Plombieres-Les-Bains to Tournus

Saturday, 17th September 2016

A truly dismal morning. We are high up here, so, I am not sure if we have mist, or low cloud, but, either way, everywhere is soaking wet, and, there is a steady drizzle.

Someone (ie me) failed to put the "outdoor" chairs away last night, so, they are soaking wet.

Kathleen insists, she did "tell" me to put the chairs away, but, I point out that she did not, she hinted that it might be a good idea to put the chairs away. As I have told Kathleen many times, men do not do hints! Instead of "it might be a good idea to put the chairs away", just say "we have finished using the chairs, will you put them away?". Clear an unambiguous.

We did have vague plans of perhaps staying here for another day or even two, but, given the dismal weather and the distance we are out of Plombieres-les-Bains, we decide to stick to Plan A, use this place as a stop-over, and head for Tournus.

When we passed through Plombieres-Les-Bains on the way here, the Sat-Nav took us along wide avenues, for some reason, going the other way, it takes us down impossibly narrow streets, with parked cars all over the place.



The rain continues off and on, all 150 miles to Tournus, where we arrive at Camping Tournus (N45 34'25" E4 54'34", an ACSI site, 17Euro/night. The site is on the banks of the River Soane, and, promises to be very pleasant, if only the sun shines!, but, for today, it rains, and it rains and it rains! 

It certainly is popular, there are many vans here as we arrive, and numerous more arrive after us, mostly Dutch. I assume it is a site which people "know", because it is not easy to find, we have not seen a single signpost to the place, and even when you are almost at the entrance, it is not obvious. Before actually finding the site, we have a nice little tour of the river bank along a single track road, courtesy of the Sat-Nav.

The journey, as it unfolds.

This part of the trip, in video.


Sunday, 18th September 2016

The rain continues, in fact, worse if anything!

I believe the French description to be "il pleat comme cache qui pisse".

Yesterday, a family arrived on bicycles. Mother, Father and two small children. The children are travelling in a trailer, towed behind the Father's bicycle.

They are staying in this small tent.

This morning, they were happily sitting under the cover rigged up outside of their tent, eating breakfast, as the rain poured down around them.

After breakfast, they packed up their gear and cycled off in the rain.

Now, THAT is camping!

But, a little deluge of biblical proportions will not deter Kathleen from going to Mass on Sunday, so, we walk into Tournus, and Kathleen attends Mass at St Philibert's, whilst I have "Chocolate chaude" and read a very expensive (4.50Euro) Daily Telegraph, in a nearby cafe.