(Published January 2016, last updated June 2023) Nine hundred years ago, in the eleventh century, Cluny monks built a monastery in a small clearing near the Dordogne River. A village soon developed around the abbey, a château was built next door and high walls protected the occupants. Today, this slice of medieval history, known as […]
Château d’Ancy-le-Franc (Burgundy Canal)
(Published June 2013, last updated June 2023) One of the highlights of a walk along the Burgundy Canal will be a visit to Château d’Ancy-le-Franc. Built in the 1540s, the château is one of the earliest, and still one of the best, examples of Italian Renaissance architecture in France. The interior has been painstakingly restored […]
Saint-Hilaire de la Combe (Martel to Rocamadour)
(Published September 2013, last updated June 2023) Until the middle of the fifteenth century, life in this part of the world—between Collonges-la-Rouge and Curemonte—centred around the village of la Combe. But by 1453, at the end of the Hundred Years War, the village had been destroyed and the residents moved to nearby Curemonte. All that […]
Saint-Jean-de-Losne (Burgundy Canal)
(Published February 2016, last updated June 2023) Twelve days of walking—and cycling—is all it takes to make your way from Migennes to Saint-Jean-de-Losne following the length of the Burgundy Canal. Along the way, you’ll have the opportunity to visit seven châteaux, eleven churches, an abbey and three of France’s most beautiful villages—all within easy walking […]