The road crosses the river opposite the château, and then goes out of the village westwards along a beautiful road, bordered by tall and stately poplars, standing like rows of pillars on the short, close-growing turf on each side of the way. Small flocks of sheep, feeding on the roadside grass, and tended by girls, who fill up their time with industrious knitting, are often passed. All the low-pitched roofs have been left behind, and the villages are picturesque with thatch and weather-worn tiles and little hipped dormers. The country is slightly undulating and green, and to the south the strangely shaped peaks of the volcanic mountains of the Auvergne group are seldom out of sight. Farther on one reaches the shallow depression in which, on sunny days, the River Allier sparkles between its low banks. The men of this part of the centre of France wear black felt hats and blue smocks, and have side-whiskers and clean-shaven lips and chins, after the fashion of the peasants of Normandy. Varennes-sur-Allier is a quietly picturesque little town, with many old roofs and overhanging eaves, supported with wooden brackets. In the pretty village of Bessay there is a bad _caniveau_ across the road, but otherwise there is little calling for comment on the rest of the way to Moulins. SECTION XXIII MOULINS TO BRIARE, 87 MILES (140 KILOMETRES) DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE Kil. Miles. =Moulins= to St. Pierre-le-Moutier =32= 20 =St. Pierre-le-Moutier= to Nevers =23= 14¼ =Nevers= to La Charité =25= 15½ =La Charité= to Pouilly =14= 8¾ =Pouilly= to Cosne =15= 9¼ =Cosne= to Briare =31= 19¼ NOTES FOR DRIVERS =Moulins to St. Imbert.=--Level, and afterwards long undulations to =Nevers=, and a good many moderate hills as far as =La Marche=. =La Marche to Pouilly-sur Loire.=--Level, but a long hill follows Pouilly, with a descent of 4 kilometres to =Cosne=. From =Cosne= to =Briare= the road follows the Loire, and is level. =Ousson=.--Has a _cassis_ or _caniveau_. PLACES OF INTEREST ON THE ROUTE =Moulins.=--A picturesque town, containing--(1) Several old houses; (2) clock-tower, built in 1455; (3) portions of the château of the Dukes of Bourbon; (4) cathedral, with choir built in 1463, containing coeval glass; (5) tomb of Henri, Duc de Montmorenci, in the Lycée. =Sauvigny.=--Twelve kilometres west of Moulins; has a splendid Romanesque church, containing several Bourbon tombs. =St. Pierre-le-Moutier.=--An interesting little town, with fifteenth-century houses, portions of its ramparts, and a gateway; twelfth-century church, with richly carved north door.