Into the Jura

We started early to climb up the Rock de Solutre while it was still cool. It looked like a long way up from the bottom. The morning light was very nice over the vines as we walked across to the bottom of the path.

Apparently man has been here for 55,000 years, initially as Hunter gatherers. There is a museum area showing piles of bones and tools they used. Apparently there is an area next to a cliff where they herded the wild horses and killed them for food - as evidenced by the large amounts of bones.

The gallo-Romans then came along later and introduced arable farming including vines.

The paths were all good and not too steep. We took it easy and we were at the top in around 30 minutes. The very top was covered with slippery rocks at an angle so it wasn’t too enjoyable there. Glenn didn’t seem to mind it.

The views were quite spectacular. The vineyards stretch forever.

It was hazy on the horizon so we couldn’t see Mont Blanc - which is sometimes possible from here.

We then went back down the hill taking it carefully over the rocks.

We stopped for a coffee and shared piece of apple tart at the cafe at the bottom - it tasted good!

We then went back to Gus and got on the road. Our next stop was the Jura area - a mountainous area with lots of nature and interesting wines and cheeses.

We stopped off at Action to buy an additional grid for our bbq as even though it cooks well, we don’t get much of a charcoal taste. So we found a frying pan with holes in it that will sit perfectly on top of the bbq. After exploring all the weird and wonderful stuff in Action - and in Cora the next door supermarket we moved on.

We drove through Dole, the first reasonable sized town we had been through in the Jura. It was very lovely with a river and canal flowing through it. Louis Pasteur was born here - and we will check his museum out later in another town.

We continued to a campsite called camping de l’isle as its on an island between 2 branches of the Daub river and next to a small village. We hadn’t booked but were able to get a great pitch next to the river. It’s very lovely with canoeists and swimmers going past and the noise of the water flowing over the weir.

I had some bookings and other stuff to organise while Glenn took himself for a swim and apparently went down the rapid area - I’m glad I wasn’t there!

Glenn then did the bbq in our new holey saucepan over the bbq.

It worked great! The charcoal taste was very powerful - so a big success.

We went to bed soon after - pretty tired again!