When we visited Villefranche sur Saone I suddenly realised that we have many times unknowingly been in the footsteps of Napoleon or at least crossed ways in a erratic fashion. In that little fine town, capital of Beaujolais wine, we came across an old house with a plaque saying that on 13th of March 1815 Napoleon stopped to water his horse and drink some wine on his 20 days march to Paris. But it was not the first time our ways had crossed.
We go back to the first year of our travel 2014 when we came to Hannover and stumbled into the 300 year celebration of Brittish-Hannover relation. In Hannover there is a big Waterloo monument in memory of the victory and the men from the Hannovarian regiments that fell in that battle. That was in the beginning of our travels but the end of the Napoleon I era.
Last year we came to the island Elba and visited the Napoleon castle where he spent 10 months of unvoluntary exile after being removed as emperor of France. But life at Elba must have been boring and the people in France were not happy with Ludwig XVIII so Napoleon accepted the self made challenge to save France. He landed in Juan-Golf on 1st March 1815 and went to Cannes with his little troop. Same way as we on Lellebelle came to France.
When Alexandra and John sailed with us on LelleBelle from Cannes to Marseilles we passed the naval town of Toulon. This is the place or rather the Battle of Toulon in 1793 where the young Bonaparte "captain canon" rose from the rank of captain to General. The fearless Napoleon started his career here until he crowned himself emperor in 1804.
But back to Canne year 1815. This is where he decided to take the today famous Napoleon Route to Grenoble where the regiment who was there to stop him without hesitation joined his campaign on the 7th of March. That was a breaking point for Napoleon to take back the power over France.
He then went to Lyon to receive a jubilant and enthusiastic welcome.
There is also a Napoleon route on the French way of the Camino to Santiago de Compostella. I never could get any sensible information why there is a "Napoleon pilgrim way" over the Pyrrines from France to Spain. But Napoleon must have been there to sort out some problems with the Spainish.
After Lyon he followed the roads along the Saone. There was of course evidence that Napolen watered his horses also in Macon but I forgot to ask at the tourist office where the plaque or statue was. But according to the records he was there on the 13th.
Further up the Saone river is the little village Tourun. Here I did not forget to ask the tourist office where Napoleon had rested on his way to the Tullier palace. At the tourist office I also bought a few bottles of Borgogne red. Much to Leslie's unapproving looks. Because now we were on Napoleon memoria hunt and that could take a quite some time. A little plaque was outside the bicycle museum shows that Napoleon passed Tourun on 14th March and then on to Chalon and reached Paris on the 20th March.
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