You'll need your own car to get to the source of the Seine, which lies some 15km southeast of Alésia, or be prepared to hitch to the hamlet of COURCEAU. From there, by road, take the D103 through the upland hamlet of St-Germain, all crumbling stone farms and barns; or, better still, because rides are unlikely, pick up the GR2 at the bridge in Courceau for a two-hour walk.The Seine, no more than a trickle here, rises in a tight little vale of beech woods. The spring is now covered by an artificial grotto complete with a languid nymph, Sequana, spirit of the Seine. In Celtic times it was a place of worship, as is clear from the numerous votive offerings discovered there, including a neat bronze of Sequana standing in a bird-shaped boat, now in the Dijon archeological museum. If you're here alone, it's a good place for rustic reverie, but if your arrival coincides with a coachload of Parisian day-trippers (the site belongs to the city of Paris), you'd be wise to retreat downstream. There's a campsite at CHANCEAUX, 5km away on the N71 (mid-April to Sept).
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