Our lodgings were very comfortable, and supper was enhanced by delicious freshly picked radishes grown in our hosts’ garden! We were relieved to learn the outcome of yesterday’s presidential elections, but disappointed to hear that with so many Ukrainians losing their lives defending democracy, 28% of the French electorate had not turned out to vote! Our host’s view was that Macron would be better for us, but maybe not for the French. This we found puzzling.
This morning was sunny initially, and then there was a short sharp shower whilst we were breakfasting. By the time we were ready to leave the rain had stopped and the clouds were lifting. Our route out of the village took us past gardens with cloches full of lettuces and leeks ready to be picked – spring is certainly well ahead here.
There is a substantial tree and shrub nursery business based in Precy Saint Martin, and they grow grapes too. Sadly, they also spray to eliminate weeds and were out doing so today. We resisted the temptation to persuade them that spraying herbicide is so damaging.
We walked along a ridge for the first hour, passing areas of woodland and fairly small fields in between. Eventually we descended into the village of Saint-Leger-sous-Brienne where, yet again, the church was locked.
Leaving the village we climbed back uphill onto another ridge, giving us good views back over the flood plain of the Voire, which we had crossed yesterday and the ridge beyond. In small patches in the fields there were small vineyards, some of which had not been tended for some time as they were completely overgrown.
Once on top of the hill our route took us along tracks through mixed deciduous woodland, until we came to the edge of Brienne-le-Chateau where there was an arboretum consisting of a wide variety of trees, all labelled but a bit too close together to appreciate the variety of their shapes and forms. Further on we passed horse paddocks and what looked like small plots on which people park their holiday caravans, as we’ve seen previously in Brittany.
Our arrival at Brienne-le-Chateau was unremarkable in that we couldn’t actually see the chateau for trees and high walls. The entry gate is underneath the driveway to the chateau, and there are some pretty timbered houses lining the streets. We need to do some more research on the history of the chateau, but we understand that it has a military past and that Napoleon either owned it or otherwise used it.
The town itself has seen better days and seemed quite run down, with few shops. Most of them were closed today as it is Monday. A boulangerie was open, though, so we were able to buy a couple of small, light and tasty quiches for lunch as a welcome change from our usual bread and cheese.
Having restocked on tomatoes and oranges in the supermarket, we headed out of town, in effect walking most of the way around the chateau’s grounds. We then worked out that all the modern housing in the grounds and high surrounding fence contained a psychiatric hospital. Sadly, it looked as if staffing levels in France limit patients’ access to the grounds, just as they do in the UK, as we saw no one outside except for grounds maintenance staff.
On the west side of the château we turned off the road and onto what was once the main carriage drive lined by an avenue of tall trees. This gave a good view back to the château itself.
The next several kilometres of walking took us through mixed woodland on some quite muddy tracks where the sun had not penetrated to dry off last night’s rain. There were lots if wild flowers and much birdsong, making for very pleasant walking.
On this path we came close to the river Aube, though initially we were about 50 feet above it with just the occasional glimpse through the trees which are now so full of leaf it was impossible to get a good look at it – or to get a photograph. Apparently in medieval times the Aube river was used to float logs down to supply the King’s need for heat in his Parisian palaces.
Approaching Brienne-la-Vielle we crossed a railway line which looked like it hadn’t been used in a long time. Note the very old style telegraph pole beside the line!
Brienne-la-Vielle has an Ecomusee, or museum of rural life, with old agricultural machinery and explanations of how people lived on the land in the past. Amusingly one of the posters mentions the ‘old’ practice of leaving land fallow every 3 years and using animal dung for fertiliser….as would an organic farmer today. A lesson for the big agribusinesses flooding the land and rivers with chemical fertilisers and pesticides, perhaps?
More woodland walking brought us out into fields and in sight of our destination, Dienville, beside the first and smaller of the three lakes in the Aube valley, Lac d’Amance. These lakes supply Paris with water, and control flooding of the Seine, as well as being a tourist attraction. At Dienville there is a Port complete with Capitenerie.
Another couple of kilometres brought us into Dienville, with its mix of old wooden houses and more substantial stone buildings.
Here we again crossed the Aube river, and Tom was pleased to spot a shoal of good grayling in a patch of gravels near the bridge. There is a very impressive looking church the other side of the bridge and market hall just behind, making for a grand entrance to this small town.
The church is dedicated to St Quentin and was built in the 16th century. Inside the church is light and airy. A recording of well known choral music (Locus Iste, Cantique de Jean Racine, etc) starts playing as you enter. We can confirm that there is a good acoustic in there too!
At the back of the church there are two locked glass cabinets containing the silverware that was once used during services in local churches, and in the other cabinet statues taken from those churches. Quite why these items have been taken away from their local communities is a mystery to us, but then we couldn’t understand why you would manage a problem with theft of objects by preventing anyone from going into the church rather than locking away the objects (but not removing them from legitimate use).
Back on the street we eventually found the boulangerie where we will go to buy tomorrow’s breakfast as our chambres d’hotes doesn’t provide breakfast. The epicerie was open, so we have fruit juice and milk for tea in the morning. Our room is adjacent to a communal kitchen, so perhaps even tea in bed in the morning?!
Later, we walked up the road to the lake where there are three restaurants to choose from for supper, none of which was very appealing. We were surprised to see that no kayaking, sailing or windsurfing is allowed on this lake though there are motorboats moored in the ‘port’. Perhaps we will find that water sports are allowed on one or both of the other two bigger lakes that are nearby.
Highlights of the day? Beautiful countryside, great views back to where we’ve walked from, lovely woodland walking. And seeing grayling in the pristine river Aube.