Home to the Heat

We arrived home at about 5pm on Monday evening, and home was like an oven - close to 40°C. Sleeping was difficult, the minimum temperature overnight was 26°C, which is far too hot to sleep properly. At midnight last night it was 30°.

Yesterday we got 42 ° at about 6pm, and one again it didn't really cool down overnight. It doesn't look like we're getting real relief any time soon.

The weather has been described as a "widespread, lasting and intense" heatwave. Hundreds of heat records were broken yesterday, with temperatures exceeding the 43°C mark. It was the hottest day ever recorded in France since records began in 1947.

Météo-France announced that 58 departments will be on heatwave red alert today, four more than yesterday.

I'm starting to miss the cold and drizzle of Hamburg.

The Great Flood

Because we are surrounded by rivers, including major ones like the Creuse, this area has been subject to some significant flooding over the centuries. One such was the flood of 23 June 1848, which prompted Charles Mourault to compose a poem and inscribe it on a stone in a wall overlooking the river at Baratière, a hamlet outside of Yzeures sur Creuse. Here's my rough translation.

 

The Creuse at Baratière.

 

"Here is where the dreaded scourge stopped that God made us go through in these deplorable days. The water rose without end and everyone left their refuge. Which in that moment look like islands. The fertile plain, the most precious treasure, offers us nothing more than the shadow of death. The people gather on this sad shore, lamenting their fate, saying what slavery. The river ressembled the foaming sea which in its expanse had become so threatening. Oh peoples who are the successors of this century may God protect you from such a great misfortune."

 

Flooding like this is relatively rare, but when it comes, causes significant damage. Nowadays the municipalities involved will declare a disaster (Fr. catastrophe) and everyone affected is guaranteed cover by their insurance.

Thanks to Bruno Guitton who showed me the inscription, and to Alain Chartier who sent me a transcription and details of the inscription's date and author.

2026 Holiday Day 20

Autun - Preuilly-sur-Claise 

A strange day full of bittersweet memories.

Our accommodation in Autun was a convent that is now a retirement home - that rents out appartements.

Autun has a lot of very old buildings. Even if the facade looks newish.

The church is enormous and obvious.

More Burgundian roofs. This was the military college.

We stopped for a roadside picnic lunch, but it was so hot (40°) that we sat in the car. My dad loved custard tarts, so this was the obvious choice of dessert.

Distance travelled 316km, Cumulative totals:

2026 Holiday Day 19

Mulhouse - Autun

A hot day: 28°C in the shade before 9:00am, reaching 38 by 2:00pm. There was a nasty road accident just outside Besançon which added a very hot hour to our day.

TGV001, beside the autoroute just outsides Mulhouse. The shape may be familiar, but this was gas turbine powered.

Burgundian roofs

The Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senons. We didn't stop, it was too hot and it appeared there was a special event on

Vineyards just south of Beaune

Distance travelled 336km

Cumulative total 3349km @ 56km/h

Ernest Brand 1932 - 2026

Ernest Thomas Brand, was born on the 21st of November 1932 at Hackney Hospital, London, England, the son of Robert Percy Brand and Marie Therese Brand (nee Schlitt). He was a twin, but his brother died of meningitis in 1937 as a result of a fall. 

Dad was an inspiration to me, a brave man who took his young family from London to Australia, an absolute optimist and not afraid of really hard work. His willingness to put himself in that sort of situation with good cheer and enthusiasm gave us the belief that we could also make changes in our lives, and his encouragement in our various mad projects and ability to understand what we were trying to do gave us the confidence not to give up when the going got tough.

Ernest Thomas Brand 12/11/1932 - 22/6/2026

A good man.

2026 Holiday Day 18

Eight years ago we were in Mulhouse and visited the Cité de l'Automobile. This year it was time to do the train equivalent.

We stayed a couple of hours at the museum, but even though it is air-conditioned it was still mighty warm. We retreated to our accommodation which is smaller but really effectively air-conditioned.

2026 Holiday Day 17

Rothenburg aub der Taber - Mulhouse

We started with stuff on a stick at the  Auto & Technik Museum Sinsheim, but only in the car park. It would take 6 hours we didn't have to do the place justice.

MIG23

Foreground: Hunting Percival P.66 Pembroke

Middle: Martin MGM-1 Matador, the first operational surface-to-surface cruise missile

Background: Concorde

Vertol (VFW) H-21C Shawnee

It's not all aircraft on a stick in the car park: U 17 German submarine, 1973.

Neuf-Brisach is a fortified town in Alsace. The town was intended to guard the border between France and the Holy Roman Empire and, subsequently, the German states. It was built after the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697 that resulted in France losing the town of Breisach, on the opposite bank of the Rhine. When that happened the french speaking population voted with their feet and moved to the new town designed by Vaubin.

Distance covered 417km

Cumulative total 3013km@ 56km/h

2026 Holiday Day 16

Rothenburg - Shrozberg - Rothenburg

The church my great grandmother was baptised in, Shrozberg.

The St. Anna Chapel in Mulfingen

The brightly painted altar is designed as a family tree style piece dedicated to Saint Anne.

The Protestant parish church of St. Bonifatius located in Oberstetten. It was locked when we got there

The Herrgottskirche is in Creglingen. We didn't photo the outside. It contains multiple altarpieces.

The masterpiece is the Marian altarpiece which stands in the middle of the nave and is one of Tilman Riemenschneider's best-known works.

The altarpiece is 9.20 meters high and 3.68 meters wide. It consists of the predella, the central shrine, two side wings and the tracery.

Distance covered 100km

Cumulative total 2596km@ 54km/h