Just Humans Being...

After loading up (under Sime's instruction) with our free buffet breakfast - we left Le Puy-En-Velay... My holiday coffee! Although a disappointment for Sime & his sightseeing plans - it was an ok city, we felt safe (being country bumpkins) walking around at night & had a couple of good meals out. The hotel was one of the best budget hotels we've stayed in - really well thought out for families & Hugo got his own little alcove in our bedroom, with a proper bed!  Highlights of Le Puy: Toilet Signs... French Pizza Omelette, Frites & Salade Verte Anyway, today's made up for the lack of wow factor - amazing journey through mountainous terrain, over the Millau Bridge, which again was a bit disappointing...  Then we were suddenly propelled into a spaghetti western - the scenery changed from lush gorges to desert & within 2 hours, the temperature rose from 4 to 18 degrees! Breathtaking scenery & a very much a Spanish influence, it's been 10

Let's get straight to it. Le Puy-en Velay is not what it seems. Check out the blurb and it appears to be an oasis of Auvergneois (Is that real?) traditionalism, a veritable potage of lentils, impossibly lunar-like cones of volcanic weirdness and down-home hospitality. The reality is that Le Puy is trading upon a fabrication! Merde! Perhaps in the '30s, before the nasty sprawl of scruffiness swamped and obscured what was special and unique about this place, it was worth a detour. Grab a sac of lentilles vertes, climb to a chapel that clings upon a volcanic needle and revel in the remoteness of the region. Now, all you want to do is pass through.Why stay when you see a "Mick Burger". There is a lovely building across the way from our hotel. A former distillery. Could be an old Parisian building from way back when. You know, those French street corner properties that have a graceful curve to them. Easy on the eye, grand without being ostentatious. There is a wonderful

After a more relaxing morning - a leisurely buffet breakfast, followed by quick showers, we were back on the road & felt a sense of relief to be away from the outskirts of Paris... Today's journey has been more enjoyable, not so far & seeing the mountains (volcanos) of the Auvergne just makes us feel good! The temperature got up to 19 degrees, while driving through Clermont Ferrand & we were able to have a look at Moulin, a large town near to last night's hotel. Moulin Clermont Ferrand - Look closely & you'll see a woman shaking out a tablecloth from her window!  We are now in a nice hotel in the heart of Le Puy en Velay - such a novelty for us to be in the middle of a city! We're staying for 2 nights, so are looking forward to some sightseeing tomorrow... On the way down to Le Puy One of the volcanic cones in Le Puy Another volcanic cone The view from our room As for tonight, a stroll around the city & a meal out... More photos tomorrow. :)

We were up at 6am this morning, as we had to be at the ferry port in Dover for 7am. On arrival, we discovered that the ferry was delayed, so we sat in the car - while the rain poured down! At last we were allowed to drive on. The white Cliffs of Dover! The nice thing about going away this time of year is that the ferry was quiet, so we had breakfast in peaceful surroundings! Just off the ferry & into France... We haven't really seen many wind farms in France - this is just before Paris on the A1. Outskirts of Paris, we decided to bypass the city, as we have driven through it on several occasions, but 4pm in the week isn't a good time to be anywhere near the Peripherique! It soon went dark after this photo & we still had 5 hours driving to do... Arrived at our hotel just after 9pm & discovered that the one veggie meal in the restaurant was unavailable! So the staff very kindly gave us free wine & rustled up some roasted veg with bread & salad. :) We

First day of our journey today - Home to Dover, we decided to go via Plymouth for a change & then along the A303 past Stonehenge... Arriving in Plymouth Stonehenge Urban Bunnies Dinner Time! Early ferry tomorrow, so better get some sleep! :)

Tomorrow, Fam 3 (Sime, Hugo & myself) are setting off on our road trip to the south of France. We're going to be away from home for 4 weeks... We've enjoyed some time with the rest of our family, eating, chatting, laughing & playing board games. Now it's time to prepare for our trip, will we miss home? Yes of course - especially the biggies & the fluffers, but we love the excitment of exploring new places & just maybe, we'll find the place we want to spend the rest of our lives...                                                                                        Our beach is so beautiful, when we have it to ourselves - will we really find somewhere more amazing than this? We hope so! Kay :)

Today is all about giving back - things that we do or can do to help others, so we were thinking about what we do & were struggling until I read  Karin's Blog . Karin has written about what stops her from doing good things, but all along - she actually is helping others! We cared for my Nan for the last 2 years of her life, she came to live with us when her sheltered housing closed down. Sime & I both felt that she & my Grandad were always there for us when we needed them & thought it was the least we could do for her. It was hard work, as she had vascular dementia (amongst other ailments), but we are so glad we did. During her time with us, we joined a local  Transition Group , we couldn't devote much time, but enjoyed going along to the monthly meetings. It's been over a year since Nan died & since then we have been able to give to our community so much more. Our group has about 7 main members & we try to come up with ways of bringing our neighbo