28 November 2022 - On the farm in the heart of France
Miles driven today = 113
Total Miles to date = 4,400
Our journey northwards continues apace. Our new best friend the A75 took us to the outskirts of Clermont-Ferrand where we picked up the D2009 past Riom, Aiguesperse and Gannat. At St Pourcain sur Sioule we crossed the Allier River for the first of 3 times before crossing back and picking up the N7 at Moulins.
We have decided on a complete change of scenery for tonight's stopover. We are at a private aire called "La Prairie" on a farm which is just outside the village of Neuvy le Barrois.
There are 6 motorhome pitches but we are the only people here! It's €8 a night plus €4 for electricity, which we've paid as we have been off grid for 3 nights and the laptops were running low on juice.
Neuvy le Barrois is tiny. It basically
consists of a church, a village hall, no more than 20 houses and a few outlying farms.
By the time we get home we will have completely missed out on mushroom foraging season in the UK but we noticed that there is a fairly big area of woodland on the other side of the village. So, armed with bag and penknife we went to investigate. But we were denied by a locked gate and a couple of "privee" signs and we didn't fancy the possibility of encountering a shotgun wielding French gamekeeper, so we turned back.
We found details for a circular route around the village, so we decided that our legs could do with a stretch nonetheless. Lisa and I do enjoy a good stroll in the country, whether that be in Suffolk or on her home turf in the Pennines. It's the one thing that kept us relatively sane during lockdown and we were amazed how similar the green lanes and the rolling countryside around here are to our familiar routes at home.
We kept our eyes to the ground and we did spot a few "LBMs" (little brown mushrooms) but nothing of any culinery interest.
In fact the only edible variety we spotted were a bunch of shaggy ink caps, which are the other side of a barbed wire fence and in the sheep filled field next door to where we are parked.
We popped the kettle on when we got back from our walk but before it had a chance to boil there was a knock at the door and a "bonjour" from the lady who owns the place. Her English is about as good as our French but we managed to understand her invitation to look at the sheep & goats milk cheese her daughter produces in an adjoining barn. So we folowed her over there and came back with samples of 4 different varieties, a pot of yoghurt and a small jar of honey for €15.
Back at the van it's been hailing and it's going to be chilly again tonight so the heating is already on. I don't know where Lisa has gone but we somehow seem to have adopted a French peasant woman. Between you and me, I actually quite fancy her.
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