Seeing the strikingly coiffured Laurent Wauquiez, the mayor and MP for Le Puy-en-Velay, in one of those long French television discussions (on the local elections, naturally), was an early reminder of a pleasant overnight stop in his town on the southern edge of the Massif Central.
The direct route between the Channel ports and the Var takes us down the succession of autoroutes through northern France and then Champagne, Burgundy and the Rhône. Beaune is an ideal stopover travelling south, Troyes for the north-bound journey. And the French part of the journey would not normally start in Dunkirk (the DFDS ferry was a great deal cheaper than P&O or the Chunnel).
But there was an invitation to stay with relatives in Le Croisic so the trip was extended from one overnight stay to a few days there and a pause in Le Puy-en-Velay to ease the onward trek south.
The photograph you see above is not one mischievously intended to misrepresent M Wauquiez, who has no need to await Sunday's second round of local elections having collected a whopping 70 per cent of the first-round vote in Le Puy. We call what you see piggy banks, they call them cochons tirelire and they were stacked like that in a shop in Guérande, a short hop from Le Croisic.
This is M Wauquiez:
And this is the town hall square in Le Croisic ..
Le Croisic is an appealing town that looks and feels as if it is in Brittany but, as I was sharply reminded after making the obvious mistake in a speech (in French, in Brittany), actually belongs to Loire-Atlantique. There are historical complications but I shall leave it at that. The resort has long been a favoured summer destination of my in-laws, handily based in Le Mans, and I know it well.
The coastline is wild and picturesque, the hinterland a little drab but the area as a whole has abundant charm, fabulous seafood and - as we see in the photo from nearby Piriac-sur-Mer, a hint of all the seasons in one day's skyscape ...
The onward drive took us down to 2 degrees C, with snow packed on either side of the road, as we approached the fiefdom of M Wasquiez.
The hotel - the Chris'tel, €73 for a double plus €10 for the cat and about €50 for a tasty enough dinner for two - was a basic three-star but bright, friendly and comfortable. The town has understated beauty, with a hilltop chapel and commanding statue and the magnificent Cathédrale Notre-Dame du Puy, one starting point for the 1,600km pilgrimage on foot to Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain (tragically remembered more recently for the horrific train crash caught on camera in July last year).
It was hard to miss all the shops selling a locally made lace and, indeed, one devoted to Irish products of various kinds. Le Puy is one of those towns that deserve more time than a quick overnight stay.
So far, so good for our version of la rentrée. Unlike previous springs, when we returned to the urgent need to replace internet routers after fierce, losing arguments with overhead electric storms, everything worked straight away.
London will be missed, but not so much that anyone - especially the cat -is clamouring to go back just yet.
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