MARCH 30, SATURDAY

RAINY DAY IN ARDECHE

Our Airbnb was cozy and warm, made cozier by the pouring rain all morning long. We had a breakfast of cheese and bread, yogurt and fruit and espresso coffee and then packed up. Our first stop was at the railway station where we had reserved a little red open air carriage with rail wheels where two people could pedal and one sit in comfort as we sailed through the sunny countryside. We got there in the drenching rain, intending to get a refund if we could. There were a number of other families there, their kids willing to ride in the rain while their parents, all in raincoats, pedaled. And other families who were hoping for a refund. We ended up with a rain check, a chance to ride any time in the coming summer season. We might try again on Monday.

And then we drove through the rain to La Puy-en-Velay about 80 kilometers away. It was a beautiful ride through pine forests and several small villages, every one with a church rising above it. The houses here are almost all built with thick stone walls which will last for centuries. No tickytack wood framed houses here built to last 50 years unless blown away by a hurricane or tornado. In 200 years these villages, at least at their core, will still be here with their heavy stone walls looking about the same. Everything, including the stone churches, is solid in a world of rapid change.

But when we got to the large town of La Puy-en-Velay the rain had stopped. We circled back and forth through the town center, a tour of the town, as we searched for a parking place. We found one and then settled into a very cozy restaurant filled with people and all three had the lentils which are the speciality of the region along with homemade sausage. And then we walked through the town.

The most famous feature of the town are two high rock spires, the remnant of long ago volcanos. On top of one spire is a large statue of the Virgin with child and on the other a tiny chapel that could be climbed to by a footpath which circles the spire. The houses and shutters of the town are painted in pastel shades blue and pink and yellow and the long cobblestone stairs leading down from the church on the hill to the center of town are white with a strip of black volcanic rock down the middle. I took photos of storefronts and Craig went into a wine store and had a very serious discussion came away with a bottle of a wine that would have, he promised, a marvelous taste.

And then we drove back to our next Airbnb in the town of Deseignes. As we drove back over the range of mountains we had come over, the rain was waiting for us, having rained all day on one side of the mountain with sunshine on the other. We found our 3 story Airbnb with Mary and Craig on the third floor with a large bedroom and bathroom, Me on the second floor with a large bedroom and bathroom and then a large dining area with easy chairs and large kitchen on the bottom floor.