Last day and time to put our money where our mouth is.
We are at a little altitude here so the clear nights are cold but they heat up quick. Lesson learned, it’s summer but the weather can catch you out.
We head out of town as it heats up to do a bit of last minute supply shopping at a Decathlon. It’s a really beautiful day, and we should drink more water, Tom feels heavy on the back.
We end up finding a huge children’s playground in the middle of the park at the centre of Le Puy (in front of Musee Crozier) and Tom has been a sport to let us cart him around all over town in the backpack so he gets his reward by going mad on the climbing wall and slides. He is really starting to try and make friends, he introduces himself with “Hi, my name’s Tom” but of course the other kids are confused and ignore him. Sad times for the little guy.
Le Puy is great, as opposed to the people of Paris where they all charge about with purpose straight out of a Hermes fashion shoot, light scarves flying and cigarette burning, everyone here looks like background characters in a live-action Asterix movie. Supremely gallic. One thing you notice here is the public spaces are really shared and used by the community, there are constant games of petanque happening by all types of people: young, old, wealthy, working class. The playgrounds are in constant use. You can feel the value of the community is much higher, it’s really nice.
We’ve been staying (in our little Rhinowolf tents!) at the Camping de Bouthezard campground just outside the city centre. The campground is very basic with just the essentials but the position is great, everything is in easy walking distance but the best part is the staff, incredibly helpful, managed all our dopey questions, and were happy all day long. Also there’s a wine truck that shows up at night with cheese and pinot noir so France is a-ok in my book.
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