After a long day, a couple of excellent glasses of beer brewed in the Jura, and supper of trout in a very tasty sauce using local cheese, we slept soundly and late. Whilst packing our rucksacks in the morning Hedevika, the young Czech pilgrim we met yesterday, appeared in the street below our window having spent the night in a part-built building outside town. We wished her well with her onward journey.
We made a slow start due to trips to the supermarket and boulanger for more lunch supplies. The church was locked despite signs everywhere about the VF and Siguric.
We then headed out of town, over the river Salon. No trout but plenty of chub. Just after the bridge a car hooted at Tom, and the driver leant out and said in perfect English with a French accent “welcome in Champlitte”. Tom thanked him and said how kind that was.
The mid morning sun was already hot, and we hugged every bit of shade we could find as we headed out into open countryside on the north side of the valley.
On descending the hill into Champlitte la Ville we came upon a flock of sheep enjoying the shade of an ash tree. These were the first sheep we’d seen since the far north of France, and probably explained the white van we’d seen buzzing around with the words “specialiste mouton francois”.
Another locked church maintained with European cultural money left us disappointed. A sign outside promised an interesting 11th century church, but it was not for us to appreciate today.
Further up the hill at the village of Margilley there were many well tended gardens, and a lot of derelict houses interspersed with renovation projects. We had a good view back towards Champlitte and beyond, towards Leffonds and Coublanc.
The minor road we were on wound through rolling fields of mixed arable crops and grass pasture, interspersed with lots of trees, much like yesterday and equally attractive.
We found some unused stands for beehives made out of corrugated metal sheets placed onto concrete blocks in the shade of a stand of false acacias and settled down for lunch and a siesta whilst yesterday’s laundered socks (which hadn’t dried overnight) were laid out in the sun. We were glad for the change of bought tuna salad rolls in place of our usual bread and cheese.
After lunch we passed a field of young cattle who started moving towards us as we came around the corner and were tame enough to let Tom sweep away the flies all around their eyes and noses. Cattle ears do a pretty good job, but a swishing Tilley hat is more effective!
The village of Franois appeared to have two churches, but they were in fact two villages with an impressively large church in the further village. We used the cemetery tap to top up water bottles as we passed, and spent a few minutes hoping a butterfly would land close enough for long enough to get a good photograph. Easier said than done!
Over the river we turned off the road onto a track through fields and woodland, again grateful for every bit of shade.
On a plateau nearing Montot we saw barley fields already harvested and the stubble already ploughed in. Summer is definitely further ahead this far south than at home.
In Montot the church was open, but we had to peer through a barred gate and were therefore unable to appreciate the historically significant features proudly explained in notices in the porch.
In amongst the semi-derelict houses we were amused to see, not for the first time, an old car surrounded by vegetation. Montot seemed to have more than its fair share of old abandoned houses and houses “a vendre”.
On the way out of the village we noticed an old road sign which had not been removed when a new one was put up. With modern driving speeds you wouldn’t stand much chance of reading it, but it must have sufficed perfectly well in the days when people walked or used horses to get about.
From Montot we had a long walk of about 5.5 kms in full sun over high ground before descending into Dampierre. With clouds building ahead of us there was a degree of urgency to get to our destination before the looming storm arrived.
One of the highlights of the day was coming across a male stag beetle which climbed up Tom’s boot and socks but baulked at the vertical unsupported climb up his leg!
Once in Dampierre we were horrified to realise that our accommodation was the other side of town! However, the river and millstream we crossed looked healthy, with lots of waterlillies and chub.
But, we were then confronted with the horror of a tall modern glass hotel and shopping centre, now largely boarded up, standing almost adjacent to a lovely old church. It was so out of place as to be laughable, but for the amount of public money that was probably spent on building it.
Our host later told us that backhanders had been involved and Dampierre has the dubious privilege of having the only glass tower block in the region! We were relieved to arrive at our destination about ten minutes before the thunderstorm hit with torrential rain like yesterday’s storm.
Highlights of the day included very pretty countryside and seeing a stag beetle close up.