From Auvergne to Aquitaine

Cindré Crossing

Cindré Crossing © 2012 Mufidah Kassalias

After eight weeks of camping in Abrest (a small village just outside Vichy) we hit the road again last Wednesday to spend a few days in Cindré (another small French village in Auvergne) before driving south west to Monbazillac in Aquitaine.

Cindré has just over 300 inhabitants, a restaurant (with post office), a hotel and a church. It’s the kind of place one usually drives through en route to somewhere larger and more ‘interesting’, but we found this quiet, remote village an ideal place to pause and recharge our batteries along the way, spending a couple of nights with a lovely CouchSurfing host and his family, sharing good food, going for walks and playing with the children.

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Vichy: La Source des Célestins

Hall des Sources, Célestins, Vichy

Hall des Sources © 2012 Mufidah Kassalias

Water. It has informed much of my experience here in Vichy, whether I’m swimming or filling up endless bottles from the nearby tap, quickly retrieving laundry from the line when rain and thunder are imminent or drinking freshly sprung Célestins water in the Hall des Sources. Which would be just the thing right now, with the much lower evening temperature still being in the high 20s (Celsius) — a thirsty state of affairs when combined with high humidity levels.

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Nagivating the Bumps on the Road as it’s Travelled

The Road to Gannat

The Road to Gannat © 2012 Mufidah Kassalias

I’ve always loved water. When I was six years old my mother packed us onto a ship to Queensland, Australia, where we stayed for just a year before returning to the UK. Whilst there we lived on The Strand in Townsville, in an apartment overlooking the beach and the Great Barrier Reef.

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Abrest Tower: Overlooking the Allier River Valley

Abrest Tower

Abrest Tower © 2012 Mufidah Kassalias

A short walk from our campsite, if we turn right at the end of the drive, is the small village of Abrest with a handful of shops, a La Poste (post office) and Le Mairie (town hall). And at the top of the town, on the crest of the hill that overlooks the Allier river valley, stands a communications tower that’s visible from much of the surrounding area, including the campsite where we’re staying.

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Charroux: A Picturesque French Village with a Curious Cat

Three Trees, Charroux, Auvergne, France

Three Trees, Charroux

If you’ve ever travelled around France you’ll know that it’s chockablock with lovely towns and villages, the kind you leave with a desire to stay longer, to linger under the shade of a tree with a bottle of red, a hunk of bread and chunk of cheese. And if you fancy a dash of mustard then Charroux, in the Allier department of Auvergne, is just the place to go. For the past 900 years the world-famous “moutarde de Charroux” has been produced in the village, with a small family (mother, son and step-daughter) continuing the tradition to this day.

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