Compared Austerity at Fontenay Abbey
Zagan the motorhome’s in the dark, surrounded by ancient woodlands at Fontenay Abbey, Burgundy (N47.63829 E4.38567). We asked the lady behind the reception at the abbey, and she was more than happy for us to sleep here – as long as we moved to the car park away from the entrance, so we’re a few meters from where we were when we took the photo below…
Zagan at Fontenay Abbey
It’s gone cold! Pulling back the curtains this morning, freezing fog tried to get in. Zagan’s blown air heating system had no problem fending it off, quickly warming us back up to 20 degrees as we supped a hot drink and knocked back some toasted baguette. A tip-off from Stuart yesterday highlighted the fact we were close to one of our guide book’s top 25 things to do in France – visit Fontenay Abbey (thanks Stuart!). Last night we checked the reviews on Trip Advisor, as the place looked quite plain to us, and for €10 each to get in, it’s not cheap. They were universally positive, so we had a new destination for today.
In need of black water emptying (posh for: we had a full loo), Ju checked out the route for service points and came up trumps with Semur-en-Auxois (the aire is here: N47.49499 E4.34973), which also scored a page’s info in our ancient Rough Guide, so it had to be good! Off we rolled, through folds of fog around Veselay. Down we went, through the adjacent village of St-Pere with, again according to our still-in-Francs guidebook, one of the best restaurants in France, and off Zagan plunged east. Over the page of our held-together-with-clips map, and SMASH!!! WHAT-THE-FUUUUURRR? Oops, ah, I left the catch off the cutlery drawer, again. Hymer seem to recognise muppets like me will do this, and although the sliding-open of the drawer sounds like Beelzebub’s first attempt at percussion, it doesn’t zoom out and fall to bits on the floor like Dave’s did.
Semur welcomed us with a wonderful view over the river and upwards towards towering, err, towers before slapping us daft with a rumbling cobbled street. For a second I was back in Ukraine as Zagan’s suspension took itself for a test drive over the polished stones, then worm-holed to Italy as we squeezed past a car ‘parked’ butt-end out in the busy street and per-tang! back en France as we drove to the edge of town into the aire.
Aire at Semur-en-Auxois: shut. The black water emptying point was fully functioning though, phew.
Ju pulled on numerous layers of clothing. I accepted I might need a jumper. Off we walked the 20 mins back into the town. I started to shiver. The walk around the town was thus curtailed by the fact I was needing to hug Charlie for warmth (thinking about it – I was kind of dog-food heated, sweet). Semur-en-Auxois came across as a pretty place, good natured, but ultimately in a state of slow collapse.
Semur-en-Auxois
Semur-en-Auxois
Weird eyeball things in Semur-en-Auxois
Charlie – aka Jay warmer
Semur-en-Auxois
View from the new bridge of Semur-en-Auxois
There’s a crack so big in one of the towers birds are roosting in it! Semur-en-Auxois
Stained glass for US WW1 soliders killed around Semur-en-Auxois
Surely a temporary solution to Semur-en-Auxois’s falling-apart woes?
Shivering back in Zagan, in went the GPS co-ordinates for the Abbey and we wheel-spun (ahem) our way out of the aire and off further east. SHEEZZZUUUSS. Ju’s just opened the door to put the silver screens on here and it’s flipping freezin’. Go hot air, go. A minute ago Ju showed me a pic of a couple of motorhome’s in the Arctic Circle at the mo, coping well with frozen roads, one on all-weather tyres and one on studs. It didn’t make me feel any warmer!
Birds of prey just stood in a field alongside the road as we drove past?
Onto the Abbey. It’s first rate. I’ve really enjoyed wandering the buildings as the sun descended. The flip side to towns being quiet at this time of year, and there being few events on, is the fact places like this are empty. There were only six other people in the whole of the Abbey, giving us the chance to stand in the church while a recording of monks chanting played out, serene, calm. There have been no monks here for a long old time, interestingly the Abbey went into decline when the monks could no longer select their own Abbot. The parallel with today’s office life ran through my head; I wonder how many people would have the same boss if they could vote for one?
Fontenay Abbey – the Cloisters
The Cistercian monks lived here in a state of austerity. They slept in a communal hall, were self-sufficient and found ways to fund their life of prayer, including working metal. They were inventive, coming up with the first hydraulic metal hammer. They were focussed, and I imagine they were happy with the very few belongings they had. There are some parallels between us perhaps? We’re happy with what we have, live a reasonably minimalist life, and to a degree we’re self-sufficient, at least financially. But no, what am I saying? We live a ridiculously affluent life compared to these guys. We live in two homes (one being Zagan). We don’t work. We travel. We eat foods and sup drinks delivered from across the Earth. We eat in restaurants, albeit infrequently. We wear clothes fashioned in the east and delivered to us for almost nothing (albeit often second hand). What’s austere about our life? Not much methinks, and visiting the Abbey was a wonderful reminder of that. I’ll leave you with some photos folks, au revoir!
Fontenay Abbey – the Church
Fontenay Abbey – reconstructed metal working hammer, powered by water wheel
Fontenay Abbey – the communal dorm
Fontenay Abbey – the forge
Fontenay Abbey – the Cloisters, again, which were simple and beautiful
Cheers, Jay
For once I am struggling to identify your bird of prey, because of its angle to the camera. I am going to plump for another Buzzard. I don’t think it’s anything more exotic.
It is unusual to find numbers of them on the ground, so I assume there must be some prey in that field which has drawn them. Maybe hibernating rodents or even beetles.
Once they have eaten, all birds of prey settle down to digest their meal and only fly again when their weight balance has been restored. They usually do this on raised items such as fence posts, but it may be possible that some settle together on the ground if they feel safe there. The French have some strange habits, after all!
I’m glad you enjoyed Fontenay…. Burgundy has been at the crossroads of Europe for centuries, and there’s a lot to see. If you are staying in the area then the Forges du Buffon may be worth a look…. It’s not very sophisticated… ( but then not much is found here!) …. Otherwise there are good food markets in Avallon on Saturday …. And if you’re heading south and can’t decide between Dijon and Beaune then personally I’d say Beaune is well worth a stop…. The Hospice de Beaune is quite special…. And they have a nice market…. Saturday I think?
We live only ten minutes from Semur, and we think your observations about the town are quite accurate,…. We hope you saw Pont Pinard, and the walk between the towers, above the river Armancon. For us it’s a town stuck in the past, but nice all,the same….. And it boasts the smallest opera house in France !
Cheers
Stuart
If you’re a fan of the film chocolat ( and you may not be) you’ve jus missed the village where the filmed the main village scenes
Flavigny sur Ozerain. Just a thought
You can use one of those cupboard child lock thingies on the cutlery drawer like we do. It saves the heart stopping moments as the silverware tries to join you in the front.😀Keep warm.
If you keep on trucking north you could end up seeing Madonna & Child,,,No not the one in Bruges but the Singing one who was in Paris last night with Her Children paying tribute to the victims of the recent terrorist attacks.
Note: regarding my John Lennon comment yesterday…It was coincidentally 35 years ago yesterday that John left us all…Peace & Love…Safe Travelling to all.
I would say buzzard as well – our numerous local raptor in Burgundy. Usually we see them sitting on a fence post or soaring past with a beady eye on the ground.
R
we have not seen your blog for over a week and really miss it. Do hope you are both ok. Have we accidently been removed from the mailing list. If so please get us back on soon. Happy Christmas Dave and Doreen
Hi Dave
Sorry, another problem with the email system it seems, I’ll try and fix again. The updates are all there on the site though, just head over to:
https://ourtour.co.uk/home/updates/
Cheers, take care, Jay
Havent heard anything since early December, hope all is ok.
All good Hugh, thanks. Having ongoing problems with the email notifications, but we’ve been back in the UK since mid Dec, so not too much to report. Happy 2016! Cheers, Jay
Yes it’s a buzzard and as a favourite part of their diets include worms they are regularly seen on the ground. Best wish s for 2016 adventures.