We left the Autoroute and took the back roads from the North to our first destination, a country house in the tiny hamlet of Bouilland in the hills (mountains might be more appropriate) above Savigny-lès-Beaune. On the way, mapped out for us by Google, we found roads getting narrower and narrower as we entered the country. At one point I spotted what seemed to be an ark, sitting in the middle of the hillside. It was actually a houseboat, and it was afloat in a narrow waterway that joins the intercontinental canal system that connects the Mediterranean to the North Sea. At one point the road was actually below the waterway, then above again.
Finally arriving about an hour before dark, we were greeted by our dear friends Brett and Françoise, who had arranged to share the house for the weekend.
The farmhouse named "Les Buttes" is just up a gravel road from the ruins of the ancient Abbaye de Sainte-Marguerite, which is now fenced off from the road. (New owners have some big plans, it seems.) It was quite cool in the hills in early May, and Brett had already built a wood fire. They had picked nettles from the herb garden and prepared a soup for the appetizer in our first of a number of memorable meals in France. They then showed us our sleeping options, and, places picked, we all turned in for some decent shuteye to adjust to our new time zone.
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