Semur-en-Auxois

This day was excellent and Semur possibly my favourite town. We were up and breakfasted early and off to Semur, a small medieval, walled in town. Richard and Sue work as holiday home keepers, maintaning peoples holiday homes and gardens in rural France. It's a great business venture and they seem to be enjoying and doing well from it. It's a holiday lifestyle almost. Half their luck!! They do however have a contract with a hotel near Semur. So they decide to drop me into Semur and leave me to my own devices for an hour or two while they went to work at this hotel. Completely fine by me, I tracked down the nearest tourist office, got myself a map that displayed some walks around the towns walls and river and took off.

It was a really nice day and the walk was beautiful.

It took me through the main little shopping and cafe strip and up past the magnificent Notre Dame Church. Down past the church I walked through some ancient narrow streets, past the river and little old half-timbered houses and over the Minimes Bridge. i climbed up the Forneau's Stairs and past the 'keep' which is guarded by 4 towers. The castle that once existed here has totally disappeared. I walked back up to the meeting point to meet up with Rich and Sue when they had finished their work. I stopped in a little patisserie on the way to pick up a citron tarte and some French man said Bon Appetite to me as I wandered back down the street nibbling at it.

When Richard and Sue arrived at the cafe we sat for a coffee before wandering down the street, past the church and into a little restaurant.

It was a lovely little place and after my pizza yesterday i opted for the Salade Chevre which is goats cheese salad. Normally the goats cheese is toasted on little bit of french bread, but today they came as crumbed pan fried pieces with croutons.. so much for going healthy!!! Still delicious though but very filling!

We left Semur and went back to the house for a rest/snooze in the garden. It was so sunny and laying on the grass was relaxing, I started to fall asleep! then Leslie and Paul came over as they were leaving the next day back to England. We arranged to head over the their place in an hour or two and play some Boule - French version of lawn bowls really!! It was good fun, everyone getting fairly competitive. And of course - accompanied by wine! It was a great end to a really great day.