Tapp's Travels

There are lots of interesting places to visit near Clamecy.

At Mailley-le-Chateau bas, there is a fountain, La Fontain du Loup.  It’s a recent (1992) installation remembering the appearance of a ferocious wolf that terrorised the region between 1731 and 1734, with around thirty victims.

That’s in lower town!  The chateau is upstairs!

There’s a LOT of country round here.   And, notably, a lot of small woods. The view from the chateau …

We spent many happy hours trolling the tiny roads through pastures, cornfields and woods looking for deer.

Largely unsuccessfully – well, why would any self-respecting deer stand out on the open in the full heat of the day.  We had the car’s AC to keep us comfortable.  But our navigator-cum-deer-spotter located several during our stay in this part of France.

Back at base we had some lovely sunsets.

Another day, in Coulanges-sur-Yonne, we met one of the workmen renovating a building …

The French have certainly taken to the idea of painting murals.  We’ve seen lots.  From enormous ones covering the whole sides of buildings to teeny little ones.

At Surgy we found a place to tie up your horse (or your children) while you go to the boulangerie (or the bar/tabac).

At Druyes-les-Belles we found the “famous”, but almost universally unknown, lime tree.  Le Tilleul de L’Eglise.  The accompanying notice said (something to the effect of) “The person who planted the tree is not known; the date of planting has been forgotten; why it was planted here is totally unknown; but it’s been here a long time and is classified as ‘multicentennial’ and it’s now about the same size as it was on 14 October 1935!”  Only the French …

The church of the lime tree is, of course, substantially older having started in the sixth century as an “eglise primitive”.  After some 600 years it burnt down (probably an insurance scam or maybe during the riots following Paris Saint Germain football team beating Arsenal 2:1!). The current version was “rebuilt” in the 12 century.

In the centre of town, the Rivière de Druyes feeds a still and beautifully clear lake under the watchful eyes of the chateau on the hill.  But there’s nobody moving anywhere in town.

Behind the lake there are some tiny caves underneath a cross.

These, allegedly, were home to Saint Romain who was born in 462.  He died aged 81 years and donated one of his lower leg bones (a tibia, apparently!) to the church in town while the rest of him was transported to Auxerre for interment.  (That’s if you believe the French sign … AND my translation skills!).

One last mission into the countryside in this area saw us pass through the tiny hamlet of Étais-la-Sauvin.  Seventeen houses, a pharmacy (!) and a restaurant, the Bar Le Partage.  It was 2 pm as we enquired whether lunch was still available.  “Bien sur!”  “Lucienne, put back out the buffet which you have just finished packing away.  We have two more punters needing a feed!”  And Lucienne obliged with a genuine smile – just like waiters in UK restaurants would after kitchen closing time!

While we were at Clamecy we had to call in Hercule Poirot.   The Case of the Missing Sandal.  One morning we woke to find only one of my sandals tucked under the caravan.  I’m fairly sure there were two when I took them off the previous evening!  OK, I might have hidden one of them somewhere clever, but it hasn’t turned up for weeks now!  Still, I remain hopeful.

On that note, we moved to the outskirts of Autun.  Camping les Deux Rivières at La Celle en Morvan, about ten kms NW of the city.  If you recall, I hinted at a disaster to come involving our fridge.  Well, this is where it happened.  As we opened up the caravan, the door of our lovely, tall, no-kneeling-on-the-floor-needed fridge fell off.  Just totally detached from the now open shelved array of slightly cool commestibles.  This was bad news and resulted in a few recitals of the refrain “We are getting far too old for this!”  … and a few other choice words!

After 20 minutes of reading the handbook (pretty useless) and another 20 minutes lying on the floor trying to engage the hinge pins with total lack of success, the second engineer suggested we should ring the supplier of the caravan for advice.  Before they leave work for the weekend.   Well, the news of our catastrophe was greeted with loud laughter and an offer to come to us to fix it.  Not helpful!

When we were connected to a realq engineer, he admitted it was a fiddly procedure.  In the end, two of them tried to remember exactly how the door was reattached and to explain the process to us.  Once Glenda had pointed out that I was trying to put the door on upside-down (which was actually physically impossible to do), things started to work according to the plan.  The instructions made sense and the door clicked into place – but now it opened from the left side not the right (the left side being the wrong side).  Another procedure completed and it was as if nothing had ever gone wrong.  “We get this problem a lot” said Stuart.  “It’s a good idea to put a couple of washers under the door to increase the security!”  If it’s such a good idea, why aren’t they installed like that?

For the next four moves we have taken all the heavy and potentially carpet-staining products out of the fridge and transported them in a cool bag in the air-conditioned car.  And taped up the door at the four corners.  No repeat dramas!