Saturday 27 April 2019
We spent four very relaxed and happy days in our old familiar surroundings with our good friends.
Lac du Vouglans. Ain gorges.
While the gorge of the Ain is not as impressive as many of the gorges in the Midi, the force of its waters had led it to be tamed in a series of reservoirs. The first hydro-electric generators appeared in the early 20th century and a chain of factories were set up along the valley.
Lac du Vouglans. Factory at the Vaucluse dam.
Lac du Vouglans. Ain gorges. The first dam at St Martin.
Sunday 28 April 2019
Today the weather was better but very cold. The Gilets Jaunes demonstrators were not active on Sundays but we saw a collection of yellow jackets hung like scarecrows on top of posts with assorted banners. We crossed the Rhone at Vienne and continued south along the west bank of the river to Serrières. We passed below hillsides covered with vines and through pleasant villages with the gently sloping red tiled roofs of the south of France. At Serrières we turned west towards Le Puy-en-Velay arriving at the little campsite at the foot of the rock and chapel of Saint-Michel-d'Aiguille - the lava chimney of an extinct volcano. A very friendly young man at the reception, an Anglophile who had worked in Peterborough, noted our Devon for Europe badges with approval.
Saint-Michel-d'Aiguille Puy-en-Velay.
Saint-Michel-d'Aiguille Puy-en-Velay.
Sainte-Claire. Puy-en-Velay.
Sainte-Claire. Puy-en-Velay.
Sainte-Claire. Puy-en-Velay.
Saint-Michel-d'Aiguille Puy-en-Velay.
Puy-en-Velay.
The statue of Notre-Dame-de-France was perched on top of the Rocher Corneille. Many tourists were making the climb even so late in the day. We had made the climb on a previous visit to stare out from inside the massive statue through the navel of the virgin
Notre-Dame-de-France. Puy-en-Velay.
Notre-Dame-de-France. Puy-en-Velay.
The romanesque cathedral's building was adorned with patterns from different coloured volcanic stones. While it dominates the town it was difficult to access. It is one of the many starting points for the Camino de Compostella. The black Madonna was wearing her own gilet jaune - a yellow gown specially reserved for the week after Easter. An organist demonstrated the massive baroque organ to a group of students and filled the cathedral with sound. We could peep at the beautiful romanesque cloisters through the hand-made glass of a doorway. Weather-beaten but friendly looking lions guarded the door to St John's baptistery.
Puy-en-Velay. St John's baptistery.
Cathedral. Puy-en-Velay.
Cathedral. Puy-en-Velay.
Cathedral cloisters, Puy-en-Velay.
Mural painting in the Cathedral, Puy-en-Velay.
Black Madonna. Puy-en-Velay.
Pieta in the cathedral, Puy-en-Velay.
Stairway below cathedral, Puy-en-Velay.
On the way down to the lower town we passed a lace shop with examples of bobbin-lace for which Le Puy is famous. There are many charming houses in the old quarter. In the Place Cadelade loomed the eclectic mass of a former office of the Verveine distillery, another product for which Le Puy is famous. Its curious cupola is faced with ceramic tiles.
Houses. Puy-en-Velay.
Verveine distillery. Puy-en-Velay.
