Spring is well and truly here with the trees in leaf and the May (Hawthorn) in bloom.
9th was Helen’s birthday and we celebrated with lunch at Jan’s. Jan’s daughter Lou gets in on the act, as usual!
14th. A major wedding of someone connected with the commercial barges took place today and three of these monsters were tied up along side festooned with bunting to mark the event. Commercial Barges are still very active on the French waterways. They do not go beyond St Jean as the locks up stream of here are too small for them. However they come up to the silos to fill their holds with grain, swing at the junction and head back down south again.
15th. Left St Jean at 10am for Préty and a visit with Maryse, the lady from whom I got Faraz. Préty is a pretty village which was obviously once quite wealthy judging by the fact that is has two handsome Lavoirs and some large handsome houses. I got a good parking spot behind the church and opposite the house which used to accommodate the Post Office and the Post Master. As the Post Office has closed down it is unoccupied and it was a very quiet spot.
In the afternoon we went to a local wine Cave where there were art exhibitions. This is the Chardenay area of Burgundy. Maryse and vines below.
16th. Maryse took me into Tournus where we visited the Romanesque fortified Abbay St Pilibert. It was impressive and very old, dating back to the 11th century. The oldest part being the crypt which was built over a well. Maryse said this was because they needed water for baptism! but I expect it was a site chosen for the all important access to water given the necessity for protection against marauding tribes from the north and the ability to withstand siege.
As with so many churches in France the windows were largely destroyed in the second world war and have been replaced by quite attractive modern ones.
There are a few reminders of how colourfully decorated all churches were in the medieval period in contract to the plainness of today.
The site had been occupied even before St Philibert’s by the Romans as it evidenced by the remains of a mosaig floor depicting signs of the zodiac.
From here we went on to La Truchére on the La Seille river, a tributary of the Saône, for lunch. A pretty spot with a terrace on a pontoon on the river’s edge.
17th. Left Préty at 9.15m stiopped in Tournus in the vain hopes of retrieving my jacket that I lost yesterday, and arrived at the Aire in Chalon at 10.15. The Aire is in a big car park next to a well kept park and a centre of Petanque, it is a short walk to the Old Town. I had not taken to Chalon particularly on my first and only previous visit two years ago with Di, but on further exploration it had more to offer than I had first thought. I will come back. In the meantime I admired the half timbered houses and the towns many bridges.
In the evening the Aire filled up with what can only be referred to as “Travellers”, mostly young men with old vans and at least a dog or two a piece. They congregated round one van and although they were not too loud they had their dogs roaming loose which was a bit disconcerting as one did not know what sort of reception Cassidy would get from them.
18th Scoured the Aires book for a free Aire with electricity that was on my route to Lons and found that there was one at Sornay. Stopped for shopping en route and settled down to domestic issues like draining the waste water tank and charging battries. Thus I have the opportunity to catch up on the blog. It is a good Aire with picnic tables and free water & electricity but right on the main road through town. I do not think that ciourtesy of ear plugs that is going to be a real issue!
Cassidy and I had a nice long walk that took us to a lock and along the banks of La Seille, we are not a million miles away from where we had lunch on Monday!
19th Reached Conliege just outside Lons where I will be taking the van to the dealer to get the leak fixed in the morning. The Aire is very pleasant in a quiet square off the main road. Walks around the back roads revealed Alpine architecture, an C18th staircase and a pretty lavoir.
20th A very nice Aire by a lake outside the unassuming little town of Labergement St Marie, which apart from some iron clad building had little to comment it. However the walks around the lakes were really good.
21st I really need electricity and internet connection now to do my weekend work. The two Aires at Les Rousses had Bornes but they were not functioning and since they are the province of the municipality and it is closed on Saturday I would need to find an alternative. I set the satnav for Bois D;Amont and it proceeded to get completely confused. It took me a while to realise that we were going round in circles and to resort to the good old fashioned method of street signs and map! When I finally got there it was only to find that the borne needed tokens that are only available at the Town Hall which is closed Saturday through Monday. There is nothing for it but to cross the boarded tomorrow and stay at the camp site at St Cergue, and pay!
BOIS D’AMONT
22nd. A short half hour drive and an easy boarder crossing and I was at the camp site. All mod cons and a great chance to catch up on everything, work and domestic. The only problem being the cost of in excess of CHFr 25!!!
23rd. An early start for the drive down the mountain pass to Nyon in freezing fog with my dashboard warning me of “Risque de Verreglace”. Got to the address of the Aire that I had found on the internet but couldn’t find the Aire anywhere. At the swimming pool they told me that it no longer exists. A walk into town and the Office de Tourism confirmed not only that it indeed did not exist any more but that no new Aire had been created to replace it and that there were no Aires in the vacinity. Their only suggestion was that I book into a campsite. Spent the night in a car park with a couple of others campers that had also been disappointed. I finally got an internet signal back towards town in the afternoon and was able to communicate with Sandi that there was no Aire and where she would find me for our 11am rendevous tommorow morning. It was a heavily overcast day with no sighting of Mont Blanc visible on the opposite shore of Lake Lehman.
24th. Moved to to Arzier to park in David and Daniella’s driveway. This was a mission including a many points turn into a steeply sloping and impossibly angled driveway with much frantic clutching of hand brake, teeth grinding and blocks under wheels. I am not even going to think about what happens when I leave! At least I will be going out forwards. Later in the day there was an opportunity to see the mountains over the lake.
26th Arzier is a two lavoir town! But with little else beyond the tea rooms and the bakers.
And a couple of pictures send by Sandi Fowkes, at a lavoir and Keynan with Cas.
In the afternoon we took the boys Tarik and Keynan into Nyon for their music lessons and there was a chance for them and Cassidy to plat before they had to start.
27th, Sandi and I went for a walk in a lovely Oak Forest and had a picnic
afterwards we took the scenic route home via the village of Bignins where we found an 11th century church with an unusual barrel vaulted cieling.
In the next village of Bassins there was an even smaller church of a similar age, unfortunately the cieling had been plastered.
There were six so called “bassins” in the village from which it took its name, they are really just lavoirs by another name! Here are three of them,
Back in Arzier we installed ourselves outside the tea shop for tea and tarte!
28th Sandi and I went for a very long walk through another forested area today ending up at the village of Givrins which also had a number of lavoirs. From there we took the train back to Arzier.
29th. Left Arzier today following a lovely few days in David and Daniela’s driveway getting to know their family and catching up with Sandi from Cape Town. We went together as far as Divonne for the Sunday market which was lively, well attended and had some interesting stalls, including spices and fine teas.
Arrived in Orgelet and found the Aire. It had rained since I left the market in Divonne and continued to do so all evening. We had a wet walk around town where there is aninteresting domed church and an old Grain Store which is now the Village Hall.
31st Moved on to Dole today but not before taking Cassidy for a walk and finding what I hoped was a good harvest of field mushrooms. There is a wonderful facility in France whereby you can take your fungi findings into any pharmacy and they will tell you if they are edible or not. So I did just that on passing through a village en route and was given the OK. Some of them made a good lunch of mushrooms on toast but there are plenty left!
25th. The River is running very fast following all the rain we have had as demonstrated at the weir.
A walk around this lovely city I have visited before gave me the opportunity to look at the architecture in greater detail.
And enjoy the evening sky line.
capetocarpe 