WEEK 3: Saint Julien du Sault to Hirtzbach – 286 miles
Saturday 23rd June 2018 Saint Julien du Sault – Chablis. 33 miles
Another beautiful sunny day today. Before we leave we take another walk into the town and buy some pastries for breakfast. We do like it here, it’s such a lovely place and popular as the aire is full. We would like to stay another night but we want to move on east to Chablis where we are going to another campsite that we visited on our trial motorhome outing last year. Camping du Serein is in the town of Ville du Chablis.
It’s another nice short picturesque drive to the campsite but once there we quickly get settled in after a rather lengthy time, as usual, deciding where to pitch.
We will get the hang of this and it will get quicker picking the right spot. We take a walk into the town which has a rather attractive entrance to it with two old but well looked after turrets. We buy some unusual Chablis that has been aged in acacia barrels.
We buy some fruit and veg and head back for a fantastic dinner that ends with some rather nice cheese with fresh figs.
Sunday 24th June 2018 Saint Chablis – Lezinnes. 23 miles
It’s warm but cloudy this morning, warm enough to have breakfast outside. It’s a nice morning. We get cleaned up, empty the grey water tank, and fill up with fresh water. We are also a bit low on diesel so on the way we need to fill up.
Today is the shortest drive so far. We arrive at the campsite which is immaculate, a beautiful place.
There is supposed to be good cycling here so we get the bikes down off the back of Jess and do a good 11 mile round trip bike ride. Not bad.
It was a great day for cycling and the day has gone by so fast. We get back to Jess and shower and have dinner. We manage a short walk into the town where we get a fuss of a few cats that are wandering around the town. A very nice day.
Monday 25th June 2018 Lezinnes – Vouecourt. 82 miles
We are up early. By all accounts there is supposed to be a heatwave, but it hasn’t reached us yet, it’s still very pleasant though. We have breakfast while we watch some campers who are camping using a bike. Not for us that. Cycling all day, loaded up with panniers full of your stuff that you take out every day and put away every day. Nah! Not for us that.
Today we are going to the beautiful river side village of Vouecourt, which is back in the champagne region. The campsite is right on the river which are very popular spots, but we are able to bag a pitch right on the river bank.
It’s absolutely gorgeous. Right on the river with a view of a small, very old bridge and a charming little church. We like it here so much that we book for two nights. It has a cycle track that runs along the river and the canal, so we will get some exercise while we are here. We get settled in and just relax by the river watching the ducks with a chilled glass of champagne. We hate Mondays.
Dinner is a homemade paella, which Hayley is now an expert at. It’s delicious and we have such a fantastic view to enjoy it. Lovely.
We have been out now for almost two weeks and everyone that we have met in France has been very nice and friendly.
Tuesday 26th June 2018 Vouecourt. Day 2
We had a good sleep last night, very good. It’s quite hot today. We have a relaxing breakfast of many things, eggs, hash browns, cheese and jams, quite a feed. By the time we have breakfast, watch the ducks and clean up it is now 11:00am and by now its getting quite hot, but we are determined to go for a bike ride. But first let’s have a look at that church.
We get the bike off the back and prepared and set off along the canal. It’s great for cycling here, flat and easy, with the odd lock every now and then. We arrive at the small village of Buxiemes. Not much here, just a pretty church and a bar. Life! We pop in and have coffee and sit in the shade of a lovely flowery courtyard. Very nice. Onwards.
After continuing for a little while longer we turn around and make our way back to our van. In total we have cycled 17 miles. Not bad in the hot sun, and it is hot.
Back at our mobile house, we take advantage of the free washing facilities and catch up on the laundry.
Dinner is outside by the river and to accompany it we open our bottle 2008 vintage Foureur champagne, the place with the little tight courtyard and Excalibur the black cat. A great day today.
Wednesday 27th June 2018 Vouecourt – Contrexeville. 73 miles
It’s 9am and it’s already hot, very hot while we have our boiled eggs outside with the ducks. We sit in silence for the last few minutes as we take in this lovely spot, the view, the smell, the light, it’s brilliant.
Today we are going to Contrexeville and Hayley is driving. It’s a challenge, very narrow, tight, windy roads. Steep, hilly towns and cyclists to avoid, but Hayley just takes it in her stride and gets us safely to the campsite in Contrexeville. On the way we give Jess a wash. She needs it, she’s dirty and the heat is making the dirt stick.
We arrive at the campsite and we get a lovely friendly welcome. We are also getting better at picking pitches at the sites and settle for a nice grassy, shady spot.
Contrexeville is famous for water and the water plant here has a direct pipeline to Vittel nearby. We find a LeClerc store, we need water tap adapter, Hayley needs a new mini jack cable and we also need some toilet chemicals. We get everything at this store and at a good price.
We didn’t sleep very well last night, it’s hot. So bed early tonight. There are chickens roaming around the campsite. They are quite popular here, roaming chickens.
It’s getting windy here tonight, so dinner indoors tonight.
Thursday 28th June 2018 Contrexeville – La Thillot. 40 miles
A bad night sleep last night, not sure why. It’s still hot. We need to do some shopping so we get going and spend 45 euros at the local LeClerc supermarket, we also take the opportunity to fill up with diesel.
Its a windy day today and it’s Dels turn at the wheel. He’s fighting against the wind as Jess gets buffeted about. An hour and half later we arrive at the campsite. It’s now 1:30pm but we have to wait half an hour, French lunch time.
We are are aware that the scenery has changed now. The view looks very Alpine-esque with pine trees, chalets and lots of hills.
Friday 29th June 2018 La Thillot – Hirtzbach. 43 miles
We are heading eastwards hence the scenery change, we are heading towards Basel, trying to get there for tomorrow. We are in the Alsace area which has changed hands 5 times between the French and the Germans since 1600 so the buildings and the names of the towns are starting to sound a bit Germanic.
We are heading towards a town called Hirtzbach, very german sounding. It’s a free aire that was once a railway station. The old railway lines have been converted to cycle ways. Time for some exercise!
Once settled in to the aire we get the bikes out and cycle to the next town called Hirsingue. Hayley spots a nice little restaurant which has stopped serving for the day but we book a table for two for tonight. We cycle back and just relax on Jess. It’s hot again. As the afternoon goes on we find that we are become swamped by cars. Every carpark and street space is filling up. Whats going on?
Time for dinner, it’s still quite warm. We set off and have a nice cycle back to the town and the restaurant that we have booked into for dinner. The restaurant is called “Le petit grain de sel“, The little grain of salt. The bike ride is lovely in the early evening sun.
Dinner out tonight was wonderful. Vegetable tart/tomato burger for starters, followed by lamb/pepper steak, ending with a rather delicious, and very alcoholic cherry ice cream with lots of kirsch. Wonderful.
We manage to cycle back in the sunset, a lovely place to stay and a lovely and dinner!
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