Moulins to Vienne on the Route Nationale 7

On Day 2 of our journey on the RN7 we left Moulins and headed for Lapalisse. The route is now very rural with many farmers desperately trying to water their crops in the extreme heatwave. We have now learned that this a very ancient route, probably going back to the Gauls and definitely reconstructed and improved by the Romans as a major route from Rome to Paris. You can see how the small villages dotted along the route must have provided food and shelter to many travellers. There are journals from the 1600s reporting of highwayman hiding in the woods near Lapalisse to rob travellers as they passed. Luckily, we didn't see any!

These days, most of the small towns are bypassed by the N7 and we have come to realise that it would be good to have more time to stop and explore these along the way. The original road also disappears in many places. We would need a really old map and much more research to truly re-enact the original journey. Since it was bypassed in 2006, the town of Lapalisse holds the 'Embouteillage Lapalisse' every two years where they have thousands of old cars descend upon the town to re-create the old traffic jams of holidaymakers. (Check it out on YouTube. It looks like a lot of fun).

We then drove on to Roanne and up the steep climb to the Col du Pin Bouchain via the pretty town of Saint-Symphorien-de-Lay. If it had not been 36 degrees again we probably would have stopped to enjoy more along the way. We can only begin to imagine how many vehicles must have overheated climbing those hills back in the day! Even MoneyPenny found it a bit much.

The route then winds down the hils into Tarare and along the valley towards the Rhone and Lyon. Although the original route would have taken us through the centre of Lyon we 'piked out' and dropped onto the M6, took the Fouvriere Tunnel and followed the M7 down to Vienne. If you've ever been to Lyon before you'll understand why we did this - particularly in a heatwave in an older car - just not worth the potential pain of a MoneyPenny having a breakdown!! We stayed on a barge 'La Peniche Bed and Bicycle' on the Rhone and awoke to the sounds of water lapping the sides of the boat. It was magical! Our next stop is Aix-en-Provence where our hotel has a pool (Yay!)