27th November - 10th December 2016. A quiet week, playing bridge, then an activity filled week with Debbie and Matt.

We spent the last week in November putting up our Christmas lights, and playing bridge several times.

Debbie and Matt came to stay in early December. Toad came too, of course, dressed in his new Christmas outfit.

 As Debbie and Matt had hired a car, we were able to go further afield, and we started with the abbey at Charlieu, a small medieval village, which lies to the north east of Roanne.

The old streets in Charlieu are fascinating.

On Tuesday we drove to Le Crozet, another medieval village to the north west of Roanne.

This house in Le Crozet specialises in many different windows!

We went for an 11 kilometre walk in the hills and forests near to Le Crozet, so could look back at the village, with its commanding view of its surroundings.

Wednesday was spent at Stitch and Bitch for Sally and Debbie, while Andy and Matt played many games of table tennis in the park by the port. Honours were even by the end of the week!
By Thursday we were off again to Saint-Haôn-le Châtel, which is a walled town, lying to the west of Roanne. From the town ramparts we could look across the valley, past the vineyards, to the nearby town of Saint-Haôn-le-Vieux.

There were more medieval streets to be found here, in Saint-Haôn-le Châtel.

We also visited the medieval garden.

We made our way on to this dam, which lies on the River Renaison. This reservoir lies due west of Roanne, and supplies all of town's water.

Looking back up at the dam, it looks even bigger!

Driving back to the Loire valley, we came to Saint-Maurice-sur-Loire, where the keep stands up above the town.

This keep is in good condition, despite the ruined walls alongside it.

The view from the top.

I lost count of the number of steps on the spiral staircase, which we climbed, all the way to the top. Shannon was not too keen, as she prefers to take steps two at a time. Do our legs look as wobbly as they feel, having climbed all the way down again?

Our last visit of the day took us further south to Château de la Roche.

This castle is built in a stunning position on an outcrop of rock in the middle of the river Loire.

The sunset over the port was at its best that evening.

It seemed to move further south around us as the evening progressed.

Our week finished with a visit to the Foire Froide, which took place along the road on the far side of the port.






We would like to thank you, our readers, for your continuing interest in our adventures and hope that you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

1st - 13th November 2015. Location of Roanne in France and the old town. An outing to the medieval villages of Ambierle, Saint-Haon-le-Vieux and Saint-Haon-le-Châtel in the mountains.

This map of France shows our route  from June until November, ending up in the town of Roanne , shown by the red arrow.

Roanne is a big town, where this church and little house can be seen in the old quarter.

All the windows, the balcony and the people are painted on the front of this building. Andy and Shannon are deciding where to go next!

Back near to the harbour, the River Loire is used to generate electricity.

Today, a little further downstream, the river is quite calm, as there are no turbines running today. The walking along beside the river is excellent, and Shannon loves a swim. We have been having exceptionally warm weather for this time of year.

We caught a bus from Roanne to come here to Ambierle, a medieval village in the Monts-de-la-Madeleine mountains, which lie to the west of Roanne.

The priory church here has a wonderful coloured roof.

It is more like a small cathedral inside, and is very impressive.

The carved triptych in the church is lovely, with so much detail in it.

There is more carving around the choir stalls, where the tipped up seats have a ledge of wood protruding under each seat for extra comfort when standing up!

We travelled back by bus to the next village of Saint-Haon-le-Vieux, seen in the distance here. We then walked round the head of the valley, through the trees to Saint-Haon-le-Châtel.

Saint-Haon-le-Châtel is a fortified medieval village, built on a rocky peak in these mountains.

The church here was first built in the 12th century, although it has been added to over the centuries.

Inside too it is quite different to the priory church of Ambierle, being much plainer, but none the less holy.

Some of the streets in Saint-Haon-le-Châtel are very narrow.

All the houses are different, particularly this one, which stood on its own, at a junction of several streets.

Back at The Puzzler, Shannon loves to watch the coypus, as they eat the apple we give them.