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Saturday April 26. Champlitte. 18.6 km.

A good breakfast and a very long talk with our host and chef who is also a physics teacher.  And then out in the warm sunshine.

I’m still trying to figure out crops. I think this is barley, nicely starting to form seed heads. And so the leafy crop without seed heads I’ve been seeing so much of  may be wheat. Here is barley; a big field ripples like water in the wind.


Thanks to my bird app, I’ve identified the drumming and calling sounds of the beautiful European Green woodpecker. I can’t figure out how to copy internet images into my blog, otherwise I would show her/him to you.  Almost looks like a little tropical bird!

Here is a most elegant book lending library tucked into a bus shelter in a small village.

Every village has its church. In this area, nearly all are locked closed and only one or two have any kind of explanatory sign.


A private property beautifully restored with a working water wheel.


Exceptionally, a country church that was open. Love that wood stove!


People seem to be able to buy fairly big lots here and there are some nice new homes.  One of my favorite trees in this manicured garden, a monkey puzzle tree.


Walking in to Champlitte, tonight’s destination, what a surprise.


This is the Champlitte Duck on its way to be formally presented at the Château.  In this photo le Canard Déchaîné is being  presented his gold medal. The horse is a local breed, le Comtois.


The Duck tradition started in 1949, just after the war, to cheer people up. It paraded the streets on July 25, the feast day of St Christopher (the patron saint of travellers) when the priest blessed the cars and bicycles of the town. The tradition died out around 1970, but the town is preparing once again to feast the saint and this time pilgrims’ shoes will be blessed as well!

More on today in tomorrow’s blog.

Comments

  1. RitaApril 28, 2026 at 6:54 AM

    You do come across the most interesting things, like that duck!

    ReplyDelete

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