Depart Bristol at 7.30am for the drive via London to Dover and the lunchtime ferry to Calais. Afternoon drive to Laon for dinner and overnight at the 2**Hostellerie St-Vincent.
Our morning drive takes us through Reims and the Champagne vineyards to Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises where a restaurant lunch is provided. After lunch we enter the Franche-Comté, bypassing Besançon as we climb into the Jura region of the Haut-Doubs. Late afternoon we arrive at our holiday centre for the next six nights, the 3***Hôtel Le Lac at Malbuisson.
Today we spend time exploring the northern reaches of the Doubs where you are invited to visit and taste at a ham smokehouse. This tuyé, the largest in the Jura, produces a delicious range of charcuterie, hams and sausages that are the pride of the region. The Jura is also noted for its clocks and, on the outskirts of Morteau, we visit an artisan workshop making timepieces, musical boxes and automata. Lunch provided in Morteau. A lovely afternoon awaits us as we drive to Villers-le-Lac to take a boat excursion along the most picturesque section of the Doubs to view the Saut du Doubs, a great cascading waterfall.
Spend the morning in picturesque Arbois, one of the gems of the region and a centre of wine production. It was to Arbois in 1830 that Jean-Joseph Pasteur, a tanner, brought his wife and family and here that the young Louis Pasteur felt the first stirrings of his genius. We offer a moving visit to the family home followed by a wine-tasting at Henri Maire, then lunch at a local auberge. Rejoin the coach for an excursion to the Reculée des Planches where we take a fascinating guided walk through a cave system still in the process of formation. Truly a day to remember!
Driver day off. An opportunity this morning as we are taken by local coach and driver to visit a family of artisan cheese-makers at a nearby fruitière and to learn how the Jura speciality cheeses of Morbier, Mont d'Or and Comté are produced. You can order cheese to bring home. Continue to the source of the Doubs for time at leisure in its wooded setting. Return to the hotel for lunch. A leisurely afternoon is spent in Pontarlier.
The Jura is a region of spectacular river scenery and this morning we enjoy another masterpiece of nature, the Source du Lison waterfall in its tranquil wooded setting. Continue to lunch in a friendly auberge in Cléron. Our leisurely afternoon is spent in exploration of the River Loue, stopping a while in picturesque Ornans, the birthplace of the Realist painter, Gustave Courbet. Spend time in Lods where this capricious river dashes and tumbles over a seemingly unending series of weirs and waterfalls.
We leave the high plateau of the Jura, this time to marvel at the reculées, great steps in the Jurassian staircase with their impressive amphitheatres of soaring cliffs. Mid-morning we stop to visit a wine fruitière and to enjoy a comprehensive tasting of the unique range of Jura wines, including the vin jaune and vin de paille. After a restaurant lunch in Poligny we rejoin the coach for a delightful drive to the Cirque-de-Baume, the most impressive of the Jura reculées, whose grandeur is best appreciated from the viewpoints at which we stop.
This ravishing region still has delights in store but we must leave our lakeside hotel today with great regret to begin our homeward journey. We make a stop at the Cascades du Hérisson, a breathtaking series of waterfalls, white water bright against the splendid woodland setting. After a leisurely lunch we rejoin the coach for more beautiful scenery as we climb up to stop at a viewpoint overlooking the Lac de Vouglans, the third largest retenue in France. Geography and geology come to life as we continue our cross-country route, leaving the Jura, traversing the Bresse and arriving early evening in the Burgundian city of Chalon-sur-Saône where we take dinner and stay overnight at the elegant and centrally situated 3***Hôtel St-Georges.
Morning drive through the rolling landscapes of Burgundy, cradle of fine wines. Lunchtime is spent in Fontainebleau with time to visit the beautifully restored palace, to feed the carp in the lake and to complete final shopping. Continue to Roye where we stay overnight at the 3*** Royhotel.
Leave after breakfast for the drive to Calais and the lunchtime ferry to Dover. Return via London to Bristol, arriving there early evening.