Laschamps to Aydat day 4 and 5

We left Archipel Volcans around 10am on the fourth day.  This place could have been amazing, I mean it's perfectly situated, and the building and grounds are spacious, modern and there's lots to keep children amused in the gardens (trampoline, football, bowling.....)
But it turned out to be our least favourite place we stayed in.  Firstly the staff changed all the time, the person who greeted us, who was lovely, by the way, we never saw again. Same thing for the person on the front desk, never the same face, at breakfast too, and when we left, another new face. It just felt a bit unfriendly and lacked atmosphere.  The food too, was disappointing, looked good, but fade, and they never used any wonderful local produce available in this region, for example, cheese, the only opportunity to taste some, was at breakfast!

Off we went, on to Aydat, it was hot again, walked quickly and covered the 13 or so kilometers fast.  On the way down to Aydat, we passed Chocolat's field for the night and decided rather than force him to walk to the hotel with our bags and then walk up again, we'd unload our stuff then and there and left him to graze.

Our hotel was 20 meters from the lake and our room was clean and had a tv which pleased the children.  We slept upon arriving, only to go down for dinner that evening.  The food was good, the terrace quiet at first then later noisy, not a problem, but the amount of smokers were.
The next day, we hiked up high on the other side of the lake, then dropped down to have a picnic on a small strip of beach which we had all to ourselves.

After, the children played and we read.

And we shared a lake chilled beer, can't get much better than that.

En Route for Laschamps still day two

Second day, the longest day, we walked over 21kms, got lost a bit, walked a long a treachrous path, very donkey unfriendly, before turning back. A word of warning, don't try to walk up Le Puy de la Vache with a donkey and grumpy children!

There were lots of people about, and I can understand why, with various paths to choose from and a no car environment, it's a great place to spend the day.

We were warned forehand that we'd have a stream to cross, I thought there might have been stepping stones but alas not, however there was a concrete beam on the side to walk over, good for me, but not for Chocolat.  Alain, Alexis and Marie Kate braved the freezing cold water (yes apparently it was) to cross to the other side

Here's another pretty roof, photo quality isn't great, but you can still make out the diamond shaped tiles

 We arrived at our second destination tired and hot.  Above is the view we had from our balcony, one of the Puy de Dome.

Before eating we had a great local beer.   The meal was ok,  but they didn't cook using local regional produce which was pity.