2003, Day Five, Dijon

Day five 6^th June

The campsite is called Camp Municipal du Lac, so after breakfast, I get on my bike and go looking for du Lac, the lake.  The lake is actually called Lac Chanoine Kir and is on the river Ouche (sounds painful).  We have already decided that today we will go for a walk and maybe have a picnic, so walking around a lake seems like a good idea.  I know that the lake is to the right under the low bridge, so I set off  along the cycle path in that direction, the path follows the river, a good sign when looking for a lake and after about 300 meters there is a weir or sluice with bridge over the river.  I ride on to the bridge and the lake comes into view, its not very large so it looks perfect for walking round.  I continue on about a quarter of the way round the lake though a park, before heading back to get Dot but also to have another cup of tea before we set off for our walk.  The opposite side of the lake is flanked by high cliffs, with the main road and railway at their foot.  There is a petrol station on the road and I make a mental note of it, as this is the road we will be leaving by when we move on the day after tomorrow. 

We decide not to bother taking a picnic, we will get something while we are out if we need to.  We elect to walk round the lake clockwise, the same way I went on the bike earlier.  It is hot but we have drinks with us, we also have our books, so we can have a sit and read.  Along with the drinks and books we also have the camera, suntan lotion and compact folding umbrella, this makes the bag rather heavy but I could do with the exercise.  The park is filling up by this time, children are playing in a playground, people are walking, running, cycling, walking dogs, some are having picnics and on the cliff side of the lake people are swimming from a small beach.  We find a nice seat overlooking the lake but it soon gets too hot to just sit so we decide to walk on, which is cooler. 

 

Looking at our street map of Dijon to see if there is a bridge over the river at the far end of the lake, so that we can get all the way round, Dot points out that we are actually walking parallel and close to a canal.   We take a left turn and after about 40 meters and behind a line of trees, there is the canal.  The water in the canal is bit of an unusual light blue but not unattractive though, it also doesn’t look like it is used very often.  Wrong, this is the famous 242km Canal de Bourgogne, linking the Soana, Loire and Rhone rivers, the next day we see many boats heading up and down the canal but it looked deserted during today’s walk.  There is a bridge and we are soon at the very top end of the lake deciding what to do next.  We can see two places on the way back down the other side, perhaps one will be selling food and or drink, so off we go.  The first is a discothèque, so we walk on, the next is a bar, we head in and get a seat facing the lake under a sunshade.  We get two beers, we can smell food but can’t see anyone eating, there is no sign of a menu either and nether Dot or I are willing to ask, anyway, we are not that hungry yet.

The decision is made to finish the circumnavigation of the lake and then look for food.  The noise from the road and rail traffic is a bit excessive at this side of the lake but we live quite close to a noisy main road and so are not that bothered by the racket.  A jogger glides passed us but then stops under a tree she does not seem to be tired as we walk passed her but as I look back, in the distance is a rather large girl plodding along towards us.  Now the reason I mention all this is, that as soon as the large girl caches up with her friend, the first girl sets off and jogs away from her again, I think it was some sort of torture.  I was also rather surprised when the large girl managed to pass us before we got back to the beginning of our walk as I was convinced we were walking faster than she was jogging. 

By this time we are passing the petrol station I mentioned earlier and pop in to see what they have on offer food wise.  We get two chicken salad baguettes and two large cans of beer.  Next to the petrol station is a small restaurant with what looks like a very good menu at very reasonable prices but its too late now, we’ve already got food, never mind.  We go back over the bridge to the park side of the lake and eat at one of the several picnic tables, the baguettes are reasonable not as good as the one I had yesterday but what do you expect from a petrol station?   Next we just sit by the lake, soak up some sun, read our books and drink our beers.  I do try to get a photo of the TGV going by but have no luck.