You'll Never Leave [insert name here] Alive

plancher_gare
Originally uploaded by mcmrbt.

Where the sun comes up
About ten in the morning
And the sun goes down
About three in the day
And you fill your cup
With whatever bitter brew you're drinking
And you spend your life digging coal
From the bottom of your grave...

The photo above shows the little train station in Plancher-Bas, circa some time before it closed. The station was opposite the Café de la Gare, which (if you haven't been paying attention) is has been my wife's family home for 40-odd years.

The railway was a métrique or narrow-gauge light railway which opened in 1895 and ran for 16km initially from Plancher-les-Mines to Ronchamp. Métrique means that it had 1 metre wide tracks. Don't ask me what standard SNCF lines are, I don't know.

In 1903 a further 8km opened, linking from Ronchamp to Lure. If you live in Plancher Bas now, Ronchamp is one of the closest places you might go for a half-decent market and smallish supermarkets (a Champion), and Lure is the nearest place big enough to have a decent Super-U and also an E Leclerc.

The French sometimes use the Belgian term for these light railways, which is Chemin de Fer Vicinaux or CFV, also secondaire, to distinguish them from the state-run or national railway (e.g. SNCF). Because they were small trains that ran often through spectacular topography at a leisurely pace , they were also known as Tortillards, which is both affectionate and pejorative. The fact that they were called "tortoises" by some because of their slowness meant that not much fuss was made when they were closed in the name of efficiency.

The Lure to Plancher-les-Mines line closed in 1938. Just imagine how much fun it would be now to tour the many beautiful regions of France on small light railways.

Plancher-les-Mines, as I mentioned once before, was once a prosperous mining town which sank, when the mines closed, into a gentle decline. There are some interesting buildings there, and a time-stood-still feel to the place. Somewhat topically, the first time I saw it, it reminded me of some photos I'd seen of the older parts of New Orleans, which makes a kind of sense, if you know your history.


Just beyond Plancher-les-Mines
More recently, both Plancher Bas and Plancher-les-Mines have been becoming popular with Belfortians seeking the good life in the country. One sad side effect of this is that the road beside my in-law's house, once a "road to nowhere", is now getting busier and noisier by the year. Even in the ten years since I've been visiting, it has changed noticeably. Drive through Plancher-les-Mines, and you come to La Planche des Belles Filles, a spectacular viewing point atop a high hill, and a couple of cascades. I've cycled up there before. On from there, the road narrows to a single track, and climbs up one side of the Ballon d'Alsace.

On a sunny day, you can walk round Plancher-les-Mines and think it's a picturesque place to live. The hillsides are covered with green, the blue sky looks wonderful, the air is clear, and the sunshine is gorgeous. We know a couple of people who live up there. One friend lives in a small terraced cottage with a precipitous back garden that climbs up the hill. My sort-of sister-in-law's brother, on the other hand, just bought one of the magnificent old houses, once owned by the likes of mine-owners and management.


House in Plancher-les-Mines
It's a fantastic old house, double-fronted and double-sided, with 4 large rooms on each of three floors, a basement, a huge garden to the side, and another huge garden at the back (added to the property many years before by the previous owners). They're restoring the house at the moment, and it was exciting to be shown round, and imagine, for example, taking a bath in a huge bathroom with a view on the magnificent hills out of the window.

One of the 3rd storey rooms

Perhaps the best thing about the house, though, was that it cost them just (the equivalent of) £110,000. Like all British people, our jaws naturally hit the floor to see such a house for so little money. Of course, there was at least another £?k of restoration and modernisation work required, depending on how much they do themselves, plus all the time it would take. My brother-in-law spent 4 years building his own house in order to save money on contractors. That's 4 seasons of Grand Designs! So, £110k, plus whatever, fine. And then, take account of the local employment prospects, and you'd probably have to commute around 150 miles a day into Alsace and back (and cope with all those 68-plate maniacs).

At the same time, I thought, you can sense the darkness lying in wait in those hills: how they will block the sun, especially in winter, until quite late in the morning, and block it out again early in the afternoon, so that you'll find yourself living in twilight for much of the year. Which got that song in my head, "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive." It's been covered by Brad Paisley and Patty Loveless among others, and I recommend it as an ear-worm whenever you visit a place like Plancher-les-Mines, lest you be seduced by its beauty in summer.