Saturday August 4, Allegre

A very happy French chook sitting
(and sh...ting) on the windowsill!

We have had a great day today, until this evening when we arrived at this really nice Municipal Campground and parked under the trees in a nice breezy position. Ian went to start the vehicle to shift it a little….and there was nothing, just like a flat battery. This happened last year and we eventually got it started and took it to the Mercedes Benz dealer in Valence and after two attempts they rebooted the computer and it has been going fine every since. Ian tried numerous times to get it going without any luck, so we have decided to just leave it till the morning and hopefully it will decide to go again. So Plan A is to hopefully get it started and drive to Valence, which happens to be only 2 ½ hours away and wait to see MB on Monday. And Plan B if it doesn’t start … is yet to be decided!!! As Ian always says “don’t worry about something that hasn’t happened”!!! We couldn’t be holed up in a better place with all the facilities we need and plenty of supplies on board. Just the ups and downs of life on the road. At least we haven’t had an accident in the vehicle!
Woke this morning to the coolest morning for ages, it was bliss, the air was so fresh. We had a lazy time before we headed off mid-morning and we climbed up to 1000metres to the town of La Chaise-Dieu with its beautiful abbey. The air was cooler and we found a motorhome parking area about 10 minutes walk from town, perfect.
Decided we would have lunch out and found a really nice hotel, sat outside under umbrellas and enjoyed great food as we relaxed, yesterday had been a long hot drive. It was so pleasant wandering around the streets of this medieval town, with it’s relaxed atmosphere, this is not on the major tourist trail and the streets are not crowded. Noticed a number of shops selling local mushrooms, guessing they are from the forests that surround the area we are in.
The Benedictine Abbey was founded on this site in 1043 and the church was built in the 1300’s. You have a real sense of the age of it walking across the flagstone floor and looking up to the huge ceiling. History just oozes out of it. There were two monks chanting during the time we were there, and very little other noise. Just so peaceful.
Feeling quite hot again by the time we walked back to the van, so found a really nice campsite not too far away in the trees. Perfect…. that is until Ruakiwi decided to have a “rest”!  Update in tomorrows journal to if it will be Plan A or Plan B!!!

Love the quaintness of French shops

For my photographer friends, a bit of fun with
reflections in a shop window.

The Abbey

An impressive organ

French shutters, in all states of disrepair

Certainly much cooler with a higher elevation.

These are fresh mushrooms from
this region.

Have free wifi tonight, so managed to load a map of where we are at the moment.