First day completed with no mishaps. It’s lovely to feel and smell France. It’s been a while. Now it’s back to a little bit of business. Today was one of those road tripping days where ground had to be covered. It is 200 miles from Reims to our next stop – Cluny. Pretty much due south, and almost two thirds of the way to the Mediterranean coast, where we’ll find ourselves in a few days’ time, the outside temperature is gradually rising. As we approached Cluny, the temperature had risen to 32°C.
Cluny is situated just north of Lyons. On completing breakfast at the Enzo Hotel in Reims, we packed Scarlett and set out for our next adventure. After a couple of stops on the way, we arrived at La Pierre Folle, our home for the next two nights. It’s an idyllic converted farmhouse with apartments to let, set on a hillside about a mile outside of Cluny. To be honest, we had no idea what to expect of the area. While we were browsing booking.com for accommodation around the Lyons area, this popped up in our search. It looked an ideal place as a base for a couple of days to explore the area or to just sit and relax.
The rest area in the garden of La Pierre Folle
As inviting an accommodation it was to spend the evening there, we felt compelled to at least drop into Cluny to see what it has to offer. It turned out to be an unexpected delight, with a history dating back to Roman times, and a well-preserved Benedictine Abbey.
L’Abbaye de Cluny
For me, no trip to France is complete without actively searching out a place the serves my favourite beer, Pelforth Brune. La Petite Auberge in the centre of the town didn’t disappoint, and here we had our evening meal before going back to our accommodation exhausted by the heat and the last couple of days of travel.
My favourite beer
Melanie also found it surprisingly tasty. I was pleased that she appreciated why I had made so much fuss about it. Tomorrow, we shall have to find a supermarket that stocks it.
MARK D PRITCHARD writes... 