2025 September: Blèneau to Auzon

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Another sunny day dawns here at Blèneau on the camping-car park, we shower and breakfast and plan our route for the day: south towards Clermont Ferrand. We service Hymer, filling with water and emptying the tanks and leave Blèneau on D74, a short way to A77 paeage. Here we find the Bank of Ireland card linked to our euro account won’t work, but our cards that provide GBP will. We take our ticket and set off south towards Nevers.

The traffic is relatively light on the paeage and we make good progress south. We stop sometime after midday at Aire de St Pierre and have lunch, taking a good break from driving. We swap drivers and carry on south towards Riom, the traffic is heavy around Clermont Ferrand, between 3 and 5 lanes, we transfer onto A75 past Issoire and stop for some diesel at Total Energies [Volcans]. Leaving A75 we take D214 at St Germain Lembron turning south east and following Allier River to Auzat where it becomes D34. South of Jumeaux it becomes D16 through Vézézoux and following the river south to Lugeac. Here we take a hard left turn and cross the Allier River onto D5 and to the small medieval village of Auzon. Bearing left on D652 we find the Camping-car Park Aire on the left. We register and find a level parking space under trees and stop, it is about 4.15pm.

Here, in the middle of the mountains, there is only one other motorhome… we are not surprised. Exploring we find a similar story to that at Bleneau, an old rundown campsite taken over by Camping-car Park, a modern entry system and servicing area with water and emptying column have been installed, and there are hook-up posts for the 25 pitches. The old toilet/shower blocks (2) remain but now stripped of their old sanitation (perhaps ready at some future date to have new toilet facilities installed). It is quiet and peaceful, sitting below the bastide of Auzon, the eglise chiming every hour and the sound of the Allier river gently flowing by, it is easy to be transported to a bygone time. You can see why in former days the campsite would have been not just popular but full throughout the season.

We pull out the table and chairs and relax in the shade of an ash tree, its big bunches of seeds already well-formed, it shades us well from the sun and its 25°C. Mr C. is in charge of wine and finds another bottle of Crémant fizz and serves it with baguette and crab rillettes… delicious! Later we enjoy chicken and mushroom stir-fry outside and sit out as the evening darkens to night, just five motorhomes here overnight.

Motorhome Trek Blèneau to Auzon

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Aire de Camping Cars Auzon Day 2

Next morning dawns, it is hot and sunny day again in Auzon. We have a slow morning watching three of our neighbours leaving; we generally catch up with family, maps/routes and Google reviews. Mid-morning we put on our shoes and sun hats and walk along the river to the village. Then a steep climb up very narrow but picturesque cobbled streets (the plus side being we are totally shaded from the sun).

At the top we find the 12th century eglise* (church) with its hourly chiming bells, and its marvellous stone pillared porch, each of the four pillars intricately carved with biblical scenes and still recognisable after 900 years. Inside it is surprisingly small but with lovely south-facing stained-glass windows, each casting a multi-coloured mosaic on the floor. I walk in and out of its coloured lights letting it bathe my feet, my arms and my skin generally and marvel at the skill of the ancient church-builders. There are also wall paintings that are well preserved.

Outside it is hot, so we trace our steps back down the hill and along the road to the campsite. It is lunchtime and 31°C when we get back. After lunch we decide to stay another night in Auzon, its peace and quiet are the healing balm we need after the busy-ness and driving of the past few days. A lazy afternoon and a very hot (and short) walk sees us back in the shade of the ash tree for a snooze and some writing. Two more Mohos arrive and park on the flat grassy terrace opposite.

This is a Camping-Car Park site, we don’t have a reservation, which means that we can stay another night as long as there are pitches available that are not booked. The booking or reservation system at Camping-Car Park does not suit our mode of travel, because you have to purchase a membership pass for 12 months at a cost of €29 (Sept 2025 price). The membership pack allows you to reserve a pitch within a certain time window and cancel without cost as long as you cancel more than 24 hours before your planned arrival. That is definitely not our way of travelling, it’s too prescriptive, we just don’t know what we will find along our journey or whether we will want to stay more than a night. The site here at Auzon has very few motorhomes on it, so staying is not a problem. We would urge the Camping-Car Park network to review their booking and reservation system to make it more flexible and more appropriate for casual travellers, they could consider setting aside a number of pitches for ‘drop-in’ stays even in busy periods.

Then a crazy Frenchman arrives, gets out and has his wife drive all over the site (there are 20 pitches all level with hook-up and 4 of us here) and where does he have her park… next to us! It’s not that I mind that much (though they are only about 3 metres from us), it’s that there is the whole site to choose from, and they don’t choose the most picturesque spot! Heyho… what is in the mind of other campers when they choose to park so close to someone else when there is oodles of lovely green spaces with trees, shade, hook-up and views elsewhere!).

Around 5.00pm the sun moves behind the trees and it begins to feel a little cooler, we open wine and eat salmon rillettes with thinly sliced baguette. Later I make chicken and potato kitsu (curry) which we eat outside in the lovely cool of the evening.

*  The collegiate church of Saint-Laurent d’Auzon is a former Benedictine collegiate church of Romanesque architecture with Languedoc influence, built at the height of Auvergne Romanesque art, dominating the fortified town of Auzon (Haute-Loire). It has a southern porch called a ganivelle in Auvergne Romanesque architecture.
Source: fr.wikipedia.org