Well the views were amazing, once we’d surfaced. Whilst Jacqui took out her watercolours, we wandered up to the village and castle, which were really impressive. By the time we returned, Jacqui’s painting was looking great, and she’d really captured the view of the castle.

This time it really was goodbye as we were heading off in slightly different directions. After our departing hugs and waves, we headed back down that narrow hill, so hoping we wouldn’t meet anyone. Actually we did meet a car, but it was fine.

First thing we did was head back South to visit the lovely village of Blesle, which we’d passed the previous evening. It had useful motorhome parking and we had a thorough exploration of the attractive old town.

Back on track, and now beyond Léotoing, we stopped outside the Lempdes-sur-Allagnon campsite to use the free facilities. After this we followed a “Roman Route” from a brochure we’d picked up back in Lavaudieu, to see what gems we might find.

Auzon provides free motorhome parking, but we lazily found some on-road parking right near the ancient part of town, and it was definitely worth the short visit.

Park4night then came up trumps again. I was merely doing a quick search for water on the app, so that we could top up en route, and as a result programmed in a carpark at the town of Usson, as part of our onward journey. It was only as we were heading there that I realised it could also be an ideal overnight stop.

Usson is literally built on top of an ancient volcano, and has one proper route to get there. The SatNav was determined to take us up any farmer’s track or similar to reach the town, but we resisted each of these crazy recommendations. After virtually circumnavigating the hill’s base completely, we found the main road, and finally found our parking area.

We hadn’t anticipated quite how amazing the distant views would be, and so were delighted with our find. After “doing the dance” of finding the perfect spot for Sophie, we settled down to eat, and enjoy the view, as the lights in the distance below us started to twinkle.

*** Just to mention that our blogs can be up to a few weeks behind reality, as we’re always in catch-up mode ***