Towards the music and snow

It was a very long drive from Lorignac to Ernen, but worth it for seeing a part of France for the first time - Limousin and the Auvergne.

Navigating was curiously easy, as it was obvious which town to look out for next. I stayed off the toll-roads until the A40, which meant only having to get out of the car and walk round to the toll machines twice. Most of the route was major roads, some dual-carriageway, up and down over big hills and through forests.

Tea was taken in the prettiest motorway services in the world: l'aire des Monts de Guéret. It has exhibitions about the wolves, a shop of local products, and information about the local languages, which are both Occitan dialects. I thought of David Chadd's lectures on courtly music and our studentish attempts to read Occitan.

I stopped for a nap in the forest, and then discovered there wasn't a way back on to the dual carriageway, so there was an unscheduled wander around some villages.

The next stop was at a lorry-park on the A40, with the idea of sleeping until it was quiet for getting around Geneva. Being in the mountains, it was so cold! I slept about an hour and woke up shivering and drove on, over huge viaducts and through big tunnels, with the result that I went through the border at 4:30 and there was nobody on duty. Switzerland is in Schengen now and they're as relaxed about land frontiers as the French are. If anyone comes through by road, they've already been checked, no? The only problem with this was that there was no-one to ask about buying a vignette for the motorway, and suddenly one finds oneself on the slip-road with no vignette and no way back. Oh well.

Being so early, it was still dark for the drive around the north side of Lake Geneva, but at least the roads were nearly empty. Sunrise came before I reached the Alps, and I annoyed a few other motorists by driving slowly and looking at the mountain and waterfalls (but only on the dual roads where they could overtake!). Gradually the Valais becomes Wallis (same name, different language) as the road goes along the Rhone valley. It's a very wide valley, and I wondered where the river was, expecting something majestic. Then I noticed the large ditch between the road and the railway...

In Mörel there was a hold-up. Sheep on the road, being chivvied by a collie and a shepherd (a surprisingly gorgeous hunk wearing jeans and sweatshirt), and as daft as sheep are ever, even if they are mountain sheep who look like goats. This trip there was no herd of cows marching along like a funeral band, but there were a few impromptu cowbell concerti in the fields.

The last bit of road is quite terrifying, especially in a RHD car. At least I didn't have to reverse when a lorry came down the mountain; fortunately there was a passing-place just ahead.

Ernen at 8am, with bright sunshine gleaming on the snow.