14 February 2025 – Chalon-Sur-Saone

Miles driven today = 260

Total Miles to date = 530

Today has been our longest driving day of any of our European tours to date by some considerable distance, and also our most expensive with €57 splashed out on tolls, although in fairness we both guessed that it might have been a bit more.  From Laon we initially took the arrow straight D1044/D944 past a number of World War 1 cemeteries to the outskirts of Reims where we rejoined the A26 toll road to Troyes, possibly our favourite French town of last year’s trip.  There we picked up the A5 and then the A31 through forests of wind turbines whilst we were overtaken by a seemingly constant flow of British SUVs, all no doubt on their way to the Alps for their half term snow fix. 

Having had 3 successive nights on town aires last year we decided to swerve Dijon and stay in rather more bucolic surroundings in the village of Fixin, a little way to the South.  This year I fancied exploring the town and I thought I had found the ideal overnight spot in a car park which was next to some parkland and walking distance from the centre.  All reviews on Park4Night were positive until recently where there has been some rather anti-social behaviour reported with the local youth disturbing the peace with loud music, drinking, laughing gas and banging on the side of vans.  So, as we didn’t have the best night’s sleep last night and Friday night is likely to be peak-chav, we changed tack and decided to drive on.  Sorry Dijon, we’ll come and sample your delights one day I promise, but it’ll probably be a case of finding a campsite nearby and utilising public transport to get into town.

Instead we continued Southbound on the motorway for a further 45 minutes to Chalon-sur-Saone.  The journey had been smooth and entirely stress free until we reached the very last roundabout when our cutlery drawer once again flew open and dumped itself on the floor with an ear splitting crash.  It’s the third time this has happened now so I am getting quite adept at wielding my Phillips screwdriver to put it all back together again, but it’s irritating nonetheless.

When we drove through Chalon last year I commented on how broad the Saone is here considering we are still some 80 miles north of its confluence with the Rhone in Lyon.  We parked and quickly readied ourselves to go out and were a good way into the mile walk along the Eastern bank to the town centre when our afternoon went further askew.  We realized that we had forgotten to turn the gas on in the van and so had to backtrack in order to get the fridge working.  I usually do this automatically as soon as we park anywhere so I’m obviously still feeling my way back into full on touring mode but at least the extra mileage meant that I got my 10,000 steps in today for the first time in a good while.

Retracing our path once more we found our way to the bridge which took us over to the Ile Saint-Laurent, an island which sits in the middle of the river and which has an intriguing series of restaurants serving varied international cuisine.

Then it was onwards across the Pont Saint-Laurent which connects the Island with the West bank and the principal part of the town.

Chalon’s most famous son was a chap called Nicephore Niepce, who in 1816 invented heliography, which was the forerunner of what we now call photography.  There is a museum of photography named in his honour and once again it was free admission.  An impoverished pensioner’s dream!

The ground floor is given over to exhibits celebrating all manner of photographic styles.  These examples all include superimposed images.

These all show their subjects in reflection.

Upstairs the museum concentrated on Niepce and two of his contemporary pioneers in photography Daguerre and Fox Talbot.  This is an example of Daguerre’s work using silver coated copper plate to create an early image of a steam train.

This is believed to be one of the very earliest cameras as used by Niepce in the Chalon area in the 1820s.

These are examples of gadgetry used to produce the first stereo imagery.  The forerunners of the View Master I used to have when I was a kid.  Remember them?

Back outside and looking back across the river to the Ile Saint-Laurent, this is the Tour du Doyenne, or Deanery Tower.  It’s a medieval staircase which used to serve the house of the Dean of the Cathedral.  It became abandoned and so in 1907 it was dismantled and shipped to a Parisienne antique dealer to be sold but after the First World War it was purchased by an American patron and gifted back to the city.  It was then rebuilt on the island.

We had a wander up some of the shopping streets with their fabulous old timber framed buildings.

The Cathedral of St Vincent, built between 1092 and 1220 in Roman style but with Gothic additions.

I’m absolutely convinced that the right hand tower leans forwards by a few feet.  Not as much as that one in Pisa but it’s definitely on the huh as we say in Suffolk.

Old buildings lining the Place Saint Vincent.

Presumably the fountain is turned off in the winter to stop it freezing.  Another chilly sub-zero night in store for us tonight.

On the way back to the van we spotted this tree festooned in mistletoe.  Whenever I see mistletoe in France I can’t help thinking of Getafix, the druid in the Asterix the Gaul comics who used to collect the stuff with his golden sickle.  Just me then?  Thought so.

So our home tonight is a paid aire very close to the impressive Pont de Bourgogne.  It’s owned by Camping-Car Park, who run an increasing number of facilities across France these days.  There are 24 bays which are all very narrow and I’m not sure how we would even get our doors open if there was somebody parked next to us.  But there are only 5 vans here tonight so there’s plenty of space. It’s €13.60 a night plus €1.20 tourist tax.  We’re not sure if that’s supposed to include 6 Amp hook up but we can’t get the terminals to work.  Not that we need electric.  We’re all fully charged after such a long day on the road.

15 February 2025 - Lac Du Bourget