Wednesday, 19 May 2010

Went for a great walk north down the road then off on a dirt road through beef cattle country, cleared on the lower slopes and covered in dense timber up higher. Limousin seems to be the main breed - some of the fences are basic, just tree branches trimmed up and hammered into the ground with one electric wire strung. Plenty of bird life, no animals but fresh fox sign. Toast with Rosemary's home made jam and coffee for breakfast then we drove down the valley with no real destination in mind. We had a tourist map and there is a Bugey tourist route marked and signed as you go along so it makes it easy to find your way. We went into Amberieu-en-Bugey to use the internet at Maccas. It seems a travesty to use Maccas in Europe (we just have coffee/juice) but at least you can check on the famous "Big Mac" conversion rate which some economist proposed as the best way to compare the relative buying power of each country's currency - for the record a Big Mac today cost 6 Euro which is about A$9.00. We headed south-east and soon struck the Rhone River valley. Had lunch by the river near Serrieres-de-Briord at Restaurant Point Verte which is located at Point Verte de la Valley Bleue (blue valley). Started with a salad bar which included an excellent terrine of chicken livers, veal and herbs from their garden - with the warm rolls this would have been enough. Then we had Supreme de'Volaille au Montagneu - chicken breast in cream and white wine, Montagneu being the wine area in the mountains just above - and Fillet de Sandre Meuniere - lake fish - both very good. Kangaroo was also on the menu and we are finding that it is quite popular in France. Continued on and stopped in the regional centre of Belley, a pleasant large town. Coffee at Le Cafe Neuf then visited the cathedral - it is very beautiful and it feels strange being the only ones visiting after lining up with the masses of tourists in Italy to visit famous churches. We were told later that Belley is where the Marist order has its origins. There were a few people practising singing and the acoustics were amazing. Bought a few basic suppies for our "apartment" at a local supermarket (two rows filled with alcohol including wine in cardboard casks - food very reasonably priced), then drove "home". Many of the roads were very narrow, and you do find some drivers who want to over-take in bad places, but as in the other parts of Europe we have visited the drivers are generally very courteous and the traffic system works well. Signage in particular is excellent. The only real negative on the minor roads is the lack of a centre line which is unerving when you are driving on the "wrong" side of the road - the lack of white posts with reflectors would also be an issue if you drive on these roads at night, which is not a problem for us as it is light until 9.30pm. Brent had fired up the wood stove in our apartment so it was very cosy and Rosemary had prepared a simple dinner but it was still fairly amazing: Magret de Canard - duck breast sauteed in the pan - served with a wonderful ratatouille and mushrooms cooked in the duck pan and finished with cream. This was accompanied by a local white wine - Vin de Bugey Manicle - all fantastic. We could not do justice to desert.