We woke up in the hotel in Murat after a very comfortable sleep to find it was snowing!
We had a lovely, typically French hotel breakfast of croissants, cheese and coffee, before setting off on our final leg before our sit. Although the snowfall was light and not really settling in the village, the scene we drove through was absolutely beautiful.
We had made a last-minute decision to change our route and rather take a slightly longer but quicker route using some of the toll roads, as we were under a bit of time pressure. It really paid off as I hadn't realised this took us over the Millau Viaduct. In April 2019, some of you may or may not remember, we went to try and catch a glimpse of the viaduct in Bokkie and we got thwarted by mist so thick we could hardly see the road, never mind the impressive bridge. Anyway, we finally got our chance not only to see, but also to cross one of the tallest cable-stayed bridges in the world.
Approaching the viaduct
The scale of it becomes evident when up close - it is HUGE!
An unintended consequence of our last-minute change of route was that we were following Dassie's sat-nav without having checked the route first so we were treated to a short-cut right through the middle of Montpellier, instead of skirting around on the bypass. oh well, one has to take the good with the bad.
Walking around Rochefort
We are now staying Rochefort-du-Gard, where we have a house-sit. It all seems so familiar, it could be any wine-growing village in the Boland. While the weather is definitely warmer than Brittany (and definitely much warmer than the Auvergne), it has been very windy and rainy today with a large amount of dust being deposited with the rain, presumably from the Sahara.
We are looking after an adorable dog, Orca and a very pretty but stand-offish cat called Frodo - a lovely way to spend the Easter long-weekend.
There are fantastic walks from the house and we are all loving the scenery
We were fascinated by the tiny Iris plants dotted everywhere.
This is Frodo-speak for 'I want a treat, please'
Orca can't understand why Toni doesn't want to help catch a mole
We're here until Monday and will then head off for a short break before our next sit.
We were up early this morning facing a long drive across the French interior. We bade farewell to B&T and the cats and set off in the rain
We were treated to a stunning rainbow as we left.
We’ve opted for the most direct route to our first house-sit near Avignon, even though it’s not the quickest route. We find that avoiding the highways usually offers better views of the countryside and today didn’t disappoint.
The final stage of our trip wound into the Auvergne region and we were treated to views of snow capped peaks around us.
We arrived at Murat just before 5pm and the temperature was 3°C with the odd snowflake. It is forecast to snow a little overnight and we're wondering if we should have packed warmer clothes; we thought it was spring already!
Our stunning hotel, the family who own it live next door and their family have lived there for more than 200 years.
You can just make out the snowy peaks in the distance
Murat is a beautiful, medieval village in central France
Top left in the picture is the white statue of the Virgin Mary and her child looking over the village.
Tomorrow, we're heading on to Rochefort-du-Gard meet Orca and Frodo, a dog and cat who need looking after for a couple of days.
The past six months have flown by and it's hard to believe that it is almost time for us to move on.
The garden comes to life after the winter dormancy.
Our hosts arrived here on Sunday evening and we'll hit the road south in Dassie on Wednesday morning.
We have an eight week road trip planned and are heading off without Orthos, our caravan. The main aims of this trip are to meet my parents for a short visit when their cruise arrives in Lisbon, and then dash across to the UK for Toni's dental appointments.
We decided to do this trip without Orthos as the cost to store her when we fly to Lisbon and the crazy ferry costs to take her to the UK made us reconsider (also, the weather is still iffy in Europe at this time of the year. Instead, we've lined up a few house-sits and will fill in the gaps with some hotel stays, seeing some of the cities we've passed by in our trips Bokkie.
For those who are interested in our itinerary: we plan to start off with a short house-sit in the South of France, near Avignon and then visit Carcassonne and Toulouse before a second house-sit, looking after four cats in Saint-Puy. From there we'll visit Bordeaux and then fly to Lisbon for a few days before returning for another long trip to get across the channel.
We spotted these processionary caterpillars on one of our walks.
The last three weeks have been a blur of sorting the garden, cleaning the house and packing our belongings in a sensible manner so that we can pack the caravan easily when we get back. Our summer plan (for now) is to head off in the direction of Germany by the end of May, and travel around in Orthos. We also have a summer sit lined up near Hanover, which should be lovely.
Will keep everyone posted!
Bonus: Some Lily videos
Lily could never resist climbing into cupboards and drawers.
I was amazed to see how close she could get over such open ground.
