Splendid Chatelguyon

... nice.

Andy told us all about how a guy in the town we're staying at invented elastic, and it had something to do with sheep’s innards, cast-offs, and a small child – I think. The place we stayed at used to be a pig farm, but it had a concrete leaping stag as an emblem. I broke their satellite decoder. It was a very strange night.

... reached the Millau Bridge, super structure and amazing piece of engineering, by late afternoon. It was no way I would make the Loire by 7 pm so we reach the little town called Issoire and stay the night at Etap hotel (like formula one). Tomorrow short drive big day.

... Later that night, after we'd gone to bed, we were woken by a series of deafening bangs echoing around the surrounding hills, and thought the long-extinct volcanoes had come to life again - but it was just an enormous firework display in nearby Clermont-Ferrand . Nothing is more frustrating than being able to hear a huge firework display but ...

Hi everyone I survived the bike and barge after completing about 350 ks for the week. The weather was sensational except for one day that we got caught in the rain riding home one day. Luckily we were near a village that had a bar so the group of 18 took the place over and sat it out. Martin the barge pilot and tour director claims he will not be able to go back there again. The food was amazing with a 3 course hot meal everynight, breakfasts and at ...

... it was a Bank Holiday, as in the UK, but we saw roadworkers, builders and postmen - and there were no children anywhere. In the afternoon we found an Intermarche and bought some fruit and veg. Maybe Mondays are half days in these parts? At Charite, I decided it wasn't skirt weather after all and reverted to cargoes and fleece. We'd better have some sun soon, or I'm going to run out of clothes! We didn't see the sun ...

... felt he saw in his country, he agreed to head a government in "Free France" (now usually called "Vichy France") after agreeing to allow the Germans to occupy 3/5 of the nation. After the war he was sentenced to death for treason but had the punishment commuted to life in prison by Charles de Gaulle, on account of his service in WWI. I can't help but think about that history as I drive through Vichy. A great man, a talented, and courageous and ...

On Le Weekend we met a group of the French kids and clearly they fell in love with us. So shortly after that weekend they wanted to party with us again as soon as they could. And did we ever. Quentin had a number of us over to get to know us a little better. A couple 40s later we were much better acquainted. It was the start of a beautiful friendship.

... this club is crazy. On a busy night over 3500 people go. It's all euro-techno music, crazy lights, intense security, like when you pull into the parking lot, they have huge German Shepard dog's wearing mussels and giant guys holding onto them. Oh, and one more thing, it doesn't open until 1 am and closes at 5am It's about 12 euro's to enter, and drinks cost about 8 Eur but it is so much fun! Really, I wasn't a big fan of techno music before I came here, but I have come to ...

So, on September 1 we headed to the Gare de Lyon and made our way down to Vichy. Its about 3 hours by regular train south to Vichy. When I got the station a girl from my school met me and took me right to my dorm. I was super nervous about this. I really wanted something nice to live in, and thankfully my dorm is perfect for me. It was super clean, had a shower, with pressure, toilet, and kitchenette ...

Mida lähemale linnale, seda vichysemaks ja vesiseks ka ilm kiskus. Seetõttu polnud me seal väga entusiastlikud turistid ja käisime vaid tiiru linnas ning maitsesime kraanidest vett. Tegemist oli sooja ja väga ebameeldiva maitselise veega. Seega 0,3 € topsi ostmine vee degusteerimiseks oli üsna mõttetu. Vichy külastamist jääb meile meenutama karp pastille.