Following the wine and champagne route to Troyes

We left the campsite at Lyon and had a frosty and foggy start to the journey. But luckily this is France and the roads are good and with very little traffic on them. Since coming in to France temperatures have struggled to get above 4°C.

'Pea soup' weather as we leave Lyon

 After having done a lot of motorway journeys leaving Italy and into France, it was nice to stay off the motorway and pass through some pretty French villages.

Love what they have done with this old water tower in this village

Now we know the French love their bread, especially baguettes but we did a double take as we passed a baguette vending machine in one village.  We have been travelling around France for many years and this is the first one we have seen, so guessing it is a new concept to help them out when the boulangerie (bakers) is closed!

Baguette Vending Machine

We have hardly seen any motorhomes on the road over the last few months but now they were back out in force, mostly French although we did pass a few Brits heading south for the winter!  We did a long stretch of 115 miles (184kms) and stopped on a France Passion – Domain Dury, at a little village called Cissey, near Beaune (N46.9594 E4.86881). Everything is free, including electric and Wi-Fi.  We have stopped at a few France Passions over the last 8 years, and you are supposed to pay to the organisation (yearly) to become members.  They then send you a book and a membership card and then you can stop on them.  However, we haven’t joined for a few years now as they never ask for proof that you are members and to be honest they don't get any money out of it, it's just so they can be listed in the France Passion Book. They are all privately owned and are happy for you to stop, do some wine tasting with them and then if you want, buy some wines.  There is no pressure to do so but we always do as a way of saying ‘thank you for having us!’  Domain Dury specialises in Bourgogne wine - white and rosé; we’re not a fan of rosé wine so white it was!

From here we continued to follow the wine route ‘Route des Grans Crus’ around Dijon and then into Champagne land to Buxeuil (N48.05468 E4.39247).

Sonny, is enjoying himself nestled by the river Seine and surrounded by Champagne houses

15 Champagne houses in this village!

The village is small and we walked around all 15 Champagne houses.  None were open though and we saw nobody – it was like there had been an evacuation!  It was a nice overnight stop though and very peaceful.

We continued our journey north, stopping of at Troyes.  We were last here just over 4 years ago, during summertime and remembered it was such a pretty medieval town that we couldn’t resist stopping off again. It's full of narrow cobbled streets with colourful, half-timbered houses dating from the 16^th century. It feels a bit like stepping back in time and reminds us a bit of Chester.

Square des Trois-Godets - One of these houses is called Maison du Pont-Ferré, so named because up until 1530 the Bishop collected a toll from people crossing through here.

Gothic cathedral

In 1964 the Maison du Boulanger (the Bakers House) was the first one to be renovated in Troyes.  Originally, it was going to be demolished but the local people rallied and it was saved.  Well, the French love their bread!

Maison du Boulanger (the Bakers House) on the left

Ruelle des Chats - so named because the roofs and lofts are so close together cats can jump from one side of the street to the other

You've got to love a carousel!

The Christmas Trees looked like they were floating over the River Seine

A walk around any town would not be complete without a visit to the market and the market hall in Troyes has some delicious food!

Although Troyes provides a parking area for motorhomes along the river, we decided to move further on into Champagne land and to an Aire at Villeneuve-Renneville-Chevigny (N48.91263 E4.05570) - no idea why the French have such long names for some of these towns!  We were joined by a Dutch motorhome and 2 French.

We stopped here 4 years ago, and it is a lovely place for an overnighter.  It has all the facilities, you just pay 5 euros for electric.  We were offered a free Champagne tasting session but they then like you to buy a box of 6 bottles - so technically not free!  We kindly declined and just bought one, ready to see the New Year in, which we plan to spend at Arras.  
Have a great New Year's Eve wherever you are spending it!

Sally x