Macon to Saint Trivier de Courtes

I had high hopes for Macon being an interesting town with lots of historic sights to keep us occupied for a few hours.

I'd found some parking on the esplanade that looked like it would fit Ed. 

It wasn't quite as I'd expected from looking on Google maps, but I managed to find a parking place next to the river Saone, and just a short walk to the old town.

The Saone joins the Rhone at Lyon and loses its name to it's bigger cousin.

The town didn't have that much to recommend it really, there were some interesting buildings, La Maison de Bois with it's ancient carved facade being one, and the cathedral was impressive.

But the rest of the town didn't seem to offer a great deal to interest us for long.

Oh yes, there were some shops but I gave them a miss as much as possible, lol.

Maybe it was the weather that didn't help us warm to Macon, as it's been cloudy today and everywhere looks a bit grey and drab on a day like today.

In fact on the drive here it was quite misty on the hills.

I managed to top up the diesel tank to full on the way and I'm so glad I did as we passed other garages with the pumps covered and others with a queue of cars.

Here are some photos of Macon

La Maison de Bois

Our destination for tonight is Saint Trivier de Courtes in the Ain department.

It's quite a nice little town with a few quaint buildings. In common with most other small French towns we've been to, it extremely quite and most of the shops look unlikely to open anytime soon. 

The exception being the Boulangrie, they always seem to be a hive of activity with their tasty looking pastries to temp passerbys, us included.

The town has a really unusual building called La Carronniere, here's a brief explanation

A charity house
This large building once housed the hospital-hospice.  
The existence of a hospital-hospice in Saint-Trivier has been known since 1292. Located outside the town walls, it mainly provides asylum to travellers.  Indeed, originally, these establishments, called hospices, hotels-Dieu, or hospitals, had little to do with health and care for the sick; they were linked to Christian charity and welcomed the poor, orphans, women  abandoned and the pilgrims destitute.

It's really low at the eves, only about four foot high.

Here are some more photos of Saint Trivier de Courtes

Saint Trivier de Courtes also has a Resisstance hero who lived here

I've managed to get Louis booked in at the vets on Monday in Mons, Belgium for his worming treatment and pet passport stamp so he's allowed back into the country on Wednesday.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to up the stakes in the scenic interest department as we head north past Dijon.

I was going to stop in the city, just to see if it cuts the mustard, but I think I'd rather head for the countryside instead.