Where's Bertie? He's in an Aire in Étival-Clairefontaine, at a cost of €8 per 24 hours including electricity, water, a bit of wifi and tourist tax. Exact location: 48.363565, 6.864388
Weather: Rainy start, clearing to give a bit of sunshine this afternoon before coming in grey again.
With Senones seemingly offering so little of interest, I had a look at Park4Night last night and found that there was an almost identical Aire 10km along the road, and thus the decision was made to come here today. That meant I needed to be back from my morning run/walk by 10am so that we could pack away and use the service point before our exit barrier code expired.
The route I'd plotted for myself came in at 13.5km, but that included a 1km out-and-back to a point of interest, so by omitting that I was sure I could be back in time. I'd allowed for the ascent involved, but not for how interesting the route was going to prove to be!
It was in full waterproofs that I set out at just gone 8am, and so I remained for the whole of the climb and most of the ridge. On the way I passed a couple of bunkers and an information sign, then when I got to a large multi-way junction, where I was to turn onto the ridge, there was a more comprehensive sign.
The ridge part of my route then passed through the German defensive line (having taken the town of Senones in September 1914), through no-mans land (where signs told me I mustn't leave the path, presumably due to the risk of unexploded ordnance), and through the French offensive line. The remains of various bits of infrastructure (mainly on the German side; the French side only had one building, in addition to its trenches) were dotted along the route, each significant point accompanied by a tri-lingual sign.
It was soon apparent that whilst the town of Senones is not interesting (in my opinion; the local tourist board disagrees), this route was itself worth an overnight stay. It was just a shame that Mick wasn't with me, and that I needed to be back by 10am. I tried not to tarry too long at each point of interest along the way, but even so the first 4km took me just shy of an hour. I decided not to turn back immediately, but to see where I was twenty minutes later, as I knew the rest of the route would be faster (less interesting stuff to stop and look at/read, plus mainly downhill).
I didn't half put a shift on once I was beyond what is effectively an open-air museum, completed the intended circuit and got back to Bertie with plenty of time to spare. I'd also only covered 10km. Not sure what happened to the other 1.5km that I'd plotted! I should also mention that I saw not a single other person (the weather may have had a bearing), but did see two deer.
We were soon on the road, and fifteen minutes later we arrived at this Aire, where I set about searching for the payment machine, to buy an access code (after a lap of the place I found it near the entrance, but hidden in a hedge), Bertie was then installed on an absolutely massive pitch.
In reality, there wasn't an awful lot of benefit in moving, as we both then spent the day in front of our laptops. TGO Challenge 2025 entries open in less than a month, and there is much work to be done before then. We did, however, finally head out for a leg-stretch around teatime. We can report that Etival-Clairefontaine is even less interesting, but better kept, than Senones, but (just like Senones) there's a point of interest up on a nearby hill, so I shall go and look at that in the morning.
The first bits of WW1 infrastructure I came upon during this morning's outing
The main focal point - Roche Mère Henry; until August 1914 it had been a tourist attraction with telescopes to hire. The following month it became a German Command Post.
It's now back to being a viewpoint, but it wasn't the weather for views today, so I shoved my face in front of the camera
Lovely woodland paths too
Moving on to Étival-Clairefontaine, there used to be an Abbey here. The church is one of the few bits that remains and didn't strike me as being of typical French design.
Weather: Rainy start, clearing to give a bit of sunshine this afternoon before coming in grey again.
With Senones seemingly offering so little of interest, I had a look at Park4Night last night and found that there was an almost identical Aire 10km along the road, and thus the decision was made to come here today. That meant I needed to be back from my morning run/walk by 10am so that we could pack away and use the service point before our exit barrier code expired.
The route I'd plotted for myself came in at 13.5km, but that included a 1km out-and-back to a point of interest, so by omitting that I was sure I could be back in time. I'd allowed for the ascent involved, but not for how interesting the route was going to prove to be!
It was in full waterproofs that I set out at just gone 8am, and so I remained for the whole of the climb and most of the ridge. On the way I passed a couple of bunkers and an information sign, then when I got to a large multi-way junction, where I was to turn onto the ridge, there was a more comprehensive sign.
The ridge part of my route then passed through the German defensive line (having taken the town of Senones in September 1914), through no-mans land (where signs told me I mustn't leave the path, presumably due to the risk of unexploded ordnance), and through the French offensive line. The remains of various bits of infrastructure (mainly on the German side; the French side only had one building, in addition to its trenches) were dotted along the route, each significant point accompanied by a tri-lingual sign.
It was soon apparent that whilst the town of Senones is not interesting (in my opinion; the local tourist board disagrees), this route was itself worth an overnight stay. It was just a shame that Mick wasn't with me, and that I needed to be back by 10am. I tried not to tarry too long at each point of interest along the way, but even so the first 4km took me just shy of an hour. I decided not to turn back immediately, but to see where I was twenty minutes later, as I knew the rest of the route would be faster (less interesting stuff to stop and look at/read, plus mainly downhill).
I didn't half put a shift on once I was beyond what is effectively an open-air museum, completed the intended circuit and got back to Bertie with plenty of time to spare. I'd also only covered 10km. Not sure what happened to the other 1.5km that I'd plotted! I should also mention that I saw not a single other person (the weather may have had a bearing), but did see two deer.
We were soon on the road, and fifteen minutes later we arrived at this Aire, where I set about searching for the payment machine, to buy an access code (after a lap of the place I found it near the entrance, but hidden in a hedge), Bertie was then installed on an absolutely massive pitch.
In reality, there wasn't an awful lot of benefit in moving, as we both then spent the day in front of our laptops. TGO Challenge 2025 entries open in less than a month, and there is much work to be done before then. We did, however, finally head out for a leg-stretch around teatime. We can report that Etival-Clairefontaine is even less interesting, but better kept, than Senones, but (just like Senones) there's a point of interest up on a nearby hill, so I shall go and look at that in the morning.
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