Just a quick bit about Vesoul. The tourist information place is really helpful and provides a small map of the town and some directions for walking around it. These are well worth getting and read like an audio tour, pointing out little features of all the things.

Also take a walk up the hill and see la Motte, a little statue / chapel thing erected to Notre Dame (Our Lady) in thanks at only a small number of people being killed in an epidemic in the late 18th century. It offers a nice view of the town and surrounds, and has the coolest map I’ve seen at one of these sights.

While we were up there, we found three teeny kittens. They couldn’t have been more than a couple of weeks old and there was no sign of a mother. Philippe and I played with them for a little while, but when we came to leave they started to cry and chase after us. The only conclusion we could come to is that some ******* had dumped them there.

We were discussing where we could take them (animal shelter, vets…) when small family walked past and we got talking. They decided to take them home and adopt them. I’m just glad that most people are good enough. But if I got my hands on the retard who chucked them up there, I’d find myself running rather than walking out of Vesoul to avoid arrest…

My time in Vesoul was brief but as ever I was made to feel very welcome by my host and his friends. Bizarrely, I met four people besides Philippe – two French women who didn’t speak English and two Romanian women who did!

Also, there’s a video of the view from la Motte on YouTube.