Up and down in the heat

The temperature has risen sharply and over 40 degrees is forecast. I am joined at Roanne by Riccardo - his comment on an earlier post (May 27) indicates the sort of week I can expect.. We move east across a tangled series of ridges, each at about 700m. Somewhere we cross a major watershed - water now flows to the Mediterranean rather than the Atlantic. Harvest is underway on the lower slopes - this is a view as we start to climb out of the Loire valley. 

Then it is up and down over the ridges. The valleys with little villages like this one.

We are labouring hard in the heat! This bystander had the right idea - keep in the shade.

Riccardo takes a leaf out of her book and goes to sleep immediately.

They are both right! And we start getting going early, lying up in the afternoon, and doing a bit more in the evening. Here's the view from where we sleep out up on one of the ridges we are crossing. 

A beautiful evening and the strange and wonderful sound of Nightjars during the night. The moon is almost full and we both wake in the night thinking there is a searchlight on us. We are up at dawn and away by 5.30.

By mid-morning it's roasting hot again and we've dropped down and then climbed yet another ridge. The reward is a sighting on a forest track of a large, fast-flying butterfly, which I'm not sure I have ever seen before. The elusive Purple Emperor usually stays in the tree tops. I only managed to capture this view but saw its famous purple upper wing in all its glory as it flew away. 

Farewell to the Loire

I first saw the Loire four weeks ago at Blois and have been coming back to it or following it since. Here at Roanne, about 900km from its mouth, the river is still an impressive size. Now it is a final goodbye as I head east towards the Saone-Rhone valley. 

Roanne is where serious navigation of the Loire starts whether by the lateral canal, extended down from Digoin in the 1830s, or, in earlier times, by the river itself. Above Roanne are gorges, now dammed - one of the few interruptions to what claims to be Europe's longest untamed river. And Roanne claims that its port used to be the second largest in France, such was the importance of river and canal for internal trade. Here's the early 19th century stone bridge. 

But the town centre is some way off, presumably due to past risk of flooding - this is not a Blois or a Gien with a chateau and church on high ground dominating the river. Here's the 12th century tower that remains from the old chateau. 

And the other side of the figure in the foreground, a relic perhaps from the unfortunate 19th century makeover of the main church? Or a reproduction?

This is an early 17th century Jesuit chapel, said to be very nice inside but locked on a hot dead Sunday afternoon. 

And a late 18th century building, now the Sub Prefecture, with a cedar of Lebanon planted in 1830 which looked very attractive in the heat. The heat is forecast to rise further next week, which means I will have to try to get up earlier in the morning..

Into mountains

Les Monts de la Madeleine may not provide France's highest peaks. But with a main ridge of just over 1000m this tip of the Massif Central earns its name. It took two sweaty but very satisfying days to get through them. Glorious views to the west and southwest opened out as I climbed - Puy de Dôme is just visible in the distance above the fence post in this photo. 

Little mountain villages led upwards. This one, Châtelus, still had a tiny bar. I duly paid for my coffee!

And then into the beech and conifer woods that cloak most of the slopes, and up through them on a mix of minor roads, forest tracks and steep stony paths. A dip in a torrent in the late afternoon cooled me off. This picture is from near the top - the foxgloves spring up in any patch of cleared forest. 

The top produced huge views to the east down the other side, of Roanne, which is on the Loire, and of the next range of hills to be crossed beyond. In winter one can apparently see Mt Blanc on a good day.

Down to the first village and it is clear that living standards are higher this side of the mountains. Sunny slopes with vines and the proximity of Roanne, a town of 40,000 - here again in the middle distance of the photo. 

The high ground has produced new butterflies. I'm alleging that the first one below may be a Mountain Ringlet. The tiny second one, feeding on bramble that is everywhere in flower, must be some sort of Skipper. 

Rich and poor

Yesterday's headline in the local paper had a depressing message about rural poverty in this part of France, the northern edge of the Auvergne. 

The evidence for the passing traveller is the large number of houses for sale, the dilapidated or boarded-up properties, and, at a village level, the closed-down shops - although the car and large supermarkets are also responsible for the last of these.

In each village, conversation quickly reveals that the bar closed down last year, or the baker is about to retire, or the school has only eight pupils this year.. The village 'lavoir', the wash house, provides a reminder of what were living standards in comparatively recent times. The tin roof and cement sides of this one at St Leon suggests use well within living memory. 

Alongside the rural poverty are some fine little chateaux - these two are within an half an hour's walk of the St Leon lavoir.

But at least the scenery can be enjoyed by all! And it gets better by the day as I start to climb. This photo shows the view north-east from a lunch spot to the high hills of Morvan. Two minutes further on I could see the far away 1500m peak of Puy de Dôme to the south-west, just outside Clermont-Ferrand - about 100 miles separates the two. 

And, as ever, little churches, including this one at Barrais-Bussolles - the photo struggles to capture adequately the simple beauty of the roses around the Romanesque doorway. 

Taking the waters

Bourbon-Lancy, a spa town. The early morning view from my b&b window of 'Les Thermes', the baths. There were two 'curistes' - people taking a cure - at breakfast.

The town has a nice little medieval centre as well, which was filled last night with people listening to music of all types - a Fêté de la Musique was in progress. The pizzeria (is the pizza taking over France?) got the blues. Down near my b&b we got music more suited to the curistes.. Here is the view looking back at the town as I left. 

The GR quickly entered a very welcome wood on what was a hot morning. 

The penny finally dropped today on why there are so many of these at the moment - indeed the only breed of cow in evidence. 

Charolais are named after Charolles, a town not far to the east in this part of Burgundy. The day also produced another example of tasteful railings on small bridges on country roads. 

And, at Saligny-sur-Roudon, the first war memorial I have seen with a cockerel and a neat little chateau, still a private home. 

Decisions

I sometimes envy the Compostella pilgrims for having a well-defined route. But the uncertainty of route finding is stimulating and right now there is a decision to be made. Head up the Loire's lateral canal to Digoin and the canal that follows - still next to the Loire - to Roanne? Or do something different. Maybe I should have consulted, in a village just south of Decize.

About 80 km of canal towpath does not attract. I decide instead to keep on GR3 as it leaves the Loire at last and heads up into les Monts de la Madeleine, the top right corner of the Massif Central. We saw them in the distance from Decize. They beckon! Although, from the map, food and lodging look likely to be sparse. Mmm..

We becomes I again as Tina and Honi leave for Gap. Here they are hard at work on diary and postcards in Decize - after some serious walking of course!

Decize market produced some impressive asparagus. 

And some storks that we saw in a hay field not far out of town. 

Just before a stretch along the Loire again. 

Pilgrims and the machine

The 12th century fresco of Christ in the cathedral at Nevers with 20th century stained glass in the windows below. Almost all the windows are of a modern design and the combination of medieval and new is really striking. The second photo looks down the gothic nave. 

And here is the cathedral seen from across the Loire, with the 19th century bridge on the left (not as fine as the early 18th century ones at Blois and Gien). 

From La Charité-sur-Loire to Nevers the GR we are on (we, as I have been joined by Tina and Honi) coincides with one of the four main routes across France that head for Spain and Compostella - the one coming from Vézelay. The path signs (suddenly better!) include a representation of a shell, the symbol of the Compostella pilgrims. 

'Are you too a pilgrim?' ask a French couple with large rucksacks as I sit on the church steps in La Charité waiting for Tina and Honi to arrive. (Well, through life..) South of Nevers the path follows the Loire lateral canal for a while and I am heartened by the progress made since I saw its start at Briare!

And then through fields and woods to Decize, where another important canal joins the river (Canal du Nivernais). Passing on the way The Machine. 

An old coal mining town - mining finished in 1975. The name comes from the horse-powered lifts in the mine shafts. We seem a million miles from the vines of Sancerre and Pouilly now.