Yes, a tollbooth. Welcome to France.
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| The autoroute, the Saône, and the Hostellerie du Vieux Moulin in Bouilland. |
We're back on that road up the lakeside again.
Traffic is a little lighter this morning. We park facing the lake in Annecy and munch some pastries for breakfast, then head on over the hills to the Autoroute. Aside from the ticket booth on the way in, the trip was uneventful. Rumor has it that the autoroute tollbooths track entry and exit times, assessing an instant fine if the average speed exceeds 130kph, so I keep my speed down somewhat. No one else is, though; we're easily the slowest-moving 5er on the road.
The smaller roadside rest areas have a scattering of bushes, but no toilets. Several tunnels later, we exit the autoroute, head for the Telepéage lane at the toll plaza, and feed my Visa card to the machine - FF66 to go about 50 miles.
We zip up the N6 through Tournus and stop in Chalon for a walk around town. We wander back and forth over the Saône, and stop for lunch on the island - alas, the name of the restaurant escapes me, but the food was good and the waitresses were tres bon. We continue up the N6 through Beaune, then traverse a series of D-roads out to Bouilland.
The Hostellerie du Vieux Moulin is at the front edge of town. There isn't really all that much Old Mill to it; the reception and restaurant are in the millhouse building, but it's starkly modern inside. The guest rooms and an indoor pool/workout area are across the road in a building that's half new, half old but, once again, the interior is all sharp corners and flat, shiny surfaces.
The room is shiny, modern, well-insulated, and comfortable, but the shower- head holder is broken and no one turns down the beds at night. Dinner is excellent and the service, while a little more relaxed than at the Pere Bise, is attentive and very helpful.