BRIAN REID PHOTOGRAPHER

France Spring 2025 Day 18 - Dijon to Fonteainebleu

Tuesday, 1 April 2025 17:00

I learned my lesson from yesterday that if I keep stopping journeys can take a lot longer than planned. My goal was to make a gentle run to Fontainebleu in time to enjoy a short hike before charging the car and settling in mid afternoon at the Novotel on the edge of of the forest. What do you know a plan can work. Before heading off I had a short post-breakfast amble around the area in Dijon close to the hotel. It was interesting watching the people going to work and wondering how many actually enjoy their jobs and reflecting that my time employed was almost all enjoyable. I’ll start with a few photos from Dijon. The art piece with clocks from not typical places around the world stands by the Post Office and close to my hotel, the Central, behind it in the headline photo. You do not see Ouagadougou on world clocks very often! Outside the hotel people were setting up a junk collectibles market and yes there is a mustard shop. I’ll finish Dijon with the Cathédrale Saint-Bénigne de Dijon and Guillaume gate before taking you across the country with a few frames from the GoPro in-car camera taking us into the forest at Fontainebleu. If I had been a little better with timing yesterday I would have explored a little more of Dijon. The walk I chose at Fontainebleu was along the Flanchard Gorge which follows a boulder strewn ridge which then returns via a long wooden staircase down amonst the trees. Some of the boulders are almost animal like. As you can see it as been a sunny day, still no warmer than mid teens and with the persistant cold wind. Not unpleasant but warm jacket required. The Tesla Supercharger at Ury might be described as convenient as it is in the grounds of the Novotel. The hotel is a step above my normal hotels based on its idesl location. There is even a pool and there was one hardy soul having a dip! A good day across the plains of this part of France having passed the source of the Seine along the way.