27 May An oasis in nowhere
Knowing that today we have only 12 km to go, we left Bains les Bains very chilled. The path again led through incredibly great working landscapes. The fields were fabulously maintained in contrast to the dwellings for humans and animals. It was up and down again, but with the knowledge of the short distance to cover, it was no problem. We had time and we took it.
From a fairly single house came an older woman and spoke to us with interest, first in French, then in German, yes German, full crass. She said she had learned it for nine years in school. I suspect it comes from the Elsas. She spoke perfectly with a dialect. She wanted to know everything, where from, where to, introduced us to her husband from Martinique, photos were taken (the most important thing was the roses above the house entrance) and to say goodbye, she went into the house again and came out with a jar of homemade strawberry jam, which she gave us. Wow, in the middle of the forest, an older lady speaks German with us, in hotels you can’t even do that in English. These warm encounters are the true reward of this journey.
Already the first house in the village Fontainois la Ville welcomed us with a big sign “Camping – Le grande Curtille”. It was a large old farmhouse with several entrances, a garage/workshop, a front door, a door to a junk store and a larger open conservatory with a large table and many chairs all around. Everything was decorated with old figures, signs and household items. We didn’t quite know which little door to go through, but it wasn’t long before an older man with bright blue eyes came up to us, explained everything and gave us a nice spot for the tent. Everything was uncomplicated, relaxed and even in German, because as in 90% of cases, the campground operators were Dutch. In this case, an incredibly nice couple who bought an abandoned farm and created a small family camping oasis out of it. By the way, who is interested and has some money, they are looking for a successor, because they are already a bit older.
Already the first house in the village Fontainois la Ville welcomed us with a big sign “Camping – Le grande Curtille”. It was a large old farmhouse with several entrances, a garage/workshop, a front door, a door to a junk store and a larger open conservatory with a large table and many chairs all around. Everything was decorated with old figures, signs and household items. We didn’t quite know which little door to go through, but it wasn’t long before an older man with bright blue eyes came up to us, explained everything and gave us a nice spot for the tent. Everything was uncomplicated, relaxed and even in German, because as in 90% of cases, the campground operators were Dutch. In this case, an incredibly nice couple who bought an abandoned farm and created a small family camping oasis out of it. By the way, who is interested and has some money, they are looking for a successor, because they are already a bit older.
In the evening, most campers met in the conservatory and spun camper’s yarn. Drinks could be taken from the fridge, just had to note on a small post-it what. Since we were relatively early finished with everything, I went again with the camera in the fields and and snapped something around. In the morning the bakery car came with fresh baguettes and of course eclairs. The baguette was finished with butter and the homemade jam and devoured with relish. The whole jar of jam was used up in the process, because such a jar is not easy to carry. It was delicious. The whole thing was washed down with coffee, which was brought to the site by the campground manager. It doesn’t get any better than this!
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