In the morning I
collected the baguette and two croissants I had pre ordered (one of the things
I am beginning to love about European campsites!) and after a tasty breakfast
we packed up and set off for Millau-to see the recently built bridge over the
viaduct. Tired, we made it just
shy of Millau and decided to stay in a Arye-basically a truck stop catering for
campervans also. We took the time to plan out our next few weeks travel.
Waking early (the
downside of Free camping) we drove onto Millau Viaduct, firstly driving over
it, then stopping at the look out. It was beautiful at every angle. There was
an interesting display about how they constructed the bridge which James really
found interesting. At 343 metres high and 2km long, it’s quite impressive. It
only took three years to build too. We camped in Lyon and decided to stay two
nights, so we could take in the delicacies in the self proclaimed ‘culinary
capital of France’.
The next day we took a
bus into town and discovered the food market. An amazing find as much of the
food was ready to cook or serve, so we were able to sample and work out what
words related to what meat etc! We nibbled on some chocolate pastries and
various other items, our favourites being the pancetta wrapped cows cheese. We
also purchased some quinelles, a Lyonese delicacy (basically a flavoured
dumpling made from semolina and egg white and shaped into an almond shape).
After walking through the Unesco listed old town and walking over the Rhone and
Soane rivers we stopped for lunch, James bravely having (and enjoyed) the beef
tartar and I chose a Lyonese sausage with mustard sauce (considering we are in
mustard growing region). I had heard that offal was a popular so I checked with
the waiter and he informed me there was no offal. It arrived and I cut the
sausage open to reveal tripe and heart sausage! After sampling both, I ate the
heart (which is actually quite tasty for the record) and picked around the
tripe (I have a texture phobia about that stuff!). The waiter collected the
plates and asked if I did not like my sausage, and I explained it had offal in
it. He said that some people like the sausage and I laughed realising the
situation and said back, “no I did not think the sausage was awful, it had
offal in it, you know-organs?” He laughed and said, “oh, yes it does”. I think
I taught him a new word in English! So after my offal lunch, we managed to pick
up a couple of tasty treats for pudding that evening, a chocolate fondant with
caramel sauce and another Lyonese speciality of a biscuit (the same texture as
a macaroon), which was pink and had hazelnuts and coconut in. Both were well
worth the money spent. For dinner I cooked up the quinelles as recommended,
sliced and pan fried with a salad. Very tasty they were.
The next day we left
Lyon and headed to Dijon-the home of mustard. Talk about picturesque
scenery-60km of vineyards. It was definitely spray day for the vines and we
spotted these tractor styled machinery that are raised off the ground so that
the wheels straddle the grapevines. Really strange but very effective! We found a great camping ground by Lake
Kir and once settled in we walked down to the river the locals swim at. We
couldn’t believe our eyes. The lake was green and murky and it appeared they
had shipped in sand to make it more like a beach with a lifeguard and all. We
decided not to swim in it, it was so gross and had a cold shower instead! We
spent the rest of the day catching up on world news, emails and skyping family
and friends.
The next day we
decided to seek out an auto electrician, managing to find a campervan place. We
rolled up to discover they sell campervans and have a workshop but it did not
appear that they worked on any old camper. Not giving up we explained our
situation and they kindly agreed to look at it, making the odd joke through
broken English that we were driving a bomb. Compared to their campervans, we
sure were so we joked we would trade Dusty in. 485 euros later Dusty had a new
leisure battery and recharger/transformer. And we had a fully functioning
fridge! Even on transit! Brilliant! Worth the money spent but a dint in the
budget no less!
We spent the afternoon
walking around quant Dijon, which had many gothic and renaissance buildings.
Dijon is quite a sweet little town that was not over populated with tourists so
we enjoyed the change of pace. Unfortunately we missed the food market, our
only regret. We ended the day sampling pork cassoluet and watching part of a TV
series on the computer.
