{"id":7722,"date":"2026-06-16T19:56:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T19:56:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=7722"},"modified":"2026-06-16T19:56:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T19:56:27","slug":"8-clamecy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=7722","title":{"rendered":"8. CLAMECY."},"content":{"rendered":"

When a huge campervan parked immediately in front of us, it was time to move on.\u00a0 We said our goodbyes to David and Victoria, the only two other native English speakers on site (albeit with a bit of an accent!) and headed off.\u00a0 Aiming for a place called Camping Joli Bois at Andryes.\u00a0 About 60 km to the East.\u00a0 The executive route we took approaching the site took us along possibly the longest stretch of single track road with no passing places I’ve ever driven on.\u00a0 Anywhere.\u00a0 Fortunately, also with no on-coming traffic.\u00a0 For six kilometres!\u00a0 The only way to have passed would be for one or other to drive into a field somewhere.\u00a0 And that wasn’t going to be us!\u00a0 We had supplies to last a stand-off for several days!<\/p>\n

Then we had the inevitable 170 degree turn into the site.\u00a0 (It would have been a doddle had we come from the “correct” direction!)\u00a0 We were aware the place was a bit isolated and in a wood.\u00a0 But the isolation was “significant” and the wood was “overpowering”.\u00a0 The sanitaires were only partly open and needed a good clean.\u00a0 The pool was half full of green sludge and the surrounding patio was sprouting weeds all over the place.\u00a0 And the patio was the only place from which you could see anything of the outside world!\u00a0 We’re not staying here Barry!\u00a0 But where?\u00a0 Decisions on the hoof!\u00a0 There’s a small municipal site on the outskirts of Clamecy, not far away.\u00a0 We’ll try there.<\/p>\n

What a delight.\u00a0 Situated on a tiny sliver of land between the River Yonne and the Canal du Nivernais.\u00a0 Just before the two waterways merged.\u00a0 The only problem was that the electric supply was just 6 amps.\u00a0 Not really enough.\u00a0 The guardian, Julienne, was really helpful and connected us to the supply of the cabin next door.\u00a0 We now have 25 amps and considering starting an electric car charging business on site!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Our temporary home from the far side of the canal and a passing cruiser as seen from our side …<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

More overhanging houses … they are all over the old part of Clamecy town!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

On the bridge in town we come face to face with Alain Colas.\u00a0 A French sailor born in Clamecy, he was the first to complete a solitary round-the-world race in a multihull.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

From here the point at which the canal joins the R. Yonne can just be seen at the far end of the quay on the right).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

After less than a kilometre the two waterways separate again.\u00a0 Next stop, Auxerre some 64 or 83 kms (depending on who you choose to believe) to the north.<\/p>\n

Now we come to the day that I got lost.\u00a0 Well, I knew exactly where I was, but perhaps it wasn’t where everyone else thought I should be!\u00a0 V\u00e9zelay.\u00a0 Home of the UNESCO listed Basilica of Sainte-Madeleine and the Eternal Hill.<\/p>\n

The first problem was to find parking.\u00a0 Having dropped Glenda off at the entrance to the town, I discovered everywhere was pay-to-park.\u00a0 Not my favourite.\u00a0 Still there are massive parking lots on the edge of town.\u00a0 Reluctantly, I tried to pay four times, but I couldn’t get the machine to accept my card.\u00a0 Lack of practice, obviously!\u00a0 So I retreated via a two kilometre exit route designed to keep departing traffic well away from town.\u00a0 On the way back up the hill, I found a tiny patch of flat land with no parking restrictions.\u00a0 Result.\u00a0 But I’m late for our rendezvous in the first acceptable restaurant in town.\u00a0 And this is where I got “lost”.\u00a0 Looking for my navigator in all the restaurants up the hill into town – and there are quite a few – and I now understand why it’s called the Eternal Hill!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(The Eternal Hill starts at the bottom of the plan and ends at the Basilica – shown in red.)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I reached the top after about ten miles to find the Basilica of Sainte-Madeleine.\u00a0 And no Glenda.\u00a0 Back ten miles … to find her outside the second restaurant from the entrance to town (except not on the main street that I had just walked up) (but we won’t go into that!).\u00a0 She had sent four Dutch couples off looking for me.\u00a0 The sapeurs et pompiers had been alerted and the local airport had launched two helicopters.<\/p>\n

After a severe telling off by the lady in charge of the chosen restaurant (and not a little laughter from the natives in the corner who had all got to understand what was going on) we had a lovely lunch and then headed off back up the Eternal Hill!\u00a0 A pause for coffee in the garden\/patio of Le Hotel Glycine under it’s 200 year old wisteria canopy.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The resident cat is ready for the next disaster as it’s already at the emergency evacuation point.\u00a0 Saves panic when the fire breaks out!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Basilica is indeed the grandest version of the village church pattern that we have seen so far.\u00a0 Pillars down either side of the aisle, lofty arched ceiling, pulpit half way down the audience (this time on the left side) and seating for 1000 worshippers.\u00a0 It also, as a first, came with a publicly accessible crypt.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

… and cloisters.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I chose to walk back around and under the ramparts, while Glenda went to re-check the shopping opportunities on the Hill.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

On returning to the campsite, we found “Julienne the Guardienne” with his arm bandaged.\u00a0 While working close to the river, he had been bitten by a sepent.\u00a0 Twice!\u00a0 A couleuvre.\u00a0 A grass snake.\u00a0 Non-venemous but with mucky teeth!\u00a0 I was a little more attentive while walking behind the caravan after that incident as we were only a couple of feet from the river!<\/p>\n

We also visited Avallon, the other side of V\u00e9zelay.\u00a0 As we drove past the bottom of the Eternal Hill, all the local Frenchies and the Dutch who had been involved in the grand search yesterday were flashing us in recognition.\u00a0 Although that turned out to be a warning about a police check point round the corner.\u00a0 There are two roads to Avallon from here.\u00a0 The shorter road straight ahead and the longer route for heavy loads, off to the north.\u00a0 The gendarmes stood menacingly, totally blocking the lorry route (which we didn’t need) and waved us past on the other road.<\/p>\n

Three quarters of the way to Avallon, we started seeing road closed signs – route bar\u00e9e!\u00a0 However, when we arrived at the barrier at the entrance to a deserted village, we found only half the road was closed.\u00a0 But our half!\u00a0 Hesitation.\u00a0 Then, “to hell with it”, a gentle trundle through the “closed” village to find the exit route again shut.\u00a0 This time on the other side of the road!\u00a0 Clearly residents can leave the village but not return.\u00a0 That explains why the place appeared deserted.<\/p>\n

All the restaurants in Avallon were either completely closed (well, it is Sunday), closed for private functions or complet (well, it is Mothers’ Day!).\u00a0 All the florists in town were open and doing a roaring trade.\u00a0 In the end we found an interesting Moroccan restaurant, Le Royal Couscous, which will serve us in 30 minutes.\u00a0 Chicken brochete and other various North African dishes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And that’s just one course for two!\u00a0 We had half a chicken and loads of couscous plus other unidentified veggies left over.\u00a0 As the place does takeaways, we asked for a box.\u00a0 A long conversation ensued with an explanation that yes while they did do “plats \u00e0 emporter”, customers had to bring their own boxes.\u00a0 A quick sprint to the local convenience store and I had a \u20ac2 box.\u00a0 The food was packed, emported and subsequently disposed of because it was kept too long out of the fridge.\u00a0 Another of my schemes which didn’t quite work out!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Presiding over a little park (Les Terreaux) created in the 17th century, was Mar\u00e9chal Vauban.\u00a0 Well, a bronze statue of him, anyway!\u00a0 Mr Google describes him as “un ing\u00e9nieur, architecte militaire, urbaniste, hydraulicien et essayiste Fran\u00e7ais.\u00a0 But I can find no specific connection with Avallon.\u00a0 However, in his long military career he did get about a bit, allegedly travelling about 4,000 kms a year.\u00a0 From 1653 to 1703, Vauban took part in 48 sieges, restructured 130 strongholds, built about thirty strongholds from scratch and left behind him about thirty plans which were used after his death.\u00a0 Maybe he had called in at Avallon for some couscous.<\/p>\n

Back to 2026 and we find a swarm of butterflies has taken over the street leading to the clock tower, L’Horloge.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And a huge frog statue lurks nearby.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The town trail is marked with small, triangular, metal plates in the pavement decorated with a smiling frog.\u00a0 Similar markers in V\u00e9zelay were in the shape of a scallop shell reflecting the town’s position on one of the branches of the Camino Trail.\u00a0 I have seen no explanation of the choice of the frog symbol for Avallon though.<\/p>\n

But on the subject of amphibians…\u00a0 Why are French people called, rather disparagingly, “Frogs”?\u00a0 The “explanation” relates to the ancient French flag.\u00a0 This had a blue background with three gold fleur-de-lys on it.\u00a0 English soldiers, not knowing that the fleur-de-lys were supposed to be a flower, thought that they represented golden frogs.\u00a0 Hence \u201cFrogs\u201d became a derogatory term for the French soldiers.<\/p>\n

(In fact there are several “explanations”.\u00a0 In my view, this is the best answer…\u00a0 but they do eat frogs’ legs!)<\/p>\n

Finally.\u00a0 When is a frog not a frog?\u00a0 Apparently, in the 12th century a monastery full of monks was only allowed to eat meat once a month.\u00a0 Fish was OK though.\u00a0 So the enterprising Benedictines had the Catholic Church re-classify frogs as fish and so were able to get alternative protein from the local pond!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When a huge campervan parked immediately in front of us, it was time to move on.\u00a0 We said our goodbyes to David and Victoria, the only two other native English speakers on site (albeit with a bit of an accent!)… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-france-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7722"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7758,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7722\/revisions\/7758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}