Post It from Camping Le Clos Auroy, Orcet, Auvergne, France. Friday 7th November, 2014.
Once again this campsite was really dictated by what was open at this time of year. It is just to the south of Clermont Ferrand and just a couple of miles of the A75 toll free motorway so is very easy to find. The site is not overly large with excellent heated facilities, spotlessly clean and the pitches have high conifer hedges separating them. I can imagine in summer you may find them too high making much shadow if you are like us and enjoy the sun. For the one night it did not matter to us at all and the 10 amps of electricity meant we could heat the van more cheaply if it is another cold night by not having to use the gas!
There were only a few motorhomes and one caravan overnighting and I can guess some may prefer to stay on an Aire du Camping Car when I paid the 24.99€ charge. It is actually and ACSI discounted site but the discount period finished recently so we were paying full price, less a 30% discount for it being low season. Our last site was a whopping 14.00€ by comparison but this place is far superior in every way.
I had a stroll around the village before losing the last of the day’s sun. Orcet is clearly a very old village and is set amongst a landscape of many hills in the region of the Pays du Dome (Volcanoes) so the old and narrow streets all seemed to be up or down hill. There were some new build houses as well, very modern designs and I got the impression it is probably a quite exclusive residential area for those who work in Clermont Ferrand.
Over in the distance on the very top of one of the high points I could see a statute of a tall figure looking out over the landscape away from Orcet. The receptionist said it was a ‘Marie’ and I assumed he meant a religious figure but I could not find out why it was positioned there. Unfortunately my small camera could not capture a decent photograph due to the distance away it was, probably many miles.
On the way north we travelled almost entirely on the toll free A75 motorway for the 225 miles. As we dropped down into Millau to avoid the very heavy toll for a van our size to cross the viaduct we shopped and refuelled so I could have a rather nice pizza that the Simply Supermarket there stocks for tea tonight.
I had forgotten that going home we rarely get the sun on our faces but the view south in my wing mirrors over the mountains was spectacular. The sky was a bright blue and almost cloudless. The landscape of many deciduous trees, changing into their autumnal colours was also great to see. It helped break up an otherwise boring drive for me, Sharon managed a nap and Smokee slept for the whole journey apart from our stop for lunch when he wanted his lunch as well!
I shall post this story when I get the opportunity.
Regards, Roy