Crossing the Vosges

Rain! Everyday since we have been in France it has rained. Rained all night and still raining late this morning when we set off across the Vosges Massif to Alsace. And, it poured most of the way! No wonder everything is so green and lush - apart from some of the maze crops that look a little waterlogged. 

Threatening thunderstorms about to disturb the faithfuls' last evening. 

Not ideal driving conditions.

Once we had reached Belfort we noticed a distinct change in village presentation and architecture. It is as if we had entered a different country. But it is said that the southern area of Lorraine was the last area of France that threw off serfdom - is this still a legacy of that?

A sample of the timber framed houses in the Alsace side of the Vosges. 

Some interesting displays in the village of Dannemarie - clusters of bikes were all through the village.

We headed for Altkirch before traveling a few km south to Hirtzbach for our overnight. More thunder storms greeted us here too!

Hirtzbach is a small village off the tourist track but is considered one of the most beautiful villages in Alsace. It's timber framed houses line each side of the creek that runs through the centre of the village. It has been awarded the highest number of "fleurs" for a French village. A wander along the streets is a delight with the multicoloured house to invade the senses.

Epinal - Luxeuil-les-Bain

It again rained overnight and was quite cool but we were about earlier today than the past few lazy days!

Stopped off at Epinal to spend some time around this ancient town. Being the chief town of the Vosges Department it was worth the visit.  

 

A town that was heavily bombed during WWII, Epinal had made great attempts to reconstruct the city that reflected its past well. The Moselle River runs through this part of France offering a centre piece for the area. 

Moselle and colourful waterfront apartments. 

All the flags of the Euro16 countries lining the Moselle. 

We visited the city museum which outlined much of its history from Roman times, through the Middle Ages and up to present times. Although this was totally in French it was nevertheless interesting to see the displays showing this historical continuum.

Model of 17th century Epinal.

Many canon balls on display evidence of many past conflicts.

We wandered around the old fortifications noting that the town  in the Middle Ages had two fortifications - one on the island in the Moselle and the other on the east bank.

Part of the 13th century fortifications. 

More of the ruins.

The town Cathedral and the main square reflected more of this history. 

Centreville, now .... 

 ..... then!

We also visited a quite unique art gallery at the famous  Musee d'Images, part of the Festival des Imaginales with some very different art - some we found difficult to comprehend - not knowing of the artist, Nazanin Pouyandeh, but nevertheless, thought provoking.

Later in the afternoon we drove south through part of the Visges National Park to  Luxeuil-les-Bain where we had planned to spend the night. The heavily wooded first of the Vosges area is in stark contrast to much of the flat cropping area of the Pay-du-Calais. 

And our over night in Luxeuil-les-Bain, the old Roman town, Luxovium.

All parked up ready to do "The Hokey Pokey"!

Lorraine

Much more rain overnight just when we thought that it had all stopped. The already swollen river had spilled over its banks even more this morning. Some of the locals came out to have a good look at the levels. Time to move on!

Two older locals checking the height of the river.

But in this weather we weren't in a hurry to get going. Plenty of jobs to get done (?) and coffees to be had so it was in the middle of the afternoon that we set out for Epinal, the chief town of the Vosges.

Jobs to be done! Can you spot the secret person and what they are up to.

Fortunately the sun had come out late and it was a very scenic drive though the hills until we arrived at the Moselle and the east canal where we planned to spend the night. 

Very scenic and hilly.

More mixed farming too.

With crops that are drowning.

This village, Thaon-les-Vosges, just north of Epinal, is a pleasant satellite town with great amenities and a pleasant place to spend the evening.

Thaon-les-Vosges community centre. 

And parks and gardens.

Rain

A day of rain! Not an early start either - in fact it was nearly midday before we eventually decided to move on down the road  - having to reach Mulhouse by Friday. You can't rush these things!

We left the Marne River Valley after a beautiful drive through the forest before crossing over into the Department of the Vosges. 

A large viaduct through the valley,

Neufchateau was our destination - or just a little short of there, the village Rebeuville. We parked  next to the river which was bursting its banks in places due to the amount of rain that has fallen in the past few days. All seems to be safe now with the rain having eased this afternoon. 

River in flood. 

Took a wander around this village that seems to be a residential area for the larger city of Neufchateau. 

Riding lessons in Rebeuville.

Lots of old homes have been renewed.

But some others just waiting to be loved.

This seems to be the pattern in many old French villages.

Real Champagne

The weather has turned again - cooler and overcast with scattered showers. We needed to move off from the very peaceful and pictureque Mareuil-sur-Ay. 

We found that the very ordinary frontage view of the wine merchants establishment often hides a very sophisticated and elaborate set of cellars and tasting rooms.

Still traveling through Champagne country and couldn't help thinking how all this came about! A quick Google and voila! It was one gigantic mistake - and then it took the Brits to solve the big problem for the French. The grapes grown in the champagne district failed to fully ferment, leaving some sugars in the mix when bottling. This would then continue the fermentation when the temperature increased in the spring time causing many bottle explosions in the cellars. The French meant to be making a still wine and didn't like the bubbles, it took the aristocratic Brits to make this a fashionable drink. Because of this the Brits discovered how to make their bottles much stonger than the French bottles - a different glass making process - resulting in a stronger and thicker bottle, thus stopping the bottle explosion while the fermentation continued in the bottle. And the rest is history - well, nearly, there were a few other problems but you can read that for yourself.

For a while we followed the Marne River down and relished in just how much rain there has been of late - the Marne was flooding and flowing very rapidly. We had met some Aussies a day ago who were in a canal boat and they spoke of the troubles they had on flooded parts of the Marne.

Well ordered and pristine villages throughout this Champage district.

We had a stop at Chalons-en-Champage for a look around the town. Obviously quite a wealthy town with very clean streets and buildings that had been kept in good condition. The cathedral and a few timber framed houses gave it a sense of age but essentially it was a modern town.  

Chalons-en-Champagne 

French style merchant's house and twelfth century church.

We later drove on to the very pretty lakes side of St Marie-du-lac-Nuisement. Lots of activities here around the lake but also very quiet and peaceful. 

Mareuil-sur-Ay

Such a delightful location to spend time here at Mareuil-sur-Ay. Without much thought we decided to spend a leisurely Sunday here by the canal.

The canal is used for many activities. A passing parade this morning - boating, fishing, horse riders, cyclists, picnicking joggers and roller-bladers.

Spent some time chatting with a couple of Brits- turned out that they live in a village close to where our friend Fran lives. A very small world. 

We dodged showers throughout the day with much sunshine in between. The village is surrounded by vineyards and many champagne merchants in the village. But Sunday is really a family day here and very little commercial activity in the town at all - except for the boulangerie/patisserie  which opened for a couple hours this morning - to provide the French with their daily need for baquette/croissant!

Wine cellar - not open today!

Very leisurely and enjoyable day!

An old wine merchants house - note the carving of Bacchus above the door

The Marie - town hall.

Champagne Country

Not the most peaceful of nights. Around 11-ish great roars from bars sounded across the city and then  the constant noise of car-horns blasting to all hours into the night! France has just defeated Rumania in the biggest gig on the continent - Euro2016. 

Off to the market early this morning in Soissons to get a few items before we headed towards Epernay.

Saturday market tucked in around the cathedral - probably been held here for the past thousand years.

Crops and .... 

...... dead or alive!

Rained on and off throughout the drive, with quite heavy downfalls in places. Lovely countryside again - acreages of broad bean crops along with traditional cerial crops too. 

Saw the first of the vineyards as we approached Epernay. Small towns looking much more manicured complimenting the image of the vineyard cellar-doors  dotted all through the villages. A very smart area compared to the rustic charm of the area around the Aisne River valley. 

Champagne country.

 

Made our way to the canal  in the village of Mareuil-sur-Ay where we spent the afternoon and evening. 

Mareuil-sur-Ay - in the rain with canal and marina in the background.