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Home >European
Touring > Europe 2009 > Across France
to the Swiss border
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Across France to the Swiss
border
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We crossed to Dieppe and after a night at
Cleres, a typical Normandy town with half timbered buildings and a large
chateau with a zoo in the park, we drove on back roads to Chartres and its
magnificent cathedral. We discovered that the annual city centre illuminations
had started so walked into the centre as it was getting dark. About twenty
buildings were lit up with colourful projections, with the centre piece
being the front of the cathedral which was illuminated with a moving sound
and light experience and definitely not to be missed. The next day we
walked to see the Maison Picassiette, an example of näive art, where we
found, behind an ordinary suburban house, a garden and buildings decorated
with mosaics made mostly from broken china, the work of Raymond Isidore, a
local council worker between 1934 and 1964 (unfortunately photography
wasn't allowed - link
to website). We continued to the city
centre to look at the cathedral and its superb stained glass windows and a
wander around the old town. The next morning we headed east in heavy
rain across more minor roads and the seemingly ubiquitous deviations due
to road works, arriving mid afternoon at Briare where an impressive
aqueduct 662 metres long carries the the Canal Latéral à la Loire over
the river. It was opened in 1896 and is still in use by leisure craft.
After a walk across it on the tow paths we parked overnight in the car
park with several other motorhomes.
Chartres - rose window
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Chartres - night illuminations
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Briare aqueduct
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Briare aqueduct across the Loire
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Continuing eastwards we passed through St
Fargeau and on to Druyes les Belles Fontaines in the Yonne Department which
we had discovered many years ago. Unfortunately as it was much earlier in
the year, the lack of flowers around the ponds gave the town a drab and
neglected appearance. On to Vezelay where we parked in the large carpark
on the edge of the town, and walked up to the basilica of St Mary Magdelen
with its impressive Romanesque interior and decorated columns. This has
been a place of pilgrimage for centuries although there were more school parties
around than pilgrims.
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Druyes la Belle
Fontaine
Basilica at Vezelay
detail of column
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From
there we headed into the forests of the Morvan Regional Park and
another free night alongside Lac les Settons before driving to Autun, a
busy town with a large central square and many grand buildings. Being a
Saturday lunchtime it was easy to find a parking space by the town hall
and take a stroll around the shops and to the cathedral. We then bypassed Beaune and Dole and arrived
at Arbois in the Franche-Comte region just as the Tour de Jura cycle race
was passing through. The town is famous for its jaune (yellow) wine and
has an attractive arcaded square. Nearby is Louis Pasteur's home and laboratory
which is open to visitors.
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Autun - Hotel de Ville
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We decided to spend two nights at the campsite so the next day drove
through wooded hilly countryside heading for Mount Poupet a viewpoint
marked on the Michelin map but decided not to take the forest track to the
top, so took more back roads through meadows to the River Loue and the
restful Miroir de Scey which turned out to be a stop on the Gustave Courbet artist's
trail. There were information boards with examples of his paintings here
and at other locations such as the shady ravine of Puits Noir (black
wells) which he painted fifty times - so I took many photos in just
a few minutes to capture the scene. He was born and lived in the nearby town of Ornans with
its houses overhanging the river. Unfortunately the Courbet museum was
just closing as we arrived at 4pm.
Gustave
Courbet trail information board
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Miroir de Scey on the Gustave Courbet trail
Ravine de Puits Noir
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Ornans on the River Loue
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Ornans
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The next day we drove on faster roads to
Pontarlier where we topped up our Gaslow LPG bottle (which was only half
empty after 10 days of travelling), then turned off to the Source de la Loue where the river emerges
from beneath a high cliff although it turned out to be a building site at
present as the old bridge had been washed away. From there we headed east
and took the narrow road which plunged into the deep blind valley of the
Cirque de Consolation with its large former monastery buildings in a peaceful setting. A waymarked walk
led us to the grand cascade which was
unfortunately hardly a trickle. We drove on to the busy town of Villers le Lac where
boat trips to the Saut (jump) de Doubs embark and discovered that purchase
of a boat ticket at €11 was required to stay overnight (although we later
found out there was another free aire in the town), so we returned to the
peaceful Cirque de Consolation and parked overnight for €5.
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Source de la Loue (and building site)
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Cirque de Consolation monastery
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Cirque de Consolation - the dry Grand Cascade
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After a peaceful night we went for another
walk up to the cliffs then decided to head for Switzerland, crossing the
border on a narrow minor road from Maîche. After we
were waved through just showing our passports to the Swiss border guards we drove up steep wooded
roads to the interesting town of La Chaux-de-Fonds, mostly blocks of flats
built on a grid system as in the USA, and after buying a Swiss motorway vignette
for 40 CHF drove along the northern shore of Lac Neuchâtel.
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