3rd April. Went to lunch at L’Abbayotte with the Bond family. Joan was visiting from UK and it was her birthday. All the family seemed to be there and it was a very pleasant afternoon. Cassidy behaved very well.
8th April Drove out to Nuit St George in the camper with Cassidy and spent the night in the town Aire. It was pleasant and conveniently situated close to town with free water and sanitary disposal. The purpose of the trip, in addition to giving the camper its first run, was to take Cassidy to dog training in the next village but when we went there on Saturday afternoon there was no one about and the phone went straight to voice mail. However it was worth the trip for the experience. Everything went well with the van.
Nuit St George is in the heart of the Côte D’Or wind region. Many of the buildings sport the wonderful brightly coloured Burgundy roof tiles. The slope of the hills above the town are carpeted in vines.
11th. There was lovely light on the river when Cassidy and I went out for his early morning pee this morning.
17th. Picked up Patricia from the Old Lock and headed to Arbois in the southern Jura. It was very wet and we found this pretty little town with its river running fast and over its banks in places and flooding some roads.
After a good lunch at one of the town’s many restaurants we headed for the Moidon Caves.
They were not the most spectacular caves I have seen but it was a pleasant visit. From here we went on to the Aire at Mesnay a small village outside Arbois on the site of an old cardboard factory that has been converted into a site to house artisans. One of them was a metal sculptor and another a manufacturer of wooden houses whose own house featured an interesting shingled roof.
The Aire was a lovely quiet spot on the edge of the village and we both slept really well.
18th. After a walk around the site we drove to Salin les Bains. It continued to be wet. We located the Aire in the centre of town, between the main road and the fast running river.
The town looked run down, a view not helped by the overcast and dreary weather, but manifestly real as evidences by the closed shops. Patricia went to the salt museum in the morning while Cassidy and I explored the town. The most dramatic features of which were the yellow dome of the Church attached to the Hotel de Ville and the twin forts rising each side of the town.
The town grew up round the salt industry. There are thermal wells under the town that have a salt content as high as the Med. The salt was evaporated by heating with wood fies, once they had depleted the woodland round the town they built a wooded pipeline 21.5k long into a greenfield site on the fringes of the nearest forest. The pipeline was built of hollowed out pine tree trunks and was subject to leaks and theft. In addition the advent of coal for firing the evaporation tanks made proximity to forest superfluous and the processing plant, grand and built at great expense, ceased to operate. We will take a drive there tomorrow to view what has become a museum site.
In the afternoon we went to the thermal spa pool for an hour. It was a bit crowded as it is school holidays. It was also a bit tatty and run down and the service personelle were less than charming! We both decided that we were unlikely to go there again.
19th. Today we woke to welcome sun and clear skys. We drove to the source of the Lison river, which after running underground for some distance falls to the river bed from the mouth of a cave. There are in fact two cave exits, one of which is usually dry, but with all the rain we have been having both cascades where spectacular. We did some nice walks in the area before continuing to Arc et Sennant with its delightful and quiet Aire just 100m from the site of the Royal Salt Works.
20th. This morning we went to explore the site. The buildings of the Salin Royale are arranged in a semicircle facing the imposing Directors House, with its columns of alternating round and square-cut stones.
One of the buildings housed an exhibition of architects models impressively displayed.
In what had been the evaporation hall, under an impresive roof, there was an exhibition of photographs of salt workers from around the world. Here, in addition to learning that the Chinese were the first to exploit salt (no surprises there) ones learns just how many countries have substantial salt deposits.
The gardens are being developed and I am tempted to come back in the fall to see how it looks. With the attractive Aire this will be easy to do. Back at the van we had munch and prepared for the drive home.
A great trip, 213k which indicated, at 9.35kpl, a very economical four days away with no accommodation costs.
23rd & 24th Was the Open Port Weekend at St Jean de Losne. It was very festive with a Vide Grenier (empty your attic or car boot sale!) and a big tent of artist and handcraft. I was busy on the refreshment stall making sandwidges and waffles. Steve & Helen, Glennie & Pete were on the lunch shift and Aileasa was there most of the day.
capetocarpe 