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With autumn fast approaching we console ourselves by looking ahead to our main holiday in France in 2007. Yes, its the Rugby World Cup (in September) but we prefer peaceful rural France, probably in the SouthWest, Midi-Pyrenees - great landscapes, pretty villages, small markets, interesting wine and superb food.
But looking at how to get there is complicated, trying to calculate exchange rates, motorway tolls, the price of fuel, cross-channel ferry crossing and the route across France - and that assumes we dismiss the other options of budget flights (see www.frenchduck.co.uk/travel/flights.html), car hire or great train services.
Dover still dominates as a port of departure - with recently improved routes to Boulogne and Dunkerque but the cessation of the Hoverspeed services - and the western Channel has seen a loss of P&Os services to Le Havre and Cherbourg. There are other options including Dieppe and Le Havre (see www.frenchduck.co.uk/travel/ferry.html)
However even having got across the Channel the autoroute system in France continues to improve with fast new routes available which help you to avoid Paris and some of the other traditional pinch points on your journey south (see www.frenchduck.co.uk/travel/autoroutes.htm)
Whilst things can change over the next 8 months or so, a little research offers the following snapshot of some of the options.
Based on typical hypermarket fuel prices as at 1 October 2006 and a tourist exchange rate of £1=€1.405:-

Unleaded Petrol (sans plomb 95) is €1.17/litre (83p)
Unleaded Petrol (sans plomb 98) is €1.20/litre (85p)
Diesel (Gazole) is €0.999 (71p)

Autoroute options
Dunkerque - Paris toll (péage):£11.17; 293km(183miles) journey time 03h00
Boulogne-Paris via A16 and Amiens toll: £12.03; 254km (159m) time 02h37
Calais - Paris via A26/A1 toll:£13.17; 289km (180m), time 02h50
St Malo - Bordeaux tolls:£17.30; 539km (337m); time 05h12
Paris - Toulouse via A20 tolls: £20.78 678km (424m); time 06h20
St Malo - Toulouse - tolls £28.26; 772km (483m); time 07h21
Calais - Strasbourg - tolls £29.04; 622km (389m); time 05h28
Paris - Bordeaux tolls £33.74; 590km (369m); time 05h31
Calais - Avignon via Reims tolls £36.80; 988km (618m);time 08h49
Calais-Nice via Reims tolls £62.70; 1238k, (774m);time 11h02

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The new A85 autoroute runs for 140 miles through the heart of the Loire Valley vineyards and joins the Centre vineyards and the A71 autoroute at Vierzon west to Angers where it connects with the A11 (on to Nantes) via Touraine (and Tours and the A10 autoroute), Cheverny, Bourgeuil, Saumur and Anjou. Eventually it is planned that the A85 will extend south and east from Vierzon and Bourges to Nevers and Chalon-sur-Saone!
Various sections of the route are finished but the whole stretch will not be completed until Summer 2008.
From the East at Vierzon, the motorway is complete to St Aignan. It is then a bit patchy westwards to Tours - using sections of the new autoroute or the old N79 road. The stretch from west of Langeais west to Angers is complete.
When complete this offers drivers from central, southwest and western France an improved choices of routes, and in conjunction with the new A28 allows you to avoid Paris completely in reaching the Channel ports - whether it be Caen, Le Havre, Dieppe, Boulogne, Calais or Dunkerque.
For more info see www.cofiroute.fr
I am still trying to find out the name of the new Autoroute - e.g. the A6 south to Provence is the “Autoroute du Soleil”, the A77 is the” Autoroute des Arbres” (trees).

The Independent has another of its series “24 Hours In: Paris” which follows in the footsteps of artists and writers who had made the city their own. Also in the Independent Chalres Darwent writes “A picture of Paris”
They say the French capital shuts in August. Yet it’s just the time to visit the world’s best city for seeing art.
Meanwhile over in the Observer, there are some good ideas for avoiding plane travel (or rather the airports) in these days of heightened security with some good deals available on both ferries and Eurostar.
The Telegraph has some recommendations on where to stay in the fashionable 8th Arondissement in Paris (close to the Champs Elysees)
In the Times, Jane Shilling is beguiled by the beauty of the Camargue and its horse-riding ritual, the abrivado, whilst Alistair Sawday picks his top ten secret stopovers to break your journey - and enjoy a taste of rural French hospitality iwith a series of off the autoroute journeys through France - see http://travel.timesonline.co.uk
“France is too captivating to observe only from the motorway“. His itineraries include Peronne (80 Somme, Picardie), Arras (62 Pas-de-Calais, Nord-Pas-de-Calais) Bourges (18 Cher, Centre) with its magnificent medieval centre and flying buttress Gothic cathedral; Beaune(21 Côte d’Or, Burgundy); Aumont-Aubrac (48 Lozere, Languedoc) and Collioure (66 Pyrenees Orientales (Languedoc) - a delightful little harbour and resort close to the Spanish border; Orange(84 Vaucluse, Provence); Menton(06 Alpes-Martimes, Provence)

It has always struck me as strange that a lot of British History has been brought to life for me when travelling through France. Much of England’s history between 1154 and 1453 was bound up with events in the Southwest France and the Dordogne, including Henry II’s ownership and subsequent loss of Aquitaine and his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine. Not to mention the English claim to Calais and innumerable battles on French territory over the centuries.

Another thread of our history is manifested in the Route de Richard, Coeur du Lion, better known as Richard the Lionheart or Richard I. Much of his reign was spent on the Crusades to the Holy Land, however the “Route” is not connected with the Crusades, but more with a less consequential tussle with Philip of France, which ultimately led to his death in the Limousin.

The route runs through pleasant and little-visited countryside in an area bounded by Angouleme(16 Charente, Poitou-Charentes), Limoges (87 Haut Vienne, Poitou-Charentes) and Perigueux(24 Dordogne, Aquitaine) and focuses on 15 medieval castles most of which are open to the public, Many of them are impressive structures with rounded turrets and moats, the most impressive being Chateau de Jumilhac le Grand (24 Dordogne, Aquitaine). The most poignant is probably the Chateau de Chalus-Chabrol where Richard met an untimely death.
The castles on the route are:-
Chateau de Rochebrune
Chateau de Rocheouart
Chateau de Brie
Chateau de Montbron
Chateau de Chalus-Chabrol
Chateau des Cars
Chateau de Lastours
Chateau de Neron
le Chalard
Chateau de Jumilhac-le-Grand
Cite de Saint Yreix-le-Perche (how do you pronounce that!?)
Chateau de Coussac-Bonneval
Cite de Segur
Chateau d’Arnac-Pompadour

The route is well sgn-posted throughout its 180km length, and provides a good way of passing a few days wandering through the gentle countryside of the Limousin, off the main north-south traffic routes - and get some history. Regrettably, wine is not one of the highlights of the region - you need to go north, south or west of the region for decent wines. But it is a rich fruit and chestnut producing area - so your trip can be healthy and abstemious as well!

For more info see www.visitorama.com

Throughout the summer the town of Bourges(18 Cher, Centre) is all lit up in the evenings! This great little town with its magnificent Gothic Cathedral (the best flying buttresses I have seen) and medieval town centre is a convenient stop on the trip south (now just off the A71 autoroute south towards Clermont Ferrand and also convenient for the new A20 autoroute south to Limoges, Cahors & Toulouse). The town will be illuminated on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights in June, July and September - and every night in August.
But this is not just a matter of floodlighting the buildings - there is a lamplit circuit through the heart of the Old Town “Guided by the blue halo of the lamplights, the visitor threads his way around the luminescent jewel of the Cathedral and through the winding streets, stopping here and there to admire details bathed in a soft glow of light : the elegant carving of a porch, a gargoyle learing from a doorway, or a timber-framed house silhouetted against the night sky.”
Furthermore in Friday 30 June, Saturday 29 June and Friday 18 July there is also a wine fair in the town - an opportunity to taste the wines of the region, especially the Sauvignon Blancs from Menetou-Salon, Sancerre, Quincy and Reuilly,
For more info see www.bourgestourisme.com

Yet another reason to visit (or re-visit) the town of Millau (12 Aveyron, Midi-Pyrenees) this summer - the Millau Jazz Festival runs from 15th - 22nd July 2006, which means that instead of the town ringing to the thunder of long queues of slow-moving heavy traffic as in years gone by, you can now be serenaded (or at least intrigued) by the sound of music throughout the town.
With the opening of Norman Foster’s Viaduc de Millau last year, the town has been re-born and is a pleasant provincial town once more - not particularly exciting of itself, but spectacularly situated on the River Tarn with views of the gorge and bridge - and offering the usual mix of decent shops, hotels and restaurants to enjoy.
The bridge is well worth a few hours detour - to view it from below - and to drive over - PLUS the surrounding area is wonderfully unspoilt and (still, for now) largely untouristed!
For more info on Milla Jazz see http://assoc.orange.fr/millau.jazz/infos.htm
For more info on Millau and the bridge see www.ot-millau.fr/

The French Government has announced the creation of a new “Parc Naturel Regional de Millevaches en Limousin“, joining another 44 areas already so designated and protected by law. The Park takes its name from the wide plateau of “Millevaches” literally translated as One Thousand Cows but thought to refer to the many bogs and ponds which are the source of many rivers, some of which contribute to some of France’s major rivers including the Vienne, Loire, Dordogne and Vezere. Richly forested and with a gently rolling landscape it is a little explored area lying to the east of Limoges (87 Haut Vienne, Limousin) towards Clermont Ferrand (63 Puy-de-Dome, Auvergne), with few towns of any note - the largest being Meymac, Felletin and Eymoutiers.
This really is deepest France! - and because of the size of the country, their parks tend to be muc larger and more unspoilt than in the UK. However, they may not always be as user-friendly in terms of signposting and pathways - so make sure you get a good map!
There is a good little website at wwwmillevaches.free.fr
There is an official government website at www.parcs-naturels-regionaux.fr but it was not available at the time of writing.
See map

St Nectaire is one of those french delights which sounds very familiar, but it was a surprise to find that it comes from the Massif Central - indeed from the village of St Nectaire (63 Puy-de-Dome, Auvergne) south of Clermont-Ferrand.
The French are proud of their local produce and celebrate with festivals and competitions - and even “knighthoods” to protect and promote the products. In truth these are predominantly modern creations probably designed as a marketing ploy, but nevertheless they impart a certain ceremony and pomposity - and make for good entertainment. And besides, why not promote something which is special and unique to an area - and shout its virtues.
St Nectaire celebrates with a 2-day festival on 10 & 11 June 2006 when the village hosts numerous events including a gastronomic market and a competition for the best cheese.
(See www.ville-saint-nectaire.fr/)
St Nectaire certainly falls into the “smelly cheese” category - a softish textured round unpasteurised cow’s mike cheese from Salers cows, which is matured for 6-8 weeks to develop its distinctive smell and complexity of taste - and it acquires a bloomy rind displaying white, yellow and red mould. The best are “fermier” - i.e. made in a proper dairy on the farm, although it is also produced on a more industrial scale for the supermarkets.
Cheesemaker Paul Dischamp has a good website showing the production process at www.saintnectaire.com/
For a really useful and comprehensive guide to French Cheese see the DK Eyewitness Guide to French Cheeses

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Now that does sound mouth-watering - Fete de la Framboise at Conceze (19 Correze, Limousin). in the quiet countryside north of Perigueux and Brive in what is known as the “Pays de Pompadour” - a rich fruit-growing area also famous for its horse racing.
We stayed in the region several years ago, and enjoyed its quiet gentle tranquility, The area is the setting for the novels of Claude Michelet Firelight and Woodsmoke

The area is promoted as being a natural paradise - quiet and peaceful with few large cities and a rich tapestry of unspoiled countryisde, hills, forests, lakes and river valleys - ideal for walking and cycling - and it is one of those areas you can get quite lost in - and realise how big France is.

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The town of Montlucon (03 Allier, Auvergne) between Clermont Ferrand and Bourges celebrates the local beef with a 5-day Carnival 15-19 March 2006. ““Chase away the winter and bring in the spring”: such is the scenario of the Boeuf Villé carnival, with its principal character Carmentrau (local dialect for “Lent arriving”).

These ashes, symbols of Life, announce to the world the rebirth of Spring.
The event includes a programme of concerts, processions, visual and musical performances and fireworks, and beef cooked on the spit!!

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