A longer drive today heading north past Verdun to Mouzon on
the River Meuse, close to the border with Belgium. The scenery changed
considerably – gently undulating countryside, long stretches of straight roads
and large arable fields. The Autumn colours were much more obvious now, a
combination of time marching on and us marching north. We started to see evidence
of war defences and on the D65 in particular there were many ruined pillboxes.
In the First World War this area was occupied by the Germans and many of the
villages were badly damaged in the fight to reclaim them.
We stopped just south of Mouzon at the ‘Sanctuaire des Flaviers’ a sacred site
for the Celts and Romans with the foundations of three Roman temples extant.
Again, the site was on a hill, clearly visible for many miles around.
We knew that there weren’t many places available in the aire at Mouzon and when
we got there we found that it was full. Most annoyingly, one large A class van
was taking up two pitches and we were about to give up when one of the other
owners suggested that we could squeeze into a space that was not entirely
official. We set of to find the Tourist Office and then followed a town trail
to see the fairly low-key sites. At 18:00 the council lady came to the office
at the aire and I went to pay for the stay. She was able to sort out the problem
with the electrics for us and also had words with the A class owners but with
little effect. Still, we were happy, we had our pitch right next to the canal
and watched the swans, fish and a beautiful kingfisher go by. Mouzon is on an
island created by the River Meuse on one side and the canalised river on the
other.
Photos: The Mouzon Abbey church had some excellent
stonework; A hermit cell in the church occupied by the recluse Dame Mathilde in
the late 12th century – parishioners could ask her for guidance by
talking to her through the slit window on the right of the door; The River Meuse
at Mouzon; A cat looks out from a Mouzon house that had many cats; The canalised
section of the Meuse at Mouzon – the aire is just out of site on the left bank
of the canal.
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