Exploring Joigny

After escaping from the hustle and bustle of the big city yesterday, it was delight to have a day to do basically nothing. We now have a couple of free days in this delightful town, before the real part of this adventure begins. These gradual starts have been a feature of every trip I have organised for at least the past ten years, and it gives a chance to recover from the long journey over and just relax. Once the cycling part part starts, the daily schedule can be quite relentless, so it is wise to start slowly.
So what did we do ?
Firstly we enjoyed a somewhat late breakfast in the opulent dining room. I then retrieved my kindle and spent some time sitting in the outdoor dining area reading. It was one of those moments where I could honestly say that there was no place on earth that I would rather be. We had previously decided that, later in the morning we would make our way into the town in search of somewhere to have a late lunch. That turned out to be a bigger challenge than we thought, since the place seems to be quite deserted. Although there are many art galleries and the like along the main (umbrella) street, we have yet to see a single customer enter any of them. Maybe this is because the main holiday season is past, or maybe it is just because the place is in an economic downturn.
Tim managed to eventually find a cafe at the top end of the town that was open and keen to serve us meals. The obvious excitement shown by the lady owner suggested that they needed our business. They didn't have a menu, but she dragged out a blackboard with some selections written on it in chalk. The two main options were Burger Italien and Burger Indien. We split down the middle and ordered two of each.
A short time later she carried out our lunches, and they turned out to be very good, so good in fact that we decided to skip dinner all together.
After lunch we wondered up to the imposing church set at the highest point in the town. Apparently, the town has three large churches, which is quite rare for a place this size. I enjoyed exploring the cavernous interior and testing out the acoustics with a Gregorian chant. These buildings were certainly designed in such a way that microphones and speakers were not required (probably because they were not invented yet). A single human voice can easily fill the entire church.
Further exploration took us to the hilltop cemetery, home to many of the oldest residents of the town, some of them dating back hundreds of years. Our exploration was then interrupted by a few spots of rain and the darkening sky suggested that more was to come. We made our way back down through the town and started to head back to the hotel. We did make time for one stop however, the town Boulangerie. You can't come to France without sampling the many delicious patisseries these places take such pride in.
After looking at the display of delicious sweet treats, we walked out with a box of three Religieuse Cakes, so named because they look like little bishops. Back at the hotel we sat eating our little guilty treats and drinking coffee. I seem to remember that the jokes started flowing and we spent as much time laughing as we did eating.
Our final activity for the day was to explore the rambling grounds of the hotel. The history of this fascinates me as it situated on what must be at least 20 acres of unkept gardens. In its hay day it must have impressive. The gardens contain remnants of tennis courts, a huge lake (with an angry goose), some sort of large assembly area with three flag poles (still holding tattered remains of their last flags), overgrown flower gardens now covered with blackberries, hot houses, bee hives and even a heliport.
Nowadays the only area that is maintained is in the immediate vicinity of the hotel building, the rest is being progressively reclaimed by nature. It would take a herculean effort and a huge bank account to restore it to its former glory.Read more