Châteaus and champignons

We left Lyon and drove south east to the tiny village of Pouzols, Saint-Bérain where we were very privileged to stay with Hobie friends Chris & Lynn for 3 nights.  Chris and Lynn have an old, stone farmhouse they have carefully renovated making it a very comfortable place for our heads to catch up to our bodies.  Lynn's amazing cooking was the icing on the cake.  We ate the French way - bread and Lynn's homemade jam (a choice of raspberry, blackberry and apricot) for breakfast, main meal in the middle of the day (with wine) and light meal for dinner.  At the end of our stay I was able to string sentences together again :).  Thank you Lynn and Chris!!

 

Blackberry picking

We arrived for a late lunch on Wednesday 13 September. After lunch we went for a walk around the village to collect blackberries for dessert and field mushrooms to go with dinner. We were very successful with finding blackberries and we also found many mushrooms.

We woke to a misty, showery morning, which gave us an excuse to relax for the morning.  After another delicious lunch we made our way to Chris' family home, Château du Thiolent, where his mother and eldest brother's family live.  Chris grew up in this castle that has been part of his family for a thousand years. Incredible! 

Looking across to the front of the castle from the parkland

the rear of the castle and a Roman milestone

It was like time had stopped inside the part  of the castle that is not used as living space. The work involved to maintain this property in such good condition is unimaginable.  The reality of living in a building designed as a fortress was sobering.

We left the castle and drove into the nearest city, Le Puy.  We were in luck as there was a medieval festival happening over four days starting today.  When we arrived there were people in costume walking down the streets.

Camps were set up in small corners all over the town, with fires burning and cauldrons hanging over the fire cooking period food.

There were blacksmiths and fairies, musicians on corners and folk dancing in the street. We walked up to the main cathedral, which is the dominant building in the town, at the top of the hill.  The cathedral marks the start of the pilgrim trail of St Jacques that goes all the way to the west coast of Spain.

Thursday was sunny, but still brisk - the top temperature while we were in Pouzols was about 17 degrees (it was 30 degrees back in Sydney!).    The girls and I went looking for mousam mushrooms to go with the salmon Lynn was cooking for lunch.  We found lots as we walked along the village roads.

On our way back to the house Chris and Dave arrived to rescue the kids from the walk on the quad bike - Dave may have secretly enjoyed riding the quad (shh).

Before lunch we went and visited an abandoned village.  Years ago a lady bought up some of the houses and turned the chateau into a restaurant.  When she could no longer run it, no one would take it over and sadly it has gone into decline again.  The buildings were so strong, with thick stone walls and small shuttered windows.

A stage of the Tour de France went through through this area this year.  One of the big hill climbs rose from the valley of the Allier River to an area just near Pouzols, and right past Thiolent.

After another gourmet French lunch by Lynn we went for a much needed walk to a lookout where we could see all the places we had visited during our stay.  We found wild raspberries, strawberries and blackberries along the trail and of course sampled them all - yum!

We drove home the scenic route, via some more castles, churches, dairy farms and pig farms, stopping on the way at a very small village with a tiny chapel built on top of a rock. The chapel is also on the pilgrim trail of St Jacques that starts in Le Puy.

On Saturday 16th we said reluctantly said goodbye to Lynn and Chris after an incredible beginning to our trip.  Next time we see them we will both have some miles covered at sea, as they leave on Wednesday bound for Uruguay, where their boat (HaiYou) waits for them and their next adventure around the Cape.