Dienville

OMG! What an amazing day! I rejoined the Path both literally and figuratively. Most of the walking was up and down what I think could be described as undulating hills. There were some serious ascents and decents. The highlight of which was the ascent up Chemin du Saint Germain (St. Germain's path) out of Bar sur Aube - which, by the way, is an incredibly beautiful city and somewhere I could spend a lot more time. I've done something to my right ankle! I'm just hoping that it will be fine in the morning. The day peaked, to be my best day here, when I got to Clairvaux. The Abbey here was founded by Saint Bernard in 1115, taken from the monks as part of the French Revolution, made a prison by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1808, I think, and is now a maximum security prison for 10, possibly less, prisoners (the guide wasn't 100% sure). It will close as such at the end of this year. For the very modest sum of €9.50, I got a guided tour of many of the old buildings (including one of the original restored medieval buildings), no photography allowed, with just one other person, a Dutch woman, in English! It made my day! The tour was supposed to end at 5:30, but we didn't finish until around 6 pm as we had so many questions. Like, did you know that until 1905 the law in France made it compulsory for everyone to attend church on Sunday and that capital punishment was not stopped until 1981 (the last execution was conducted in 1977)? Final observation: all vines in Champagne are planted on slopes. It must be a drainage thing.Read more