July 31st - August 2nd Embrun

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July 31^st

After the breakfast watching we did the machine washing a day earlier than normal as the forecast wasn't that good. Having hung it out in 28* heat & had lunch we set off on the bicyclettes to find Embrun...& failed. The village of Chateauroux is on the corner of 4 maps, a bit like Wigginton & the little shop would only let you borrow one at a time! Anyway, besides it was very hot & not surprisingly the roads were a bit on the hilly side! Plus the clouds looked testy. Having drunk all our water after about an hour we decided to go back & go another day. I remembered that my phone will direct us there so long as the battery & signal holds...

In the afternoon Cathy prepared a route plan & camp sites & I sent off emails to reserve pitches bearing in mind it was high season. A couple came back very quickly & so off again to use the wifi & pay deposits where we had to.

In the evening we watched the storm clouds gather over the mountains & the lightening giving us a rare old display. We went to bed having put everything away apart from the table frame.

August 1st

What a storm! Another apocalyptic performance by the weather; the rain & large hail was so loud it woke us both up as being in Billy in those conditions is like being in a cake tin. Thankfully we didn't get any massive hail as some must have done somewhere (as it was forecast) but we did get one errant stone – it felt like a cannon shell on the roof. I wonder if it dented it? We woke early after a rough night, had a cup of tea then fell asleep again until 9.45am, 12 hours after we went to bed, which we haven't done in years & years.

We had brekkers & lunch in quick succession & we decided to watch a DVD on the tv in the afternoon – something we haven't used once since coming away. Got it all sorted, tv on the bracket, beer out, crisps in a bowl, cabin chairs turned & adjusted, put the fan heater on for Cathy, turned the tv on.....& the screen was effectively cracked behind the surface....& the sound wouldn't work. Gutted! We'd wrapped it carefully as we didn't want to bring the box & packaging away – but clearly not well enough. Not only had we not used it once on the trip but we hadn't used it ever – it was brand new. Oh well, lesson learnt & I think I bought a no questions asked policy with it which I normally don't do but thought it was worth it for use in Billy; I think/hope it covers accidental damage too, we'll see.

It rained on & off all day though more on than off so we read, listened to music & wrote this garbage, sorry, blog etc We decided also not to take meat out of the freezer for dinner due to the forecast but to have soup & French pain de campagne...a few days ago it was 40* & now we're having soup, ha!

August 2^nd

A quieter night thankfully & a beautiful morning, crisp & clear. I nipped out of Billy at 6.30am to take a picture of the rising sun on the mountain behind us. Decided to make the re-run to Embrun now we knew where to go. The trip down was very easy as most of it was downhill & I was up to 30mph without pedalling, woo hoo! Going the other way up the hill came two cyclists, one on a racing bike with all the gear like a Tour de France rider giving it some & sweating profusely closely followed by a lady in her 70's on an old fashioned looking bike, wearing a flowery dress, smiling at us & waving. Neither of us could believe it until we saw beneath her flowing dress that it was a battery power assist bike....hilarious to see!

Embrun is lovely with a pedestrianised, narrow shopping main street with cafes, restaurants, outdoor clothes shops, hippy shops as I call them, patisseries & the like. I was rather grateful we didn't make it yesterday as some of the shops were closed today, Sunday...We saw & heard the last 2 tunes from the local band in the square which was smashing as we went across to the Cathedral which the town's local church; we couldn't go in as their Sunday service was still running despite it being 12.30. Around the back was a viewpoint from 'le Roc', the cliff that the town was built on with views up & down the valley to the lake – the biggest man made lake in Europe so they say which is azure blue.

We had lunch in a cafe rather than a restaurant – Cathy a tomato & goats cheese tarte & me, jambon et frites, grand! With a reassuringly expensive Stella Artois to go with it of course.

The cycle back was a bit more of a challenge, but we made it feeling pretty tired & hot – not too bad as it was only 27* today & breezy. I love this place & can recommend for a centre holiday; the scenery is stunning, there are high mountain passes, loads of walks, places to visit all around – just magnificent. Scafell pike is about 970m high if my memory serves me right - here we are surrounded with peaks up to 4100m – just breathtaking.

It will be a shame to go, but go we must – tomorrow it's Lyon (or as the Dyson says, Lion). We're staying 2 nights in a place called Dardilly (!) (violets are blue...) & plan to visit the old part of the city which is another UNESCO site so Hannah's book present tells us ('Lonely Planet – Europe on a shoestring but no-one told Cathy')

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