Auvergne

This tour was based from a workshop in a hamlet near Paulhaguet, itself a small village on the Clermont-Ferrand to Le Puy en Velay railway line, most of the way to Le Puy. Travel was via Eurostar to Paris, metro to the Gare de Lyon, to catch the train via Clermont-Ferrand to Paulhaguet, which has a stop which barely counts as a station. The Auvergne tour itineraries have since changed, even to using different hotels in the same towns.

The standard tours were 6 nights of either Valleys or Velay; I did an 8-nights combination, slightly customised for the fact that one of the usual hotels was hosting a wedding party one of the nights I was there. The accomodation was generally unpretentious, but comfortable with plenty of good cooking at dinner.

Taking the tour in June '99 I spent the first night in Chavaniac-Lafayette (that's Lafayette as in the American Revolution, back when the two countries were in accord about revolutions and that sort of thing), before being transported to the base workshop. The journey from Paulhaguet came back through Chananiac to Siaugues St. Romain for the night, then on to St. Paulien. From here, I took a side trip to see the "fortresse feodal" as the roadsigns put it at Polignac (see picture).

This view is taken from the minor road that runs through the village of Blanzac, which was the recommended route, but for cycling, the smoother surfaced main N102 which cuts through some of the terrain is actually a better road, especially on a Sunday when it's very quiet.

This is one of many castles in the region, which was really only pacified and integrated into France in the last couple of centuries. Polignac's castle was never taken in siege, and was supposedly run by as wicked a set of Barons as you'd ever expect to find in a historical romance. It still looks impressive, even though within the walls, apart from the one tower, there are but a few crumbling bits of masonry and open grass.

From Polignac, I headed north to Allegre, where the ruined castle has left only a grand gateway and a small tower. As I approached the town (on foot, as my chain had snapped between Polignac and St. Paulien - while I could freewheel some of the way, it was convenient that it was only a ten mile walk, though the heat was something fierce), I had wondered just what that thing that was slowly coming into view was. This view is from about a mile south of the town.

Here I rested a couple of nights, taking a day off from the road. When I set off, the weather reminded me that the town is at over 1000m altitude (1107m at the base of the archway), with low cloud providing fog cover as I headed north to la Chaise Dieu, (which was annoying at the time, and is now doubly so as the recent tour routes don't go near this side of the valleys) remaining until I dropped below the cloud base as I headed down the painfully long - 20-odd miles - freewheel to Brioude, with the brakes needing to be pumped most of the way.

Brioude is the major town in this region, and the Hotel de la Poste et Champanne where I stayed was the best on the trip (large comfortable rooms, excellent food, and busy friendly atmosphere). I would recommend this as a base for anyone wanting to do an independent tour of the region.

Now it was already time to return the bike and on the way, another magnificent ruined castle described as a Chateau Feodal, this one at Domeyrat. Alas, I passed this one during the long lunch break, so carried on to the base workshop, and waited, sipping water in the scant shade and sultry heat until my lift to that night's hotel. Given that I was travelling from Brioude the next day, that would have seemed the obvious place to stay, but no, I was billeted at a motel somewhere in between, and taxied again the next morning.

Chartres Cathedral

Various snaps of from a holiday we took in late 98 - staying in Paris, but using the wonders of the 'net to help organise a day trip by SNCF down to Chartres, where we had been briefly about ten years earlier as part of a rather ghastly (friction between a contingent from some Welsh chapel and the coach driver) Paris and environs coach trip. So we wanted to go there in our own time, rather than being chivvied about with not enough time to do one of the guided tours.

Side door at Chartres cathedral

Front aspect

Rear aspect

Detail of one statue in an alcove by the side doorway

Stained glass at Chartres cathedral

Not shown, the Amber-like pattern spiralling in the centre of the interior, mainly because it was obscured by all the chairs set out for services.

Kundalini (4th Aug 1995 - 5th July 1998)

Sadly run over during her wanderings, Kundalini was a pedigree Asian Smoke ( a Burmese variety with a black outer coat, and white underfur). She grew from this enormously cute phase into a the same sort of rough tough alley-cat hunter as Shen was; though remained ridiculously cute when she wanted to be.

Here she is at about nine months, showing off her bald patch after being spayed; and she kept the habit of rolling over to display her belly when she felt like being cute - as this later photo shows.

She clearly domesticated at least one other household, caught any rodents that attracted her attention, and any bird or insect unwarily flying past, and scavenged where the opportunity permitted. At least she didn't followed Shen in bringing home bits of other peoples' Sunday lunch; but her wanderings did take her across a fairly busy road, alas.

Homeward Bound

Pack, visit the aquarium, then catch the coach to Auckland, then taxi to the airport, to find that the plane is delayed several hours with a broken windscreen. Avail ourselves of the business class hospitality suite for the 4 hour delay - which leads to a zero-time stop-over at LAX as we just march from one plane to the next.

And so home again, to early winter and short days.

All in all a wonderful time, despite lousy weather at times. The food is excellent, and by EU standards, very cheap. I would highly recommend it as a place to go (despite the two 12-hour legs of the flight there). Just don't try to see all of it at once. We were there 4 weeks, didn't even attempt the South Island, and hardly had time to catch our breaths while we were being shown a little bit of everything.

Uttermost North

Did the obligatory tour up to the utmost north, stopping at the Puketi Kauri kingdom, to admire the huge trees, then up the Ninety Mile Beach, stopping at the north end to body-board down the dunes at Te Paki, and thence to the very tip of the island.

And there it is, Cape Reigna, with its lighthouse, where Indian and Pacific Oceans meet, and the spirits of the Maori make last landfall before heading north into the spirit world.

A bit of a hiccup as the coach runs out of fuel as we start back, and diesel has to be dragged from the stores at the cape and poured into the tank through a makeshift funnel.

Back via purveyors of local honey, and where semi-fossilised (20kyr+ old) kauri wood is excavated and sold (buy a salad spoon and fork set, and a bowl).

Dine at the Saltwater Café again, then wander to a dark part of the beach and show Karen the Magellanic Clouds and other features of the southern sky.

Capsized

Lazy morning, then I join a kayaking tour around the estuary, with a guide who has got things figured out just right - spending the summers kayaking in Canada, then the summers kayaking in New Zealand. For myself, I didn't manage too badly in amongst the mangroves, but the pedal steering goes the wrong way according to my intuition, so tryng to catch everyone up on the open water, I ditched and rolled - the escape being automatic and reflexive, and getting back in again simple. I accepted a tow from the guide, but managed to ditch again when I tried steering, so ended up a passive tow, and then walked back home from the falls which were the half-way point of the tour. Meanwhile Karen window shopped, and took a short bush walk.

Dined at Tides, where they served excellent red wine scandalously young - they were already serving the '95 vintage! So we bought a few bottles to see in 2000 with, and by then it had had some chance to mature, and was wonderful.

Dolphins

We joined a swim-with-dolphins trip at dawn, under leaden skies. After 3 hours we find a pod, but they have young (one still showing creases in the side where it had been curled up before birth), so we are not allowed to get into the water. We follow them, watching them feed, for about an hour. In the afternoon, while Karen dozed, I went out for a ramble. Dinner at Khushbu, an Indian vegetarian restaurant.