Buxueil

As we tootle along the road passing through villages, all names of which have the ‘sur Seine’ tagged on, we get glimpses of something not much bigger than a stream. It transpires that we aren’t that far from the source of the 483 mile river, so it comes as no surprise that the only waterway traffic we saw on it was a raft with several teenagers navigating the shallow river.

We have been sunflower field spotting on today’s 110 mile leg, but I think we are a week or two too early to see them in all their glory. Just as Rachel comments “I’m surprised we haven’t seen any vineyards for a while”, what should pop up on the hillside to our right but the distinctive sight of uniformed rows of vines, we had just entered the southern Champagne region.

As we turn towards the village of Buxueil with the satnav indicating the aire in one tenth of a mile, the only thing visible is the village church, this doesn’t bode well, and sure enough the aire de camping car is in the church car park! A peaceful night’s sleep isn’t looking too promising, but having been here for 6 hours now we haven’t heard so much as a dormouse. In fact, it’s the quietest place we have ever been, with the only sounds seeming to be the gentle ripple of the Seine and the occasional bird song. For a village with a population of about 150, it came as a surprise that although we didn’t see any other people, we did see half a dozen Champagne producing houses!

Harry tucked away nicely between the church and The Seine

A lovely location with The Seine in the foreground,
not quite the grandoise river we're used to seeing.

Our first sight of vineyards for a while.