{"id":7807,"date":"2026-07-01T20:43:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T20:43:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=7807"},"modified":"2026-07-01T20:43:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T20:43:16","slug":"11-chagny-and-surrounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=7807","title":{"rendered":"11. CHAGNY AND SURROUNDS."},"content":{"rendered":"

The campsite in Chagny takes a bit of finding.\u00a0 First impressions of the town are of narrow one way streets and railway bridges.\u00a0 The one way streets seem to lead the wrong way and the bridges are interestingly narrow.\u00a0 The site is not a favourite.\u00a0 Paquier Fan\u00e9. There’s no one on reception for several hours after we pitch up.\u00a0 There is a message on the door to say go and pitch anywhere that’s free and report back later.\u00a0 We tried out a couple of places.\u00a0 Neither was ideal, but we are only here for a couple of nights.\u00a0 Get real and settle down!\u00a0 This isn’t going to be our forever home!<\/p>\n

Our first trip out was to Beaune.\u00a0 But on the way we decide to check on the campsite near Meursault that we had considered.\u00a0 It has fabulous views over the local vineyards, but only if you rent a fixed cabin!\u00a0 Virtually all the places for caravans are jammed together just inside the entrance.\u00a0 Not staying here Barry!\u00a0 Anyway, we can’t, cos it’s full!<\/p>\n

The village of Meursault, on the other hand, is lovely.\u00a0 A busy, gentrified place with lots of Brits supping coffees and Oranginas at La Place, the main caf\u00e9 next to the church.\u00a0 There are two more of us now – but the barman forgets our order.\u00a0 We have to start again!<\/p>\n

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I don’t think any of the dozens of French churches we have visited (to make use of their natural air con) had glass chandeliers.\u00a0 These looked very upmarket in the \u00c9glise Saint Nicolas, if a little out of place!<\/p>\n

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In front of l’Hotel de Ville …<\/p>\n

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… there’s a statuesque fountain …<\/p>\n

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… of a lady carrying a basket of grapes and surrouded by a flock of scantily clad little people.\u00a0 Their significance is unknown to me.\u00a0 By the way, the name of Meursault, apparently, derives from the Latin “muris saltus”<\/em>, the “mouse-leap” stream of the Ruisseau des Cloux, so named by the Roman soldiers.\u00a0 Maybe!\u00a0 There are other explanations – as always!\u00a0 After all, the word “saltus” can mean “jump”, “leap”, “fall” or “forest!”.\u00a0 I’m also pretty sure that “muris” can equally mean “rat”.\u00a0 So the area might have been known as “Rat Forest”!<\/p>\n

Down the road at Pommard, we come across the Artichoke Fountain …<\/p>\n

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Every town should have one!\u00a0 Located in the church square, it has four water spouts and an impressive fluted column topped with an Empire-style, two-handled vase, crowned with a tiny, metal artichoke finial.\u00a0 It’s been here for 220 years now.\u00a0 But why an artichoke?\u00a0 I associate them almost exclusively with Brittany although they are listed as a Mediterranean plant and are indeed grown in Provence.\u00a0 But in Burgundy?\u00a0 I’m not sure!\u00a0 I guess a grape stuck on top of the fountain would look even more daft!\u00a0 The artichoke is bad enough!<\/p>\n

We arrived in Beaune to find one single, shady, parking spot just metres outside the pay-to-park zone.\u00a0 We grabbed it!\u00a0 Cheap-skates!\u00a0 And anyway, as we discovered, all the closer-to-town\u00a0payant<\/em> spaces were already\u00a0occupi\u00e9e!\u00a0 <\/em>Walking into the old town, we came face to face with the Basilique Notre-Dame de Beaune.<\/p>\n

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We wandered aimlessly up the main street …<\/p>\n

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… swinging from optician to optician.\u00a0 We must have visited 247 vendors of optical eyeware since we arrived in France!\u00a0 And this is where fate brought us for lunch!\u00a0 Le Bouillon Galeon, under the yellow awning behind Glenda.<\/p>\n

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Another good choice made on the basis of chance availability, menu options, price, ambiance and the navigator’s instinct.<\/p>\n

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Gaspard Monge b 1764 in Beaune was an advanced mathematician.\u00a0 According to Mr Google, he was generally regarded as “the inventor of descriptive geometry, the mathematical basis of technical drawing, and as the father of differential geometry”.\u00a0 I guess he had all the angles covered!\u00a0 Anyway, he now stands proudly in Place Monge.<\/p>\n

There are projecting turrets on the corners of some of the medieval buildings.<\/p>\n

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The word “turret” comes from the French “touret”, a diminutive form of the word for tower.\u00a0 In the Middle Ages, turrets were built into city walls and castles, where they helped provide defensive positions.\u00a0 They were also useful in peacetime for keeping an eye on the neighbours!\u00a0 It should be noted that if a turret stretches all the way to the ground, by definition, it becomes a tower.<\/p>\n

The main tourist attraction in town is the H\u00f4tel-Dieu Museum, Hospices de Beaune.\u00a0 A hugely dominant building with a patterned multicoloured roof covered in glazed tiles.\u00a0 It was founded in 1443 by Nicolas Rolin, Chancellor of Burgundy, as a hospital for the poor.\u00a0 However, we didn’t get organised soon enough to get tickets and, anyway, we weren’t enthusiastic about visiting another large (if spectacular) museum with hoardes of tourists!\u00a0 But here are a couple of photos from the organisation’s publicity material.<\/p>\n

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(Photo credit Dion Bok.)<\/em><\/p>\n

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It certainly looks impressive.\u00a0 Next time maybe!<\/p>\n

Before leaving town, we spent a little while on the “ramparts walk”.\u00a0 That expedition was soon abandoned because only one of us could see over the wall!\u00a0 This is the Lavoir Saint-Jaques, one of the sites where townsfolk of old would do their washing, as seen by one of us squinting over the ramparts!<\/p>\n

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The next day’s mission was southward to Chalon-sur-Saone.\u00a0 But why take the boring, direct, main-road route when we can drive through the massive Burgundy vineyards and visit countless deserted villages with their speed bumps and excitingly narrow and constricted alleyways?\u00a0 We might even find a nice place to get lunch!\u00a0 We followed some promising signs which led us up several garden paths eventually leaving us searching the backstreets of Saint-Jean-de-Vaux for a phantom restaurant.\u00a0 Mr Google was at a loss.\u00a0 The local boulanger had “sold-out” of anything useful for a picnic but told us that just back round the corner that we had been round five times already, we would get a meal.\u00a0 Toward the campsite.\u00a0 The campsite that we had no clue existed!<\/p>\n

The Guingette de St-Jean-de-Vaux.\u00a0 We’ve tangled with Guingettes a number of times before – with varying degrees of culinary success.\u00a0 Well, everyone from the village (apart from the baker, obviously) was here eating.\u00a0 All eight of them!\u00a0 Plus us now.\u00a0 There was only one choice on the menu.\u00a0 Eat it or leave!\u00a0 We went for the option with calories and sat down.\u00a0 As I recall the best part of the meal was the pudding.\u00a0 Caf\u00e9 Gourmand.\u00a0 A selection of available desserts and a strong coffee.<\/p>\n

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…and yes, we are in a tent!\u00a0 On the edge of the municipal campsite with three of the fifty or so pitches occupied.\u00a0 Delightful place, but a bit off the beaten track.<\/p>\n

Onward again to Chalon.\u00a0 But we are still on the excitingly non-direct route so we can pause again at Givry to explore!<\/p>\n

The imaginatively named “Rond Halle” of Givry …<\/p>\n

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Halls, in the 19th century, played a key role in the small towns and villages of Burgundy.\u00a0 They served as places of commerce, exchange and sociability, hosting weekly markets or seasonal fairs.\u00a0 Givry’s hall being round, stands apart.<\/p>\n

The village church is like none other we have seen on this trip.\u00a0 Also very “round-looking” with a dome supported by a circle of pillars.\u00a0 \u00c9glise Saint-Pierre et Saint-Paul.\u00a0 I wonder if Peter was robbed to pay Paul.<\/p>\n

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All upper class villages need a gate (porte) with a clock (horloge).\u00a0 This one has fancy glazed roof tiles.<\/p>\n

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Eventually, arriving in Chalon-sur-Saone, we had a quick inspection of the town’s campsite and were rather glad we opted not to stay there.\u00a0 It’s advertised as a short walk from the city centre … but you’d need a picnic to have on the way and perhaps a deck chair!<\/p>\n

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We drove in and parked a five minute walk from the old town.\u00a0 Free.\u00a0 Just like you’d do in the UK.\u00a0 Over the Pont Jean Richard and we were straight into the old Quarter.<\/p>\n

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Some of the upper storeys had amazing carved decorations …<\/p>\n

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The Cath\u00e9dral Saint Vincent was just off to the right …<\/p>\n

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… and the other huge church, Saint Pierre, is not far away.\u00a0 (There are at least 13 churches in town, plus one mosque!)<\/p>\n

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And now we are ready for a change of scene.\u00a0 Let’s get out of this rather depressing campsite with it’s collection of small hedged pitches.\u00a0 It’s not what we come to France for!<\/p>\n

Tally Ho!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The campsite in Chagny takes a bit of finding.\u00a0 First impressions of the town are of narrow one way streets and railway bridges.\u00a0 The one way streets seem to lead the wrong way and the bridges are interestingly narrow.\u00a0 The… <\/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-7807","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\/7807","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=7807"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7839,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7807\/revisions\/7839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}