After five nights in Aurillac it was time to move on, to Mende. We had planned to visit a couple of villages on our way: Bozouls and Aubrac (both in the department of Aveyron), but also made quick stops in Estaing and Espalion (also in Aveyron) — in the first […]
During our four days in Aurillac we made only one longer hike on the plateau of Campuac, two shorter hikes in the nearby villages Vic- and Arpajon-sur-Cère, and then made a day trip to two old, idyllic villages Carlat and Mur-de-Barrez farther away. The first hike from Campuac was very […]
For this year’s Summer vacation we spent two week in the southern part of the central massif doing some relaxed hiking, visiting picturesque old villages, and doing just a tiny bit of running. On our way there we spent one night in Orange (Vaucluse), and then two nights in Saint-Ambroix […]
The design capital of France truly disappointed us. Ever since we drove through the central Saint-Étienne a couple of years ago, and got somewhat lost there, I have wanted to visit the city with more time. The city was filthy, filthier than the capital, if it even is possible: there […]
We spent a week in Crest in central Drôme at the foot of Southern Vercors range, hiking in surrounding areas, but also going for a couple morning runs. We like this area of Drôme for multiple reasons: its landscape is an interesting mixture of forested mountains and Mediterranean scenery. Also […]
I’ve lost track how many times we have spent our winter vacation in the Serre Chevalier Valley in Hautes-Alpes department, but one thing is sure: the weather has been mostly good. And so it was this time, too. Actually it was extra good, since the sun shone from the clear […]
We spent the extended holiday weekend in the area where most of town and village names sounded like they were taken from Asterix. The area, called la Dombes, is an undulating plateau in the department of Ain consisting of 1200 ponds or rainwater pools that are man-made, most of them […]
As the weather forecast looked very promising for the last weekend of October — with lots of sun and the daytime temperatures in upper teens or lower twenties — we decided to take Monday off and head for a short bike tour on this All Saints’ holiday. We had just […]
Thanks to the recent gas crises — due to the strikes at oil refineries 30-40% of the gas stations have shortage of at least one type of gasoline — Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes announced last week that all regional trains and buses were free this past weekend. We though about taking our bikes […]