France Byways
France Byways · 30 September 2023
The little train (le p’tit train) of the Baie de Somme runs from Cayeux on the Atlantic coast of Picardy to St Valery sur Somme, and then on round the bay to Le Crotoy. Cayeux is near the extensive shingle beaches of le Hourdel, a tiny hamlet at the mouth of the Somme. It has a little harbour overlooking the mud flats of the Somme estuary which create a maze of channels at low tide.
France Byways · 12 January 2023
Site Dijon’s first settlement was in Neolithic times. Later it became a Roman settlement named Divio, located on the road between Lyon and Paris. The province was home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th centuries, and Dijon became a place of tremendous wealth and power, one of the great European centres of art, learning, and science. Dijon is situated where two small rivers converge: the Suzon and the Ouche. Located at the northern end of the main Burgundy...
France Byways · 07 August 2020
Chinon, https://www.experienceloire.com/chinon.htm the last major town on the Vienne before it joins the Loire, was a royal town for the French and the English. Here, in 1429 Joan of Arc met the Dauphin, Charles VII, who was holed up in the town and persuaded him to fight to regain his kingdom. However, the ancient château of Chinon is also said to have been the preferred residence of one of the Plantagenet kings of England, Henry II. He and his wife Aliénor (Eleanor) d'Aquitaine along with...
France Byways · 17 June 2020
Candes St Martin, a small village not far from Chinon in Touraine, (https://www.touraineloirevalley.co.uk/candes-saint-martin-most-beautiful-villages-france/) is on the left bank of the Loire on the road to Saumur. At the confluence of the Loire and Vienne rivers, it is said to be one of the oldest Gallo-Roman villages in the area and still retains its mediaeval street layout. The best panoramic view of the village is from the "Pointe du Véron" on the North bank of the Vienne, facing the...
France Byways · 25 May 2020
As we came down the road from Macon, we saw the Hostellerie d'Héloïse, a Logis beside the river La Grosne and the road bridge to Cluny. Cluny is a commune of more than 71,000 people in the eastern French region of Burgundy-Franche-Comte. Opposite was a little square with some shops and a memorial to the martyrs of the deportation. Nearby was the old railway station, now a bike hire place, beside the old railway line. Today this offers a green lane for exercise and picnicking and a pleasant...
France Byways · 11 May 2020
The road from St Pierre-de-Maille suddenly dipped off the upland plateau down towards the river Anglin, a tributary of the Creuse, where a simple old bridge crossed it in the shadow of the ruins of an impressive fortress on limestone river cliffs. We gentle drove up the steep narrow winding streets of Angles sur l’Anglin passed that ruined fortress and the entrance to a pre-historic site where people had lived in the stone age. Towards the top of the village we found Le Relais du Lyon d’Or...
France Byways · 02 May 2020
Perched on a steep-sided valley above the river Dronne, this picturesque site on the mediaeval pilgrims’ route to St Jacques de Compostela, is a beautiful old town, full of character but with very little parking space. Indeed, we had to leave our car in the town park and walked to our apartment. We had a first floor apartment in part of an old 15th century monastery with beautiful views across Aubeterre from the terrace where we ate many of our meals, watching the birds swooping around the...
France Byways · 20 April 2020
One of the most exciting birdwatching sites in Northern France is the Marquenterre - see left (Photo courtesy of Marquenterre). It is very easy to access from the main road south from Calais to Rouen (see below). Less than an hour from the Channel tunnel, if you turn west off the main A16 road near Abbeville you’ll find the Marquenterre (https://www.baiedesomme.fr/lieu/1-14-5933-parc-du-marquenterre) a vast wetland nature reserve of 200ha of marsh, sand dunes and reed beds on the edge of the...