Wednesday 17 April 2019
Our friends Susanne and Roland over near the border with Switzerland in their rural idyll of Champagne-sur-Loue are both well into their eighties now. I can no longer be confident that our travels will continue indefinitely and we were anxious to see them again. So leaving our friends in Caen we headed south east for a couple of day driving across the empty French landscape towards Burgundy, trying, as always, to discover different routes.
We left Caen this morning, heading towards the Jura along familiar routes, even having lunch in a woodland lay-by we recognised from a previous trip. During the day we heard our first cuckoo of the year. Near Chateaudun we found our way along a country lane blocked by a young fawn standing in the middle of the road looking lost. It allowed Ian to gently nudge it to the side of the road while I edged cautiously past it. We camped overnight at Cloyes-sur-le-Loir, so we hadn't quite reached our aim of getting to the Loire (the one with a final E) on our first day out from Caen.
Thursday 18 April 2019
Shortly after setting out on the road to Orleans a massive wayside monument drew our attention and we stopped to investigate. It proved to be a memorial of an incident during the Franco-Prussian War when on 9 November 1870 the Army of the Loire, commanded by General d'Aurelle de Paladines captured the park at Coulmiers, the last point of resistance by the Bavarian troops. It was one of the few French victories during that war.
Shortly after setting out on the road to Orleans a massive wayside monument drew our attention and we stopped to investigate. It proved to be a memorial of an incident during the Franco-Prussian War when on 9 November 1870 the Army of the Loire, commanded by General d'Aurelle de Paladines captured the park at Coulmiers, the last point of resistance by the Bavarian troops. It was one of the few French victories during that war.
Just over the border into Burgundy we paused at Saint-Fargeau and looked at the massive 16th century castle with its imposing brick-built towers. It was, in the 17th century, the residence of Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier, (1627-1693) known as La Grande Mademoiselle, the cousin of Louis XIV, exiled there after being on the wrong side in the Fronde civil war.
Castle. Saint-Fargeau.
Gateway. Saint-Fargeau.
Saint-Fargeau.
Interior courtyard of Castle, Saint-Fargeau.
Market Hall Saint-Fargeau.
Canal du Nivernais. Merry-sur-Yonne.
Canal du Nivernais. Merry-sur-Yonne.
Rochers du Saussois.
Friday 19 April 2019
This time we ended up camping beside a lock on a canal in deepest rural France. It was so delightful we stayed and extra day and walked along the canal path to climb up to a small walled town of mediaeval buildings, silent and empty in the heat of the midday sun. We stopped to chat with workers restoring the tower of the village church who told us that the fire in Paris would mean that all moneys for restoration would go to Notre Dame which would leave churches across France with no money for regional restoration projects.
We walked along the canal to Mailly-le-Château, passing limestone rocks with Jurassic fossils of a coral reef. At the entrance to the town was a 15th century bridge with a little chapel dedicated to St Nicholas. The old town with its castle high on the rocks was only reached after a hot and sticky climb.
Canal du Nivernais. Limestone cliffs with coral reef fossils in background.
Mailly-le-Château. Old town on hilltop with castle.
Saint Nicolas. Bridge chapel. Mailly-le-Château.
Mailly-le-Château. Views down towards the canal and river.
We sat under the shade of the trees on the cliff edge with our picnic lunch and a bottle of water looking down on the shining canal and out across the wide green countryside as we recovered from our walk and waited for the town to show a flicker of life. Eventually we realised this was just village life and it was always this silent so strolled through the deserted village streets overhung by climbing roses with sleeping cats on doorsteps until we found the church, offering not only cool relief from the midday heat but the chance to read about the beatification of one of the town’s residents back in the 1930’s!
Apart from the castle, now a private residence, there was a 14th century church with much being made of a local lass, Elise Bisschop (1925-1964), well on her way to beatification. Plagued throughout her life by respiratory illness, she remained cheerful and dedicated her life to helping children and young people in the region, writing poems and songs.
Apart from the castle, now a private residence, there was a 14th century church with much being made of a local lass, Elise Bisschop (1925-1964), well on her way to beatification. Plagued throughout her life by respiratory illness, she remained cheerful and dedicated her life to helping children and young people in the region, writing poems and songs.
Elise Bisshop
Church, Mailly-le-Château.
Bridge, Mailly-le-Château.
Bridge, Mailly-le-Château.
We returned along the canal, finding amusement in watching the efforts of holiday makers attempting to moor their boats to the banks. From a distance marker it would appear that this stretch of the canal was only completed in 1866.
Distance marker, Canal du Nivernais.
Chalon-sur-Saone.
The historic town was a busy pedestrian area full of half-timbered houses with statues on street corners and the occasional mural on end walls.
Mural, Chalon-sur-Saone.
Corner house with statue, Chalon-sur-Saone.
Half timbered house, Chalon-sur-Saone.
Chalon-sur-Saone.
The Place Saint Vincent in front of the cathedral was packed. The Cathedral itself was gleaming white, a gothic structure with classical makeover of the columns inside.
Cathedral, Chalon-sur-Saone.
We found a plaque to Nicephore Niepce pioneer photographer - with a name like that it would have been such a waste if he had achieved nothing else to be remembered by.
Chalon-sur-Saone.
Chalon-sur-Saone.
Sunday 21 April
Our last day on the road brought us to Seurre, a red-brick town on the banks of the Saone, just before it is joined by the Doubs. We picnicked by the river and explored the town again. The main thing we did not recall from our previous visit was the charming jacquemart sat astride the bells above the entrance to the local school.
Jacquemart above entrance to school, Seurre.
On to the beautiful city of Dole, which had a fun fair beside the river. We had a beer in a restaurant in the main street run by couple of clowns, one, an accordion player, tried to short-change Ian and then proceeded to borrow from another customer to make up the required change. We gathered when we passed by later that he had been reimbursed and it appeared to be typical of their unorthodox behaviour.
Monday 22 April
Monday 22 April
Leaving Dole, we went up the winding road along the gorge of the little river to Ivrey but, finding our English friends there were not at home we drove on to Salins and up to Fort St Andre for lunch with views over the town deep in the gorge below. Descending into Salins we stopping to buy flowers and a fruit tart for supper as we were expected by Susanne and Roland. Then on to Champagne for dinner with Susanne and Roland preceded by the usual aperitif of home produced wine and brandy. We found little had changed with them when we arrived and their welcome was as warm and happy as ever. Despite us being from such a very different background we have always got on well though they have little concept, or indeed interest, of our way of life, so different in all respects from theirs.
We have been back to this little village so many times since we retired that things in the flat have their regular location and we quickly settled back in. I was even able to pick up the novel I was reading on our last visit, my bookmark still in place, and continue from where I’d left off.
The village campsite was still closed; there were less campers now - they used to come to Champagne for the fishing but the Loue was currently too polluted by agricultural pesticides!
We have been back to this little village so many times since we retired that things in the flat have their regular location and we quickly settled back in. I was even able to pick up the novel I was reading on our last visit, my bookmark still in place, and continue from where I’d left off.
The village campsite was still closed; there were less campers now - they used to come to Champagne for the fishing but the Loue was currently too polluted by agricultural pesticides!
Tuesday 23 April
We planned to visit some of our well-loved haunts over the coming days and started with a walk to Buffard over the Loue bridge. We saw many small fishes but no large ones. Previously there had been many more. Reports of water samples posted up by the bridge stated that river was moderately safe for bathing but just next to it was a decree by the mairie that bathing in the river at Champagne-sur-Loue was prohibited anyway. Another notice stated that that because of the drought the letting off of fireworks and crackers was also banned. Arrived in Buffard we saw a notice that a local group of gilets jaunes was to assemble at the mairie on Wednesday - at least they won't be disturbing the peace of the little villages by setting off fireworks!
Wednesday 24 April
Today our English friends from Ivrey, Martin, Maggie and Dean came for lunch in the flat. We also visited them in their village and took a walk onto the ridge above the little settlement.
Ivrey.
Typical farmhouse, Ivrey.
In the evening we walked over the côte to Roland's vines and looked down from the hilltops towards Arc-et-Senans, trying to make out the salt works as the sun set.
Typical farmhouse, Ivrey.
Thursday 25 April
Today we visited the tourist information in Arbois to access the internet. This was followed by lunch at Le Faramand. We were lucky to find a table as it is normally packed out by locals enjoying the cheap menu du jour. We drove up the blind valley behind Arbois, becoming ever more enclosed by towering cliffs as we approached the final settlement at Les Planches, Here the river Cuisance springs in full spate from caverns in the limestone, tumbling over the Cascade des Tufs, covered in moss and with fascinating travertine formations. The little river was the motive force for a number of watermills. In medieval times they fulfilled a number of functions but by the 18th century papermaking was predominant. In the mid 19th century one mill in the village of Mesnay started to specialise in cardboard, basically thick paper and using much the same techniques. as papermaking. The mill continued until the 1980s giving much employment locally and providing the community with electric light in 1900, a co-operative shop which used its own tokens, a library and many other paternalistic actions. In the 1980s the rise in oil prices, the emergence of plastics and other factors led to the firm's bankruptcy and in 1999 the Ecomusée du carton was opened in one of the disused factory buildings, complete with much of the equipment and fascinating historical detail. Among other things, from the 19th century good quality shoes were being made from glazed card . The museum had a receptionist from Kazakhstan who had met and married a Frenchman from the Jura there. She asked whether it rained as much in England as it did in the Jura.
Friday 26 April
