Sleeping Beauty's Castle... or not...

Today's randonnée will take us to the mysterious blue-and-white castle that we had spied from La Chapelle a couple of days ago.  It seems to be becoming a pattern for us... we hike and see something in the distance, then plot a course to see what it's all about.  lol.

The internet yielded very few clues about this castle, which we could only identify as "Le Château de Chalosset."  There is a postcard with the castle's image on it, dated 1919, that apparently one can purchase online for 2.25 Euro.  Really not much to go on.  Nevertheless, we set off, determined to discover what we can.

Our route takes us first down to Chamelet, the out the Northwest of the town along a walking path to Les Brotteaux, where we cross the train tracks and follow the road past a church to the castle.  To make the hike interesting, and since we've never before been to this area, we decide to go onward past the castle to Saillant and Le Bois Clayot, before returning to Chamelet through Bergeron (imagine your favorite AFV clip here... Ok, just for fun, and because I can't decide on my favorite, I'll give you two. Enjoy!)  The whole hike is about 10-11 km, and will repeatedly take us up and down 225m elevation changes.

I know that by now, you might be sick of photos of Rue Le Cocon, but today, it is surprisingly shorn... it must be "grass mowing weekend" we decide.  That's a thing, right??  A little farther down, we see gigantic bales of grass all rolled up ready to feed our four-footed friends.

It's an incredibly windy day, and the (uncut) grasses are pushed into undulating waves.  The trees are bending over, and it is actually a little difficult to stand as we descend from Le Crèt. 

Approaching Chamelet, we can actually see Le Château Chalosset in the background.  It doesn't seem very far away at all. We can even see the road we will take there.

We arrive in Chamelet at Les Halles, as usual (the way to the gite is the turn on the right of the photo below, right before the covered Halles, at the signs).  From Les Halles, we take Chemin du Plat Fournier out of town (this is the road dropping down to the left in the photo).  This road passes the town's school and is often used by cars to get to the highway D385 that runs through the valley. Before the road drops down to the highway, it splits, and we take the right fork to stay on Chemin du Plat Fournier until we hit Saint-Julien.

Along Chemin du Plat Fournier, we see more barred windows into exitless caves.  These are much smaller inside than the one we saw near La Chapelle, and we wonder if they are perhaps old wells. 

We look back towards Chamelet, and are treated to a very different view than we are used to.  Chamelet seems much more grand from this perspective. 

The fork for Saint-Julien is relatively  poorly marked.  There is a familiar yellow walking-trail sign, plus a VTT (mountain bike) trail sign, which both tell us to head on the right fork towards La Branle.  However, we must take the left fork to get to Chalosset.

Saint-Julien takes us across the railroad tracks, and we walk parallel to the highway D385 for a bit.  We can see one of the many forestry companies on this section of highway.  They seem to make no bones about their industry, since their signage reads: "Exploitation Forestière."  Maybe it doesn't carry the same connotations in French.  As we walk, we can once again see the Château de Chalosset peeking out over the hill ahead of us, beckoning us onward. 

The highway crossing to Rue Chalosset is a little terrifying, as it is right on a blind corner.  Have I mentioned the speeds that people drive here?  We must dash out across the highway to the little bridge shown near the red circular "19t" sign on the other side.  We hold our breath and run.

Safely on the other side of the highway, I stop for a photo op on the charming little bridge.  Ok, maybe it was really an opportunity to get my heart rate back to normal, after the scary highway sprint. 

We are finally on Rue Chalosset.  Although, it seems every road in Chalosset is named Chalosset.  You can check it out.  We follow Rue Chassolet to its first junction and spy a charming little building that appears to be a church.  Although it is locked and there is no signage, the map claims it is indeed a church.  Peering through the peephole, all I see is a giant fern and a stained glass window of a figure I don't recognize.    

Just around the bend in the road we find the Château de Chalosset.  There is one small sign saying "Chalosset" at the end of the driveway (on the left in the below photo).  As we get to the gate we notice a trampoline in the yard.  It's just someone's home!  A little disappointed, but not wanting to trespass on private property, I snap a quick photo of the castle from the gate and return back the way we came. 

The house next to the Château de Chalosset is also very interesting, and appears to be a castle in its own right.  As we pass it, a woman drives up and goes inside... and a sweet dog at the front door is very disappointed to not be let into the house.

We continue down Rue Chalosset towards Saillant. Saillant is a collection of about 8 houses, perched above a decent sized vineyard. We basically ring the picturesque little valley cradling the Ruisseau de Lonne, passing Saillant and Le Bois Clayet, before following the opposite edge of the valley back to Bergeron.  

Beside the vineyard, a row of pink roses are in bloom.  A book left in our gite called "les couleurs du Beaujolais: le Rhone," says that vignerons plant roses on the edges of their vineyards, because the roses will catch Oidium mould before the grapes will, and therefore they serve as a warning system telling the vignerons to spray the vines with copper sulphate before the mould can take hold (p 25). 

Past Saillant, there is a fork in the road, and we follow the sign for Le Corret.  When we get to the yellow signpost for Le Bois Clayet, we follow the sign for Chamelet, which counter-intuitively points West. The trail takes us around the end of the valley before swinging back East, mirroring our journey into the valley. 

Looking ahead to where we will be walking, we see more evidence of the reforestation project undertaken in this area in 1860. The trail is visible as a horizontal line about half way up the photo.

At this point, we are totally surprised to see a little camionnette approaching us on the road.  The looks on the faces of vehicle's occupants tell us they are just as surprised to see us here.  We fortunately have a little space to step off the route, and with a little wave, the camionnette passes us and putters along its way.  There are tall spindly thistles lining the road, and I find them oddly attractive and wistful, as they wave in the breeze.  Perhaps they remind me of my past year.

Nearing the mouth of the valley, we walk through the man-made forest of firs, and I breathe deeply into their Christmas-y scent. 

After the simple beauty of the valley, Bergeron is not terribly impressive.  Many yards have cheap metal fencing, put up to pen in frantic barking dogs.  We drop down through town pretty steeply, and I am glad we decided to walk our route counter-clockwise instead of clockwise, or we would have been trekking up this hill. Near the lower edge of Bergeron, we pass a neat-looking gate labelled "La Roseraie." I wonder if it is meant to refer to a little rose garden, or whether it is advertising a gite.  I peek past it into the property.  There is only piles of garbage in the backyard. 

We enter Chamelet at the bottom-most end, where it meets La Grange, near the train station (right) and Le Pressoir (left).  Then we wander up random alleys through town to get onto Le Cocon. 

Back at Le Crèt, we gaze across at where we were and see Saillant and the valley (far right in the photo below).  From here, it seems like a very impressive hike, so we decide we are very deserving of some "victory cheese" upon returning to the gite.   ;)