple of visits in the area near Saint Geniez, and then drove three hours to get to our home for the next three days. To arrive in the town of Égletons, we drove through the Aveyron, then through the Cantal, and then into the Corrèze. As you’ll see, the landscape became even greener as we made our way north.

Road Trip, Day 2

Trying to catch some of the sunlight streaming through a contemporary stained glass window in the Église Saint-Côme-et-Saint-Damien in the village of Saint-Côme.

We awoke to cloudy skies and signs that it had rained during the night; the forecast called for heavy rains in the afternoon, so we wanted to get a good start for the day’s adventures. This was a day for visiting several of the picturesque villages near Saint-Geniez-d’Olt, where we’re staying. Our first stop of the morning was the lovely Sainte-Eulalie-d’Olt, a town of ancient stone buildings, flower baskets bursting with color, art galleries, and a church that dates to 920 AD.