[Notes]
Leave Friday after lunch; just miss one Eurotunnel (due to following E's Google directions to Folkstone, rather than the huge road signs to the tunnel itself) and catch the next, which turns out to be the 16:40 that we originally aimed for; so the exorbitant premium for Flexiplus was wasted (though we got the goody bag, that wasn't worth £100 plus. But, perhaps the peace of mind on arrival time was worth it).
Drive down to Troyes via several stops, and arrive about 10; find some convenient parking thanks to E/Google, and then find our lodging for the night - we knew the street, but the entrance to the place itself was tucked into a courtyard. Phone the owners who turn up and let us in and all is well. Only the brasserie in the square is open this late, but it is open, so eat there: fine. Although the entrance is in a courtyard, the place itself overlooks a narrow pedestrian lane lined by restaurants, so weirdly enough is quite noisy; fortunately, we're going to be quite late so the noise starts to die down.
Next morning E and I, separately, enjoy wandering around early morning Troyes. D stays abed.
And so off. Lunch is Macon. It is quite hot, fortunately the parking near the cathedral is near, and the lunchtime restaurant well shaded, and the cathedral interior is cool.
But we didn't stay for long, we have places to go... on the far side of Grenoble we stopped for fuel, and also Mfd+J's 60th anniversary Zoom call. And so into the mountains, over the top past La Grave with the sun declining, around Briancon, and finally up into Vallouise.
After that there was some slight comedy, in that we knew what road the appt was on, but not exactly where it was, but from Google maps had got the impression it was some way out of town... so we happily drove there... and found nothing. Eventually Victor-our-host called, and we did what he had first suggested: met by the Vallouise central fountain and followed him there, and were (pleasantly) surprised by how close it was. Say hello, settle in, and follow the little path down to the village, exclaiming over the bits we recognise, down to Les Vallois for dinner, at our customary table. The burrata salad was excellent, and became a theme for the holiday.
Here's our appt, and as you see they're building another just beyond. That wasn't annoying: they were pretty quiet, and watching the cement trucks reverse up the road oh-so-carefully was amusing. In the pic you can just see our car, third in the line; the parking spaces were jealously guarded, as we found out when we parked in the wrong one. On the sides of a hill, enough flat ground to park a car is a valuable commodity. Our appt is ground floor, nearest building, the half closest to us. It was quiet and peaceful and really very lovely, especially with the almost invariably sunny weather we had. The inside was cool and shaded; the balcony was sunny - so we used the sunshade - and if you wanted more sun there was a garden, which we didn't often go into. There was a tiny vegetable plot with peas and carrots that Victor was happy for us to harvest.
From where I've taken that pic, there's a little path down (or see the way up, from the bottom) after which there were a variety of ways to get to the village center. Here's a pano taken from just standing over the garage railing, which now I look at it should probably have been taken with the view centered, not the appt. Ah well.
And so ended the beginning. Now read on: Sunday: Refuge des Bans.
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