CHICKEN RUN

The rustling of leaves is about the only noise and it’s much warmer than the previous night, 17C this morning.
Our first major places is Bourg-en-Bresse, famous for its ultra-expensive chickens, twinned with Aylesbury and a busy sprawl of multi-lane junctions to drive through.  We spot a large camperstop near the centre so should we ever wish to lay [bad pun] here ourselves we could.
It’s mostly dual carriageway to Macon, a town we have never been through before.  We cross the large bridge and drive along with the river on our left.  On our right is a long boulevard of cafes with terraces right out to the road.  All are quite busy with people chatting, reading or thumbing their smartphones, soaking up the sunshine. 
Half an hour later little showers turn to heavy rain which hangs as spray between the thick woodland flanking the road.  We stop for lunch, chicken sandwiches, near Cluny.
Out of the woods  we return to the Macon vineyards, characterised by their tall, closely spaced, almost hedge-like rows of  vines.
The vineyard landscape later changes to farming, brown cattle, maize and recently planted green sprouts.  Then a huge field in front of a huge hen house is peppered with thousands of free range chickens.  Real grass, not scratched earth, real free range.  It’s a beautiful and not so common sight.
Our original plans were to go to a vineyard for the night but with the rain and slower than expected journey we reroute to the aire at Lapallisse, one we had considered on our way out.

There is an impressive stone chateau and church as we drive into town and when we reach the aire it is not too busy.  There are 10 or 12 vans, mostly German, half of those are either large or have trailers so they’re parked longways across multiple spaces.  We find a small bay right beside the river with no parking on our left as it’s access to the footbridge and a friendly French couple to our right.
By the time we have had coffee the sun has come out and it’s a warm evening.
Vans arrive through the afternoon and we wonder why so many, including those on the roads today, are from Germany.  Looking at the map we surmise that Lapallisse is on the straight-line route for any of them heading to Spain for winter.
Our funds won’t run to Bresse chicken but Ali cook a very nice chicken escollape in lemon sauce for our dinner.