Bar sur Aube to Clairvaux – 14km

Bar sur Aub rests on the banks of the Aub, languorously calling back to a time when it was a center of commerce for the champagne region. The relatively short walk to Clairvaux was along some of the prettiest paths we have walked to date, over gently rolling hills through the last of the champaign vineyards and then corn, wheat and alfalfa fields. The landscape has changed dramatically, we did several 400-500 m climbs along the way. We arrived in Clairvaux during a down poor that rendered the stark contours of Bernard du Clairvaux’s Cistercian abbey dark and somber. Not much of the 11^th century structure remains, but it must have been something to behold, at its peak one of the largest Abbeys in Europe. It was destroyed during the 100 year war, rebuilt in the 1700s but converted to a maximum security prison in Napoleon’s time and still used that way today. The Cistercians were the Fundamentalists of their day, insisting on strict adherence to the Rule of St Benedict, first formulated in the 6^th century. At its peak Clairvaux was home to 120 monks. That number declined in the 13^th century as other monastic movements competed successfully for recruits. Stock options were not invented yet.