Thursday 7th October 2010 Pierrefitte. Day off

The beach - lake alongside the canal at Pierrefitte.

Warm and sunny all day. Did a few chores in the morning then after lunch we went for a ride out in the car through the Parc Règional du Livradois-Forez. Into Saligny-sur-Roudon where there is a magnificent country château surrounded by a moat with lots of towers and turrets, then cross country to Vaumas where we followed the valley of the river Besbre south into Lapalisse. West a short way on the N7 following loads of lorries, then southwest towards Vichy and swinging southeast at Cusset on the D995, following the valley of a fast flowing stream called the Sichon through Ferrières-sur-Sichon up to the pass at 824m at Beaulouis, then descending the valley of a tiny brook called the Aix to St-Just-en-Chevalet. Southwest again to Noirétable and northwest to Chabreloche then back through the national park via Palladuc where there were lots of little houses along the hilly road for quite some distance before the forest was uninhabited again on the way back north to Ferrières-sur-Sichon. Carried on northwards to Le-Mayet-de-Montagne and to Lapalisse and back to Pierrefitte via Saligny-sur-Roudon. Back on the boat around 5.30 p.m.