Le Puy en Velay

One day, when the weather was indifferent, we rode into Le Puy en Velay. A puy is the remains of the plug at the centre of an old volcano which is left after the rest of the mountain has eroded away. It's the same as the rock Edinburgh Castle is built on. The whole of the Auvergne is an old volcanic area and there are dozens of these puys, at least three are in the town of Le Puy. We climbed throughthe steep streets of the mediaval town centre to the cathedral on the main one and behind the cathedral to the statue of Notre Dame de Velay


The statue is huge and interestingly was made from cannons captured from the Russians at Sebastapol during the Crimean war. Here's LB walking around the base...

...and here's the whole statue. You could climb up inside and there were small windows at various points to enjoy the view.

Here's part of the town with the Cathedral and its cloister in the foreground.

This is a view of the platform it is built on. The small statue is of the architect, praying. A few left over cannons can be seen to the left of the man in the red jacket while LB is standing by the bench at the far end waiting for me!


Elvie

Auvergne Countryside

We arrived home yesterday so can now show you a few photo's of the lovely Auvergne scenery. It's a beautiful part of France and we caught it when the Autumn colours were at their most spectacular. For those bikers reading this it's a superb biking destination with wonderful roads for all sorts of bikes. We explored magnificent, sweeping, sports bike, D roads as well as more taxing, nadgery, GS type roads all with fantastic scenery & views at every corner. In fact the corners can be quite tricky when your eye is taken by another unexpected vista!

Elvie

At large in Le Puy en Velay

Having moved on from Magny Cours we have settled into our gite, and already had one great ride up the Gorges de L'Allier, in warm sunshine. The scenery was fantastic. Yesterday however it rained all day, and we didn't get on the bikes! Today it's still overcast, but basically dry, so we've ridden into Le Puy for a wander. Have climbed up the statue on the volcanic peak overlooking the town and got wobbly legs so now recovering in internet cafe. We're both missing the internet in the gite as there is no internet access in the village we're staying in. Anyway not much more to say just have a look at the photos here the gite and town

Elvie & LB

Race Day at Magny Cours

We wrapped up in lots of layers as the weather has been really cold so far this trip and today was no exception. There was a bit of sun but it didn't last long. the circuit is only half an hour from here so was an easy ride in with the usual mounting excitement as more and more bikes and other traffic filled the road as we got nearer the circuit. We parked up easily on a kerb and found places in a stand on the last corner with a view of the finishing line.

Magny Cours is a great circuit, modern, with good access and facilities. There are dozens of stands, entry to which is included in the standard ticket price. No-one sits on the ground. Why can't Donington do the same? The only criticism I have is the lack of large screens. There are only two though our chosen seats gave us a view of one of them.


The racing was quite good particularly the Super Stocks and the second WSB race. Bayliss won the championship after coming third in the first race and Pitt won the Supersports race and championship. It was pretty cold sitting and watching as our stand caught the bitter wind. I don't think any of us were particularly sorry when it finished and we could set off back. LB and I are now safe and warm in the B&B while the other three head north to Tours. Hope they don't get too cold & arrive safe.

Tomorrow we venture further south to the Auvergne. We won't have wifi in our gite so further updates will have to wait till we find a McDonalds!

Book of Doors and Bed Repairs!

James and Sara's bed had a midline crisis when the supports collapsed. (We won't ask what they were doing at the time!) James went under to investigate



Two Books of Doors, freely donated at the circuit ( see here )did the trick



Then they had to test it! ( sorry it's blurry, I was laughing too much!)



Seems to work ok! Moral: Never look a gift book in the mouth!

Elvie

France!

Sorry for the delay in updating you but we've had problems getting online and in uploading photos to the pc.



We're now safely installed in le Moulin de St Martin, above, a gite near the Magny Cours circuit after a long and cold ride south. We travelled with 3 friends who are also staying here and going to the races but will return home Sunday night. Today was spent at the practice session. We have reconnoitred the place and decided the best spot for race day. While wandering around the paddock we were presented with some freebies,




a white Sterilgarda Ducati polo shirt each and...........wait for it........



a book of doors! They're Italian and very stylish but what the ?????? Anyway am now being called to dinner, a Moroccan buffet. Will post again tomorrow

Elvie

On the Road Again!

Not so far this time. We're off to France for a fortnight. Basically we are off to see WSB at Magny Cours and then hiring a gite in the Auvergne for week. Tonight we are in Dover, in a B&B. We've just had a meal in the local Weatherspoons and will be catching the 8.00am SpeedFerry tomorrow.

We've just hit a major problem in that we can't load photos on the blog. We've never been able to load directly from the camera but have used a card reader. The old one was getting a bit dodgy so we bought a new one. This worked at home but now the computer isn't recognising it. We'll try & get another in France but in the meantime you'll just have to put up with text.

Elvie