France Diary Day 3: Langres

Rained all night. Drizzling this morning.

Langres is a medieval fortified town up on a hilltop. You can see it from the camp site on days when the cloud cover is higher than 15 metres.

We drove into Langres with our raincoats and brollies ready and the rain stopped and, although the sun stayed well hidden it turned out to be quite a good day.

First thing, the car park was free. Good car park, right in the town and there was no charge. We searched for hidden, secret ticket machines or camouflaged wheel clampers but no. Free! Gratuit!

It was very quiet in Langres. All the shops were closed, except for the small supermarket. We thought they’d open later, but the only status change came at lunchtime when the supermarket closed. It didn’t reopen. Nor did anything else.

     Still, there was plenty to see. A circuit of the town walls was entertaining enough. There’s a tower where they used to keep pigeons for delivering messages before the internet, and pretty much the whole town can be encircled on foot by staying on the walls.

Then we found the Art Gallery (which is 2 for one entry if you pick up the discount leaflet from the tourist office, which, for once , we did – so 2 Euros each.) And the Art gallery in Langres is a gem. I’d never heard of any of the artists represented here, but there were some really wonderful paintings, many of them in the narrative style that Sarah and I like so much. It was quiet, just like the rest of the city, we were the only visitors, but it was open and for this we were grateful.

Then we found a patisserie, also open, with a salon de thé in the back where we had a fine pot of tea for two, made properly, with a jug of milk and everything.

Things are looking up.