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The wines of the Jura are seldom seen and little known in the UK. These wines can be quite distinctive and in addition to familiar grape varietals such as Chardonnay they also use local grapes such as Savignin ( a cousin of Alsace Gewurztraminer), and Poulsard, a distant relative of Pinot Noir.

Jura Wine is a specialist independent wine merchant in Birmingham who specialises in the wines of the Jura - and specifically the wines of Domaine Tissot.

Jurawine collects the wines in person from our supplier, Domaine Tissot and arranges courier delivery to you throughout the UK.
Jura is part of the region known as Franche Comte and lies in eastern central France between Burgundy & Switzerland. This beautiful area has fine gastronomic traditions, including unusual wine festivals

Specialities of the region include “Vin de Paille” (straw wine), where the grapes are laid out on straw mats to shrivel and concentrate the juices producing delicious, long-lasting sweet wines; and Vin Jaune (yellow wine) which is made from Savignin grapes in a manner similar to Sherry!
Jura Wine - , 1 Augusta Rd, Acocks Green, BIRMINGHAM, B27 6LA
E-Mail: jurae@jurawine.com Tel: 0121 243 4042 Mbl: 07850 845518 Fax: 07092 888372

Another merchant who specialises in Jura & neighbouring Arbois wines (and others including Gaillac and Languedoc) is Devigne Wines (and Confit Direct) in Edinburgh (Tel: 0131 664 9058
Fax: 05600 756287, info@devignewines.co.uk)

A good starting point for getting to know the region and its wines could be John & Carolyn Scallan at their B&B at Sens-sur-Seille (71 Saone et Loire, Bourgogne)

See our customised, searchable map of the region

For more info on the wines of the Jura see the official Wines of the Jura site

The start of the cycling season in France is marked by the somewhat mis-named Paris-Nice race which runs from 9th - 16th March 2008. Mis-named because although it does indeed finish in Nice it does not start anywhere near Paris. This year is pushes off from Amilly (45 Loiret, Centre) about 75 miles south of Paris near Montargis.

It is also known as the “Race to the Sun” and extends over 1200 km in the week.

After a time trial (prologue) on Sunday 9 March, the route heads south through Nevers (58 Nievre, Burgundy) via Sancerre, then across to Beaujolais (Belleville, 69 Rhone, Rhone-Alpes) and Fleurie and on to Saint Etienne (42 Loire, Rhone-Alpes).

After a transfer down to Montelimar (26 Drome, Rhone-Alpes) the race then heads for the Alps via Mont Ventoux, Althen-les-Paluds (84 Vaucluse, Provence) and onto the Mediterranean coast via Sisteron to Cannes and Nice where the race finishes on 16 March on the Promenade des Anglais.
Even if you are not a cycling fan, the race and its paraphernalia is quite a spectacle and will pass through some glorious countryside.

For more info on the route see www.letour.fr

There is a well-established network of local and highspeed intercity trains in France, and of course France is justly proud of its impressive high speed train services - TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse).

However there are a number of preserved “tourist” railway lines, which whilst they may at first seem to be for the railway enthusiast, do really offer some great opportunities to view parts of the French landscape from quite a unique (and usually leisurely) perspective.

Some of the best include:-
le Chemin de Fer de la Baie de la Somme in Picardie, running around the bay of the Somme near Abbeville on the Channel coast (steam and diesel)

Chemin de Fer de Provence route which runs from Nice up to DIgne (04 Alpes, Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur) in Provence through stunning scenery back from the Mediterranean coast - the full journey takes 3½hours each way but you can get off at numerous intermediate stations - at weekends some journeys may be with a steam engine (Train à Vapeur).

Chemin de Fer de Vallée de l’Ouche in Burgundy’s Côte d’Or, northwest of Beaune (31 Côte d’Or, Burgundy)

Chemin de Fer de la Mure south of Grenoble, runs from St-Georges-de-Commiers (38 Isèe, Rhône-Alpes) to la Mure using vintage electric engines through some dramatic scenery.

Chemin de Fer du Vivarais in the Ardeche, running from Lamastre (07 Ardeche, Rhône-Alpes) to Tournon along the valley of the River Doux - mainly steam with some vintage diesels.

Chemin de fer Touristique du Haut-Quercy “Le Truffadou” - steam and diesel on a strecth of track in and near Martel (46 Lot, Midi-Pyrenees)

Train Touristique de l’Albret runs on an old SNCF line from Nerac (47 Lot-et-Garonne, Aquitaine) to Mezin on a tourist train - about 90 minutes running from April to October.

On a different level altogether, SNCF (French National Railways) is rightly proud of its recent world record for a train at 574.8 kilometres per hour (about 360 mph) - so much so that you can see video footage of the record run at www.record2007.com/site/index_en.php - dramatically produced. However, the new trains which are now running on the TGVEst Europeen to Strasbourg, Luxembourg and all points east will work at a mere 200mph!

Watching the Tour de France last week, I noticed that one stage finished in the town of Briancon (05 Hautes-Alpes, Provence-Alpes–Cote d’Azur, which claims to be the highest city in France, and features an impressive defensive Citadel designed by Vauban. Napoleon’s treasured Military architect.

2007 is the three hundredth anniversary of his death, and hence numerous events are planned to celebrate this master of military invention. His physical legacy is of course the list of imitimidating fortresses to defend le Hexagone - the defensible boundaries of France from the northern border with Belgium down to the Alps, along the Mediterranean and up the Atlantic Coast. However, his military reputation initially was more concerned with planning and implementing sieges - so in many ways he was a poacher-turned-gamekeeper - if you are good as breaking sieges, then who better to design defenses to repel them? The hallmark of Vauban is his impressive use of massive angular pentagonal walls which prevented attackers targetting one section of wall without being at risk of counter-attack from an adjacent section. The classic examples are the Citadel at Lille, Briancon and Besancon, although many other examples exist.

My favourite is on the island of Belle-Ile off the coast of Brittany, where the fortifications adjacent to the small harbout of Le Palais are most impressive. More familiar to visitors to France will be the fortifications at St Malo and la Rochelle. Vauban left his mark on most of the land and sea frontiers of France, although he was born in Burgundy which hosts only one of his constructiona. On the Côte d’Azur, Antibes, Villefranche, Cannes and St.Tropez. Toulon, Marseille, Collioure on the Mediterranean;

other sites are at Arras, Auxonne, Barraux, Bayonne, Belfort, Bergues, Bitche, Blaye, Bouillon, Calais, Cambrai, Colmars-les-Alpes, Douai, Entrevaux, Givet, Gravelines, Huningue, Joux, Kehl, Landau, La Rochelle, Le Quesnoy, Lusignan, Le Perthus (Fort de Bellegarde), Luxembourg, Maastricht, Maubeuge, Metz, Mont-Dauphin, Mont-Louis, Montmédy, Namur, Neuf-Brisach, Perpignan, Plouezoc’h (Château du Taureau), Rocroi, Saarlouis, Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, Saint-Omer, Sedan, Toul, Valenciennes, Verdun, Villefranche-de-Conflent. For more info see www.vauban2007-bourgogne.org and www.sites-vauban.org

“Pique-Nique Vigneron” - Now that does sound a great idea! Whilst it was once quite interesting to view and admire a vigneron’s wine cellar with its shiny stainless steel vats or older cement “cuves” it can get a little tiresome. For me the main reason for visiting “backstage” is to get an impression of the tidiness, cleanliness and organisation of the wine-making area - and even that is not always a reliable indicator. I have tasted some really excellent wines made in old, chaotic cellars, whilst gleaming stainless steel (“inox”) and ploshed floors do not guarantee that the wine in the bottle will be faultless.
Wine is for drinking and enjoying, so the idea of tasting wine in the winemaker’s garden sounds just perfect, as suggested by John Scallan at who runs a B&B in the Jura region at www.bandb-burgundy.com/ - so get to know these lesser-known wines whilst having a great family day out!

Each year several of the wine makers on the “Route des Vins du Jura” have their version of an “Open day”. As most of them are tiny producers this can’t really take the form of visits around the wineries as that would take about three minutes flat but what they do is host picnics!
Sunday 10th June this year. Over 40 wine makers are taking part, and they provide the tables, chairs, some of them provide “animations”, most provide visit to the cellars, some of them provide tours around the vineyards and all provide tastings of the Jura’s highly individualistic wines. All you provide is yourself and the picnic! You can telephone each wine maker that you wish to attend (or we can for you) and the world is your oyster.
From here it is about 18 kms to the nearest wine maker in the “Route”, Jean Bourdy at the stunningly picturesque village of Arlay. His family have been making wine here for nearly 500 years and they have plans for a small museum and other attractions. They will also give you a booklet detailing several small walks around the village (if the picnic was rather large!). We recently treid his Macvin, a local speciality, which has had about 15 herbs and spices added to it to an ancient family recipe. Wow!!
There are other areas that have a couple of wine makers close to each other and some that can arrange pick ups from a nearby point. The fun usually starts at about 1000 and goes on to 1800 ish (later if the weather is really good and there is some wine left.

For more info see www.laroutedesvinsdujura.com
www.bandb-burgundy.com/

Recommended Reading:-
IGN Jura Wines Map
Michelin Green Guide to Burgundy and Jura

Turning left off the Autoroute du Soleil (A6) at Chalon-sur-Saone or Beaune heading south has much to offer. Instead of hurtling south towards Lyon and Provence why not explore eastern Burgundy and the Jura. Our resident exoert on the region, John Scallan at www.bandb-burgundy.com/ offers some ideas for May 2007:-

Enough of all these wine festivals in Bordeaux and such like. “Head East young man!” (to paraphrase somebody famous) This year the end of May Bank Holiday coincides with the traditional Whit holiday in France and there are all sorts of activities going on. There is still a move in government circles to get the populace working for nothing on Whit Monday with their pay to go to the old and sick but that seems to have come up against the might of the French union system and as such is now fairly well scuppered.

Chalon-sur-Saone(71 Saone et Loire, Burgundy), about 35 kilometres from us, hosts the 21st annual “Montgolfiades” a balloon festival that is nearly on a par with Bristol. Balloons come from all over Europe, including various from Britain and they fly, weather permitting, morning and evenings on Saturday & Sunday and Monday morning. The balloonists are accommodated in Cote Chalonnaise wine makers houses for the duration of the festival and there is traditionally one flight where they all take off from there rather than the main field. The whole Cote is alive with colour. As with all balloon festivals the morning flights are more for the real enthusiast with their 6.00am take offs but should you stay with us and wish to get up early then we guarantee to send you off with hot coffee, a croissant or two, orange juice and perhaps a bottle of something fizzy to put in it. Just give us 24 hours notice. The Sunday evening flight is the highlight when all of the balloons form up on the “Prairie de St. Nicolas” just to the east of Chalon. There are fairground rides and all sorts of attractions and would probably be just about the right thing to do after a wander around the market in the old town. Interesting and colourful. Great place to pick up a picnic for lunch, the rotisserie chickens are to die for. More details will be available soon from the Chalon sur Saone website:- www.chalon-sur-saone.net

Chalon sur Saone Tourist Office have got a link going with a couple of British guys who own a cruising “Peniche” called the DELTA They do lunch and dinner cruises several days a week and on Wednesdays do a lunchtime picnic cruise where you bring you own picnic and they just take you for a little run up and down the mighty Saone. Their website is www.croisieres-saonoises.fr and booking through the tourist office is compulsory. We had guests who stayed with us last year who tried the picnic cruise and thought it marvellous.

Should you be in the area on Whit Monday and not so keen on a 0500 alarm call then you might like to visit the Market at Louhans (18 kms from us). This takes over the whole town centre and is usually open all day on Bank Holidays. Parking can be a bit of a bind but if you get into Louhans for 0900 then there shouldn’t be a problem (Just think that you could have been going to the Balloon festival and regard it as a lie-in). This is the fourth largest agricultural market in France and makes me wonder how big the top three are! The main street through the town is closed to traffic as are all of the side streets in the old town centre. You can buy virtually anything you may need, and an awful lot that you don’t! The large car park by the Post office is completely given over to livestock. Not to every one’s taste but should you wish to buy some chickens (The Bresse is world famous in France for producing the best poultry in the world!) or rabbits or whatever…….Please don’t buy any Charolais cattle though, we could be in trouble trying to feed them until you leave.For more info see www.bresse.info

Jura wine is something that not many Brits know about, Jura whisky perhaps, but wine? The Committee Interprofessional de Vins du Jura is doing it’s bit to try and rectify this. In addition to running courses for its wine makers in how to speak English they have just set up a Tourist Route similar to that in Burgundy. Website address www.laroutedesvinsdujura.com or you can reach it from www.jura-vins.com. There are details of wine makers, accommodation, restaurants etc. etc. all there for the finding out. It might give you a clue as to who was in charge of the English class when we reveal that despite being 15 kms from the nearest vine-yards we are in the guide. We have the zeal of new converts and will do our best to help you to see the error of your ways (!!!). We offer a special meal featuring wines from the Jura with each course for 35 Euros per person. The wine makers open their cellars for tastings regularly, some each day, others by appointment, and they would be very surprised if somebody was to buy without tasting. These wines are not cheap but by dint of diligent research (on behalf our guests you understand) we know of several “caves” where the produce is of absolutely top quality. It was hell, but we did it all the same! For more info see www.bandb-burgundy.com

Up in the Alps, the village of Les Gets (74 Haute-Savoie Rhone-Alpes) has and a rather different event this summer (6-8 July 2007) with a festival of wood - very suitable as part of a European celebration of Mountain and Forest! Between Lake Geneva and Mont-Blanc, at the heart of the region known as Les Portes du Soleil, Les Gets (1172 m – 2002m) is both a winter and summer resort.

Part of the village’s identity, wood is given a place of honour every 2 years as part of the “Billes de Bois” wood festival, a festive cultural event that features a wide-scale of entertainment based on mountain forests and wood, including entertainment and workshops for children, events for the public and street shows, art and crafts, wood exhibitions, wood-cutters competition.

A “bille” is a log apparently! This area is a paradise for walkers and moutain bikers (VTT- Velo Tout Terrain, or all-terrain bike) and of course winter sports. Their website also suggests its a good place for Golf, but looking at the landscape it might be quite a challenging course!

MORE INFO
Les Gets Tourist Office

RECOMMENDED READING:-
French Alps (Michelin Green Guides)
Walking in the Haute Savoie: North (South of Lake Geneva) (Cicerone Mountain Walking)

11 March 2007 is the departure date for the Paris-Nice cycle race, an annual harbinger of Spring and Summer. It is the first of the major European cycle races, the teams having spent the winter racing in friendlier climes such as Australia and California, and for me it conjurs up images of hot summer days with roadside picnics somewhere in deepest rural France. That may still be a little optimistic for mid-March even in Provence, unless you get lucky with the sun and no Mistral wind.

800 miles in 8 days across France and the Alps the race is known as the “Course au soleil”(the race to the sun!) and is really just a “warm up” for the athletes, but for me the joy is in discovering hidden corners of France. Forget the autoroutes, the race mainly uses by-roads, and whilst the autoroutes and major N routes are undoubtedly faster, cross-country driving on Michelin yellow roads is always more interesting. It is easy to forget just how big France is, and non matter how many times you have been there will always be more to discover. That is why even if you are not a cycling fan, it can be fun tracing the route of the major races - so this year’s Paris-Nice will get you to places like Mende (48 Lozere, Languedoc-Roussillon) and Manosque (04 Alpes de Haut-Provence, Provence) - not often on the a more direct itinerary.

The lure of a trip from Paris to Nice is huge, as you really get to experience the diversity of France, from the classy metropolitan allure of Paris through to the exotic Mediterranean warmth of Nice, close to the Italian border - and everything in between. Think of Hemingway or Scott Fitzgerald embarking on a real adventure in the 1920s/30s - before autoroutes or the TGV - and forget route planning on the SatNav - take your Michelin red guide, determine not to rush, stay in small hotels (or better still in Chambres d’Hote), picnic on local food and wines, maybe get a little lost or follow a whim - and experience the real France.

For more on the Paris-Nice cycle race and route see www.letour.fr

Verdun (55 Meuse, Alsace-Lorraine - See map) is one of those place names which cannot escape their rather grim history - much like the Somme, or Ypres in Belgium. Furthermore it is not generally en route to the more popular southern French destinations.
So it was good to see an useful article in the Telegraph which provides some good advice on driving south to the Alps. Rightly the article suggests that the ski resorts do not offer the best experience of the real France, so you need a decent overnight stop en route - une étape gastronomique!
One recommended stop-over is Verdun and the Hotel Coq Hardi, which I stayed at many years ago towards the end of an otherwise disastrous holiday, when we returned home early after a futile search for decent camping weather further south.
My memories of the hotel are very favourable - our meal and stay there was the highlight of the holiday - the hotel was comfortable in a rather traditional way - memories of floral wallpaper on the ceiling - and the restaurant was somewhat formal. However the abiding memory, other than the best ever Crepes Suzette, was the way in which even a quite posh restaurant was very welcoming to children - so unlike many UK restaurants at the time (and probably even today).
The hotel’s website suggests it has become rather funkier - see www.coq-hardi.com.

Le Coq Hardi (or the bold rooster) is a common feature in France - most commonly seen onthe French National Rugby and Football Team shirts - it is also the symbol for Wallonia - the French speaking part of Belgium.

Verdun was a major battle in the First World War - and became synomymous with huge losses from a war of attrition - and of particular resonance to the French as they took the brunt of the carnage. Its occupies a strategic position on the banks of the RIver Meuse and was where Marechal Petain earned his reputation, Despite the overlay of the battle and its consequences, it is a pleasant town and is well-positioned just about 250 miles from Calais.

With autumn fast approaching we console ourselves by looking ahead to our main holiday in France in 2007. Yes, its the Rugby World Cup (in September) but we prefer peaceful rural France, probably in the SouthWest, Midi-Pyrenees - great landscapes, pretty villages, small markets, interesting wine and superb food.
But looking at how to get there is complicated, trying to calculate exchange rates, motorway tolls, the price of fuel, cross-channel ferry crossing and the route across France - and that assumes we dismiss the other options of budget flights (see www.frenchduck.co.uk/travel/flights.html), car hire or great train services.
Dover still dominates as a port of departure - with recently improved routes to Boulogne and Dunkerque but the cessation of the Hoverspeed services - and the western Channel has seen a loss of P&Os services to Le Havre and Cherbourg. There are other options including Dieppe and Le Havre (see www.frenchduck.co.uk/travel/ferry.html)
However even having got across the Channel the autoroute system in France continues to improve with fast new routes available which help you to avoid Paris and some of the other traditional pinch points on your journey south (see www.frenchduck.co.uk/travel/autoroutes.htm)
Whilst things can change over the next 8 months or so, a little research offers the following snapshot of some of the options.
Based on typical hypermarket fuel prices as at 1 October 2006 and a tourist exchange rate of £1=€1.405:-

Unleaded Petrol (sans plomb 95) is €1.17/litre (83p)
Unleaded Petrol (sans plomb 98) is €1.20/litre (85p)
Diesel (Gazole) is €0.999 (71p)

Autoroute options
Dunkerque - Paris toll (péage):£11.17; 293km(183miles) journey time 03h00
Boulogne-Paris via A16 and Amiens toll: £12.03; 254km (159m) time 02h37
Calais - Paris via A26/A1 toll:£13.17; 289km (180m), time 02h50
St Malo - Bordeaux tolls:£17.30; 539km (337m); time 05h12
Paris - Toulouse via A20 tolls: £20.78 678km (424m); time 06h20
St Malo - Toulouse - tolls £28.26; 772km (483m); time 07h21
Calais - Strasbourg - tolls £29.04; 622km (389m); time 05h28
Paris - Bordeaux tolls £33.74; 590km (369m); time 05h31
Calais - Avignon via Reims tolls £36.80; 988km (618m);time 08h49
Calais-Nice via Reims tolls £62.70; 1238k, (774m);time 11h02

For more on travelling in and to France CLICK HERE

TransEuropa Ferries who run ferries on the old Sally Line route from Ramsgate to Ostend are dropping their prices as from the 1st September, so that a Car/Minibus with up to 9 passengers will be just £39 eachway! And if you just want a 48 hour return then you just pay the single ticket price.
Although the crossing takes 4 hours, it is nevertheless a sensible route for Alsace, the Alpes and Eastern France - you could stop over in Bruges or Luxembourg en route!

See our map
For more info see www.transeuropaferries.com/ or see the French Duck travel pages at www.frenchduck.co.uk/travel/travel.html

The Independent has another of its series “24 Hours In: Paris” which follows in the footsteps of artists and writers who had made the city their own. Also in the Independent Chalres Darwent writes “A picture of Paris”
They say the French capital shuts in August. Yet it’s just the time to visit the world’s best city for seeing art.
Meanwhile over in the Observer, there are some good ideas for avoiding plane travel (or rather the airports) in these days of heightened security with some good deals available on both ferries and Eurostar.
The Telegraph has some recommendations on where to stay in the fashionable 8th Arondissement in Paris (close to the Champs Elysees)
In the Times, Jane Shilling is beguiled by the beauty of the Camargue and its horse-riding ritual, the abrivado, whilst Alistair Sawday picks his top ten secret stopovers to break your journey - and enjoy a taste of rural French hospitality iwith a series of off the autoroute journeys through France - see http://travel.timesonline.co.uk
“France is too captivating to observe only from the motorway“. His itineraries include Peronne (80 Somme, Picardie), Arras (62 Pas-de-Calais, Nord-Pas-de-Calais) Bourges (18 Cher, Centre) with its magnificent medieval centre and flying buttress Gothic cathedral; Beaune(21 Côte d’Or, Burgundy); Aumont-Aubrac (48 Lozere, Languedoc) and Collioure (66 Pyrenees Orientales (Languedoc) - a delightful little harbour and resort close to the Spanish border; Orange(84 Vaucluse, Provence); Menton(06 Alpes-Martimes, Provence)

Absinthe, the wormwood spirit which was the scourge of the French Impressionists is making a re-appearance in several guises. Known as the “Fée Verte” of green fairy this aniseed flavoured spirit was banned in France and many other countries when it was recognised that it contained high levels of a drug called thujone which is an effective mind rotting substance, made doubly lethal by high alcohol content to rot the liver. In Paris in particular it was cheap and often illicit, with few controls on its lethal content. Its descendents were the Pastis (e.g. Pernod, Ricard) of today which whilst still strong spirit (40-45^o alcohol, similar to most Cognacs) is obviously nowhere near as potent as the original.

The reputed home of Absinthe is in the Doubs département in the south east corner of France adjacent to Switzerland with its main towns of Belfort and Besancon. in the Franche-Comté region.

Doubs Premium Absinthe contains distilled wormwood, and the essences of 11 mountain herbs, including anise, fennel, hyssop and lemonbalm. It has a distinguished herbal and floral character, true both to its historical French antecedents and to the preferences of the most discerning modern palette.
Its herbal complexity, smooth and refreshing taste, gorgeous green colour (which louches dramatically when iced-water is added) and well-rounded absinthe character have garnered it a growing following and a string of awards: it was a Silver Medal winner at the prestigious 2006 International Wine and Spirits Competition, the premier competition of its kind, and in tasting evaluations for the Fee Verte Buyers Guide, it has consistently achieved the highest ratings of any absinthe in its class.“
In the last decade, regulatory authorities all over the world have come to the realization that the reasons for the banning of absinthe a century ago were specious, and had little to do with any inherent danger on the product, and everything to do with the fevered prohibitionist politics of the time. Absinthe with less than 10mg/l of thujone is legal throughout the EU, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. In many countries - Spain, Portugal, the UK - absinthe was never banned in the first place. It’s been re-legalised in France and Switzerland. It’s legal in Canada, Australia, most of South America, South Africa and Japan. The one remaining anomaly is the USA, where the sale of absinthe is still technically prohibited, although it is not illegal to possess, or to drink.”

For more information on Absinthe see www.absintheclassics.com/
For more information on the Doubs département see www.doubs.fr/

More ideas from John Scallon at www.bandb-burgundy.com - but don’t forget your passport if you follow John’s idea for a great little excursion in the Jura.

Take a drive up through the high Jura to La Cure (39 Jura, Franche-Comté) on the French/Swiss border above Les Rousses (see map) and catch the little mountain train (times below) down to the Swiss town of Nyon, stroll down to the lake shore and catch the lake steamer across to the lovely floral village of Yvoire (74 Haute-Savoie, Rhône-Alpes), crossing the border back into France again en-route!. Yvoire is celebrating it’s 700′th anniversary this year. Stroll around the village, the Chateau gardens (the chateau itself is a private home and not open to the public) and ramparts, or just choose a nice restaurant for lunch. (see www.yvoiretourism.com)

Swiss Rail, in partnership with the Lac Leman Boat Company are offering a return from La Cure to Yvoire and back, train and boat for €29 until 23rd September 2006. If you just want to take the train down to Nyon and back, the fare is Chf.26.80 (about €19).

Timetables: La Cure - Nyon - La Cure (train)

Dep Arr Dep Arr
La Cure Nyon Nyon La Cure

06.55 07.43 15.15 16.03
07.50 08.43 16.15 17.03
08.55 09.43 17.15 18.03
10.17 11.05 17.53 18.41
10.55 11.43 19.15 20.03 Trains after this one terminate at St Cergue

Nyon - Yvoire - Nyon (boat)

Dep Arr Dep Arr
Nyon Yvoire Yvoire Nyon

09.20 09.40 14.00 14.22
10.10 10.30 14.53 15.13
11.17 11.39 15.38 16.00
11.48 12.10 16.03 16.25
The next boats go via 16.50 17.12
Geneva and take 2hrs 17.55 18.17

For more info on the Jura see www.jura-tourism.com
and for a good English run B&B see www.bandb-burgundy.com from where this trip can be made.

John at www.bandb-burgundy.com has offered an excellent choice of things to do in Burgundy, Eastern France and the environs.

As always there are lots of wine fairs and village fetes all over the place, however there is a major festival Fetes de la Vigne in Dijon (21 Cote d;’Or. Burgundy) 1st - 3rd September 2006 in the Autour des Halles, Place Francois Rude. Entry is free but a souvenir glass and tasting tickets cost from €2.00 open from 10:30 - 20:00 each day to sample wines from the fine Burgundy crus - lots of wine-related events around the pedestrianised centre of the town.
Also in Dijon is yet another inland summer beach - Dijon Plage open until 10 September at the intriguingly named Lac Kir!! - see map

Over in the Jura there are things to do. Particularly interesting is a guided wine-tasting through the wines of the Jura in historic Chateau Chalon. Every Tuesday until 29th August 2006, at 20:30, six vignerons bring one example of their work to a tasting evening. A Professor of Wine talks you through the wines of the Jura, their individualities, quirks, and characteristics and how to taste them! How to recognise the alcohol content from swirling the wine around the glass, developing and recognising the aromas, and finally the taste. Once all the theory has been dealt with you get to taste the wines! Much chat with people in the audience being asked their opinion, what can they smell, and or taste in each of six different types of wine. The range of Jura wines is well covered. You’ll start with a Cremant (Sparkling wine), go next to a Red, either Poulsard, Trousseau (you’ve not heard of those have you) or Rubis (Pinot Noir with Trousseau mix). Following that is a Chardonnay, as unlike a Chablis or Californian Chardonnay as is possible to find, thence to a Chardonnay/Savagnin (yes the spelling is correct) mix which starts you off on the typical Jurascian tastes. Next is the classic Chateau Chalon Vin Jaune. A white wine which positively mugs the unaware. Finishing with a Macvin (mix of Marc du Jura and grape juice) the whole evening will take about 2-2½ hours and costs the princely sum of €5.00! (and you get to keep the glass!) Booking is advised from the Tourist Office in Chateau Chalon (infos@hauteseille.com) website: www.hauteseille.com Good French is definitely helpful but not totally necessary.

Add for something completely different - a trip around a brewery! The Rouget de Lisle Brewery in Bletterans (39 Jura, Franche-Comte) has tours during July and August weekdays at 1000 & 1500 and weekends at 1500 only. No booking necessary, just turn up at the time - see www.larougetdelisle.com/. Foreigners had perhaps be on their best behaviour, as Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle was a soldier, engineer, poet and musician who composed “la Marseillaise” - so expect some due reverence to a true French icon.

A perfect base for these visits would be the British owned and run B&B with John & Carolyn Scallan at “Le Bourg” in Sens-sur-Seille (71, Saone et Loire, Bourgogne) - see map - website at www.bandb-burgundy.com

Keywords: France, wine, burgundy,jura,beer,tourism,festival, accommodation