A long walk through ancient history

Thursday 21^st July

I forgot to mention in yesterday’s blog the countryside as we passed from Tossiat to Lapalisse. Around Tossiat the main crops seemed to be hay and corn. There was a lot of cutting hay going on and it wasn’t unusual to come across a tractor towing a big trailer full of round hay bales. We had to pass a lot of these, and make way for those coming the other way. From the corn growing country we then passed through wine growing country along the Saone and Loire rivers. The area was mainly Beaujolais wines – we didn’t stop for any tastings. We were also now into the chateau area. Every couple of K it was ‘have a look at that chateau’. There were far too many to stop and take photos of them all. Some were fairly ordinary but some were just stunning. From the wine country we then moved back in to corn and hay.

One of the chateaux we did stop for. I guess they didn't have porsches and mercedes to show off, so this was their 'mine is bigger and better than yours'.

Yesterday we visited the chateau at Lapalisse. This chateau has been in the same family since 1430 – 30 generations. The family is still living in the chateau and only parts of it are open for tourists. No photos allowed so we just had to enjoy the moment. There was a group of school children on the tour with us and the guide was speaking slowly and to their level (about 10 yr olds) so we were able to understand a lot of the French – and we had backup printed English information.

The chateau at Lapalisse. A couple of the rooms had really interesting wood ceilings - some in Italian renaissance style, and some French renaissance.

We had a bit of time to kill so we took the scenic route following along one of the canals in the area. We found lunch in a lovely restaurant in a small village and did a further detour to the Nevers Magny Cours race circuit. Rob had a bit of a wander around and took some photos but in the 36deg heat it was too hot to spend too long there. A couple of bikes were doing laps but other than that there was no action.

Nevers Magny-Cours race circuit. 

Our final destination for the day was Autun where we are staying in a B&B. I might have to add aircon to my list of requirements when looking for accommodation if we are here again in summer. Our room is upstairs and it was so hot last night. It rained a bit overnight and today started out much cooler.

Today we headed for the archaeological site of Bribacte, where they are excavating a Gaul ‘city’ – sometime around 50BC. The site is on top of a mountain (800m) and it was much cooler up there and in fact foggy this morning. We first looked at the museum where they had an abundance of information – too much to take in. From there we went up the hill (courtesy bus) to the excavation sites. They have exposed a lot but I think they will be digging there for years to come. It was a long walk back down the hill visiting the various sites, but thankfully it was not the 36deg of yesterday. It was actually quite pleasant walking through the beech forests in the fog.

It was lovely and cool walking the paths through the beech forest. - and so quiet. 

We also visited the cathedral in Autun which we couldn’t see last time we were here, and did a bit of a tour around the town visiting the other medieval sites. We are here for another night (hopefully cooler) and tomorrow head back towards Paris.

The funeral pyramid out of Autun. From there you get a good view over the town. We took a couple of panorama shots but they don't look so good on the blog. 

The cathedral in Autun. Looks pretty stunning from a distance as it sits on the hightest spot in town, 

We’ve just watched the end of today’s Tour de France and they are now in Megeve where we were 10 days ago. Pretty spectacular scenery! Sadly we won’t be able to watch any of it on Saturday and this is when they will go up one of the climbs that we did by car when we left Megeve. If you are watching at home – Col de Aravis I think was the name.