La Vie Française

Started the day early in the very cold valley surrounded by our wonderful mountains. It was just after 6 am and I imagined the sun wasn’t up yet. However, I was wrong. The sky was blue and the sun had obviously woken a lot earlier than us - but the mountains! It wasn’t until 8:30 that the first rays managed to peek over the mountain top.

I had also decided to recoup our tunnel extortion yesterday by making the entire trip through France without paying a single toll. This turned out to be a decision to be savoured with a glass of wine and my cacio pepe later. We wended our way around N and D roads, giving us opportunity to stop not at a touristy aide (services), but a mum and pop boulangerie and café for our breakfast and to pull off into a shady lane to eat a French style lunch with dried beef dried in the Alps on our freshly baked baguette. We arrived at our Burgundy destination near Beaune 2 hours earlier than yesterday and settled down right next to a Burgundy vineyard. Both main photograph and extra taken from our van, the extra of furrows being ploughed between rows of vines to stop the weeks growing. Peaceful, and in the shade of the trees you can see. Onward and upward tomorrow to camp just north of Reims