The Auvergne and Lyon

We really are getting very fond of France, visiting my mate Benjy and then exploring on from there.  We picked a visit in June for the reliable warmth and sunshine this time.  And it pretty much rained non-stop for the first five days, a sequence of heavy thunderstorms, the rain itself appreciated by the landscape if not by the visitors.

One of Benjy's friends visited in an iconic Citroen, so i took a snap in one of the brief sunny spells:

They've planted a lot of wildflowers in one border, it's really coming on gloriously:

There's a large colony of the very scarce and wonderfully coloured Purple Emperors too, they keep flying into the house!

After there we drove to Mont-Dore a town set relatively high-up in the Massif Central, and used that as a base for some hiking:

Having arrived and unpacked in a complete downpour the rest of the trip was unspoilt sunny days, and a lovely time to explore this region, albeit briefly:

Helen is fully recovered from her break last year and using walking poles for hiking now, i'll start using them soon too:

We had to abandon one walk we'd picked, the shallow soil of the trail had been washed away leaving bare rock to scrmable across, an option we chose not to take.  So it was back down into the valley to complete our walks in the Chaudefur Nature Reserve, a landscape packed with wildflowers and the buzzing, signing and flitting accompanying life:

I think this is an Arran Brown in its furthest West habitat:

We drove from Mont-Dore to Lyon, stopping at a castle ruin for a picnic lunch:

I think this little lizard was hoping for some of my sandwich:

We were fortunate with our timing in Lyon arriving and indeed leaving before the recent riots kicked-off.   Helen had booked us an airport hotel both for convenience and for a chance to see the architecture of the adjoining train station:

I particularly wanted to visit Lugdunum, the old roman ruins and the former base of Rome in this region:

The views over the city were great the mix of the modern staging in the middle of this archeological wonder, less so.  Hey ho.  They've built a protective cover of sorts over this fragment of the walkway wall.  It gives an idea of how colourful this bustling theatre district would have been, a little over 2,000 years ago:

As always the holiday was too short and too quickly done but well worth it, the mssif central really is a fantastic area to explore and we never get tired of visiting friends, enjoying the local food and wine....