Before reading about beautiful Burgundy, please check out French Triangle Part One, where we said goodbye to our boat, Karanja; gorgeous gîte in Esbarres, near St Jean-de-Losne; homage to crossing the Channel on Karanja with David; flashback to cassoulet in Carcassonne; lamb shank and lavish scenery in Dole; by train to Dijon for lunch at Le Gourmand; onward to the Dordogne!
So, when we weren’t busy tearfully clearing our personal possessions off Karanja, prior to handing her over to her new owners at the St Jean-de-Losne Salon Fluviale, what were we doing? Exploring beautiful Burgundy while drowning our sorrows in duck-fat and Chablis, it would seem.
Gîte Au Fil d’Esbarres (2, Rue du Grand Mordain)
We’d spent four extremely comfortable nights at Simon Piper’s house on the quay at St Jean-de-Losne, Piper Boats’ base in France. (If you haven’t already done so, be sure to read my previous blog, here.)
Knowing the house would be jam-packed with Piper staff for the Salon Fluviale festivities, Simon Piper had generously pre-booked splendid gîte accommodation for us for six nights in neighbouring Esbarres, just 4km away from the action.
We had it to ourselves for the first four nights, and shared it for the last two nights with Simon’s dad, David Piper, and his lovely partner, Gillian. You may remember that it was David who piloted us across the Channel to Calais in the early summer of 2017; he and Gillian also navigated Karanja from Moissac up to SJDL last year. So we definitely owe them a drink or three! (Next time…)
Flashback #1: Crossing the Channel with David Piper, 2017
Having the enormous, two-bedroomed place to ourselves from Tuesday to Friday gave us a chance to eat and drink more normally; if you can call brandade de morue and salad a normal lunch. The same goes for duck confit and veggies for Wednesday night’s dinner, followed by cassoulet on Thursday night. Both the duck confit and the cassoulet were courtesy of two large tins rescued from Karanja’s hold the previous week. (I’ve made both dishes myself from scratch, but I honestly don’t think it’s worth the faff when the tinned stuff is so amazing.)
Flashback #2: Cassoulet in Carcassonne, Southern France
Sweaty and shiny as we look, it would be a shame not to include these photos of us eating cassoulet at in the old city of Carcassonne, back in the summer of 2017:
Drive to Dole in beautiful Burgundy
Dole is a substantial town just 18km from SJDL. We drove there first for dinner on a damp and chilly Sunday night, choosing the first restaurant we could find parking outside: La Petite Venise (33 Rue Pasteur). It was full, but they found a little table for us. And despite calling itself Italian, its menu was at least half-French. We both had the utterly delicious seven-hour braised lamb shank. God, just looking at the picture gets me drooling!
The next afternoon, a Monday, we came back to wander Dole’s pretty streets, admire the boats on the Canal du Rhône au Rhin and have a coffee. We also visited the area’s Intermarché hypermarket to pick up a couple of comestibles that we’ve been missing: like the brandade de morue mentioned above (a delicious cod and potato mash), parsley-baked ham, Rocamadour goats’ cheese, poulet rôti pâté, salad ingredients and seasonal strawberries.
Day trip to Dijon by rail
Again, this was not our first Dijon rodeo. To save a search, here’s a link to my terribly amusing October 2016 blog.
Not wanting to battle for parking, taking the train from St Jean-de-Losne to Dijon was a good idea. Out of peak times, the service to Suerre runs only every two hours, so we caught the 11.45am train and arrived at Dijon Ville station 32 minutes or so later.
From the station, it’s an easy 13-minute walk past medieval façades and the Maille moutarde shop into the centre ville’s great square, complete with shopping and a variety of restaurants with outdoor seating just recently opened for tentative Spring weather.
We’re in that shoulder season where there’s a nice number of tourists around, not too many; and about an equal number of customers lunching outdoors as indoors.
Gut feeling led us to the menu du jour at Café Gourmand: linguine, parmesan and black olive salad; pork cheeks braised in dark beer; and apple tart with ice cream. As no one would be driving – except the train-driver – a carafe of excellent local chardonnay went down very well. Salut, Dijon!
In Part Three, read all about our four days in the Dordogne, where duck confit and Salardaise potatoes – fried in duck fat – rule. The heavens be praised!
