After filling the vans with water and emptying out we drove to Bistrot de Port Lesney “Le Pontarlier” and had our lunch. It was a real bistro and quite informal. The manager was larger than life and explained that he knew Raymond Blanc quite well and that he had been there many times.
We had a lovely lunch, not quite to the standards of Loiseau des Vignes, but very nice all the same. We decided to go for the local wine Arbois made from a Savagnin grape, no relation to the sauvignon grape, but actually related to the traminer grape, used to make gewurtztraminer wine. The wine was delicious and as it was used to make vin jeune we thought we were on to a new chapter in our understanding of wine.
Late afternoon we drove to Mesnay near Arbois and stayed on an aire. In the early evening we walked into Arbois and found some of the vintners open, so we did a couple of wine tastings. We thought we would try the savagnin grape again. Well, it was not my taste at all and had a taste similar to sherry. The wine man explained that we had had a “Nature savagnin” which was made completely differently from the usual savagnin wine. He told us where we could taste the Nature Savagnon, so we walked there and had a taste. It was much better, but not as we had had at lunch time. I think I am going to stick to the chadonnay, merlot, Riesling and muscat and forget the rest. We are learning a great deal and seeing some lovely countryside.
Tomorrow we are going cheese tasting and then on to Besancon

We wanted to continue on the Raymond Blanc trail and drove 65 miles to the bistrot Le Pontalier at Port Lesney in The Doubs region close to the Jura, where Raymond cooked a meal for his family. We booked a meal for Sunday lunch time and then walked around the village, which was a complete mismatch of styles and different buildings.
It is very rural here and the roads are very narrow. We drove to Champagne sur Loue and found a campsite which was just about to close for the winter and so drove on to Arc et Sanens. The aire seemed a bit crowded so we stayed nearby on our own overlooking fields.
We had a walk into the village, which seemed pretty dingy, but on our way back walked the other way and found a place called Royale Salines en Sanen, which was an old salt mine/producer. It was a bit like an oasis. They had employed a famous architect to design the Romanesque buildings and it had been designated a Unesco world heritage site. It was just closing so we may return tomorrow if we get time

The forecast was really good and we got the bikes out to cycle along the Beaune-Santenay veloroute along the Cote de Beaune and some of the most beautiful vineyards in the world.
We headed through the villages of Pommard, Volnay, Mersault and on to Puligny Montrachet. This village reputedly produces some of the best wines in the world. Because it was grape picking time the vintners were not doing wine tasting, but at about 60 euros a bottle for the premier cru that didn’t bother us too much!
We then headed to Chassagne Montrachet and did a wine tasting at the municipal winery in the village. We tasted two different bottles of premier cru from different vineyards and they were quite different. Again, at 45 euros a bottle, we declined to buy.
We then headed home. The cycle path took us through the vineyards and was really scenic. We stopped to taste some of the pinot noir and chardonnay grapes grown there. The pinot noir was quite sweet, but the chardonney very tart.
When we got back home we cracked a bottle of cheap French chardonnay (2.50) we had bought at the local supermarket and it was hard to tell it from the expensive wines we had tasted. That must be our poor pallet!
The distance computer measured 23 miles, our longest journey so we must be getting fitter.

We were all smartly dressed ready to go to the Restaurant Loiseau des Vignes.
We had a walk around town and a guided tour of an amazing boutique hotel that had just opened in Beaune.
We then had lunch at the restaurant. It was everything we had imagined. The food was wonderful. We started with Moules de Buchot,cremeux de pomme de terre, haddock en tartine croustillante, followed by Quenelles de Sandra Faconnee a la cuillere sauce homardine, followed Assiete de fromages affines followed by Boulgour au miel et pistache, figue rotie et Granite au vin rouge. The service was excellent and although the wine came in at 75 euros a bottle for Poiully Fusse, it was delicious.
The maitre'D was very friendly and printed out our individual menus for us. He explained that Raymond Blanc visited often and we had sat at his table.
It was very interesting to see how a top restaurant deals with complaints. A farmer who produces expensive meats was dining with his wife. He had chosen a very expensive special cut of meat and was not happy with it. The maître d was called and he discussed it with the customer. Then the chef came out and looked at the customer with disdain, obviously confident that his meat was the best. The customer was then ushered out and despatched, after paying his bill. The was no “customer is king” here!
The meal took up a large part of the day. We wondered around town did some shopping at the famous cheese shop, Alain Hess, and then had a quiet night.

The forecast was heavy rain all day. We drove to an aire right in the centre of Beaune. We were really lucky to get two places as the aire was very popular.
Beaune is in the heart of the Burgundy wine region and there a large number of caves and wine shops in the town. The restaurant Loiseau des Vignes is here and is the Michelin starred restaurant where Raymond Blanc came and ate with the widow of Bernard Loiseau, the famous French chef. We went to tourist info and mentioned the restaurant and they confirmed it was excellent and tried to get us a table. Unfortunately it was fully booked today, so we walked there and booked a table for tomorrow.
We had spent the afternoon walking round the town and had the statutory Café avec gateaux. The town is quite touristy because of the wine connection and the price of some of the wines was really high.
It never stopped raining all day. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. The forecast for Friday is much better and we planned to get the bikes out and cycle to Puligny Montrachet, which is an exclusive village producing very expensive wines.

We had heavy rain overnight and it was pouring down this morning so we headed for a camp site at Arnay le Duc where we could catch up with the washing. We had an afternoon washing everything. The weather cleared and the sun actually came out in the afternoon. The camp site is very large and very quiet. They close down here in a fortnight. We met a few people in transit to Spain.

It had rained in the night and the forecast was not good so we decided to head for Semur, a medieval fortified town. We knew there was a good aire there because we had met a German with a brand new Carthago van who recommended it. We walked to the tourist information. The man there was really helpful and we left with a mountain of maps and guides. In the afternoon we had a lovely walk around the town on the route he had suggested. Semur is a complete mix of styles of architecture. We had coffee and cake and cooked a curry in the evening