The fountains of Abbenans and Fallon

Please note: Avoid the hunting season, as several areas are equipped with hunting hides.

Head to Fallon (Haute-Saône). Park in the village centre on the Place de la Libération, in front of the school.

(S/E) Head for the Grande Rue (D90), turn left onto it and continue to the large crossroads known as Place Saint-Michel. Turn right onto the D90, heading towards Abbenans for 40 metres. 

(1) After passing an old fountain, turn left onto Rue des Vignes (A), which continues as a footpath.

(2) At the end of the track, take a path that climbs steeply to the right, with a few steps to make the climb easier. Turn right again and continue along the lovely path, carved into the hillside, which runs alongside the 400 contour line and skirts the hill to the north, leading out onto the pastures towards the memorial to those shot (B).Continue along the path, heading down to the right via the Allée du Souvenir.

(3) At the small grassy clearing near the ‘Allée du Souvenir’ sign, turn left at a 90° angle onto the well-maintained stony path, marked with Red Rectangles and White Rectangles for the GR®59 (follow these markings all the way to Abbenans). After 200 m, leave this path and head upto the left towards the woodland. After climbing a small slope, turn right and follow the path that runs along the edge of the woodland, about ten metres back into the forest.

(4) At the far end, turn sharply right, leave the woods, pass under a power line and, between meadows and pastures, follow the road to the village of Abbenans. Continue along Rue des Vitres to the junction with the D7E (Rue de la Paix). The first fountain is on the right: the Fontaine du Breuzet(C).

(5) Cross the main road and head up Rue du Château, which curves to the left. At the junction with the Fontaine de Beline,turn left and head down Rue du Chanois. Opposite the town hall, you’ll find the Fontaine au Lion.Turn right and follow the main road (Rue de la Paix). Walk past the war memorial and continue to the church, in front of which there is another fountain.

(6) Cross the main road and walk down Route de la Cabasse, passing beneath the wall that supports a small square. At the first junction, carry on straight ahead until you reach the bottom of the slope. At the T-junction, turn left onto Rue des Noyées, walk past the fountain of the same name and head up to a small square with the old covered fountain opposite. Then turn right onto Rue Saint-Claude. You will soon come to the Fontaine Bonnet with its semi-circular basin and central column adorned with sculptures of animal heads. 

(7) A little further on, turn right onto the tarmac road leading out of the village, leaving Rue de la Chaux on your left. You’ll pass a farm. The road is now unpaved and continues to climb gently through the pastures. Enter the woodland to find a small woodpile and, on the left, the hunters’ shelter known as the ‘Chalet de la Combe aux Chevreuils ’. A lovely spot for a quick coffee break, for example. 

(8) Continue along the path through the woods – initially winding, then straight – heading south for about 1 km until you reach the boundary between the municipalities of Abbenans and Uzelle. 

(9) Turn left; do not follow the path branching off to the right, but take the straight trench that follows the municipal boundary, heading due east, marked with double red and white paint stripes. On the left are Abbenans’ municipal logging areas, numbered 10 to 20; on the right are those of Uzelle, numbered 4–10 and 13. Cross a karst depression in the shape of a rectangular sinkhole several metres deep (D).From time to time, boundary stones with semi-circular tops reinforce the marking of the municipal boundary. Before leaving the woodland, a steep descent leads out onto a meadow. Turn right along the edge of the woodland to rejoin a good road.

(10) Turn left, pass a small stone cross on the right at the edge of the woodland and follow this small tarmac road to the village of Bournois, passing a farm at a place called Le Carron. 

(11) At the crossroads with the fountain, whose column is topped by a statue of the Virgin Mary, turn left onto the Grande Rue. At No. 21, on the left, notethe beautiful statuette embedded in the façade. It guards one of the village’s oldest houses, dating from 1686 and formerly owned by Pierre Tavernier.
At the next crossroads, turn right onto Rue des Échelets, a short stretch marked with red and white Red Rectangles on the GR®59 route, which you should leave almost immediately toturn left onto Rue du Verger Quiquard. At the end of the road, at the crossroads, do not follow the signs for “Vierge de Grammont” but head down the left-hand track, between the hedges, towards Fallon, with a lovely view of the village.

(12)At the bottom of the descent, turn left and continue to a junction with a stony track. Turn left again. 

(13) You’ll see a gate on the right marked ‘dogs must be kept on a lead’. Go through this gate and follow the left-hand bank of an old pond until you reach the main gate of the park, which opens onto the main road (RD90).

(14) Turn left towards the village centre, passing the former castle keeper’s house. A little further on, look out for a grassy path called ‘Chemin des Ânes’. Take this path down towards the magnificent Fontaine de Fallon with its three basins (E). Walk behind the covered cistern and return to the car park (S/E).

Whilst our four-legged friends will have no trouble quenching their thirst, the same cannot be said for walkers. The water from the fountains is not tested and public houses are few and far between. Take the necessary precautions.

Before setting off, you can take a look at Fallon Castle, the former residence of the Marquis de Raincourt, which was rebuilt on the foundations of an older building in the mid-18th century.

A – Vine-growing was abandoned following the phylloxera epidemic and the arrival of superior wines from the south of France, due to the development of transport links, particularly the railway. The vineyards were replaced by mirabelle plum orchards, which are well suited to the region’s limestone soil and climate.

B –Émile Kleinhans was from Alsace. He was expelled from the territory of the Reich following the German invasion and took refuge in Haute-Saône, in Lure, where he was resident. He was unmarried. Together with Henri Hennequin, a watchmaker from Villersexel, he joined the Resistance in the Fallon and Thieffrans maquis as part of the Saint-Georges Group.Following a skirmish with a German detachment at the Ferme des Vitres, near Fallon (Haute-Saône), both men were captured by the enemy after exhausting all their ammunition and were shot dead on the spot on 10 September 1944. They were accompanied by Henri Mettra, Fernand Gomard and Abel Jacquet, all three of whom were also brutally shot and in whose honour a memorial has been erected on the outskirts of Fallon on the road to Bournois.

C – Fiveof the seven fountains in the commune are still in use. In 1832, the architect Ferre drew up plans for the construction of four fountains alongside a washhouse; these included the Breuzat Fountain, featuring at the front a large rectangular basin which also served as a drinking trough, surmounted by a cube upon which rests a beautifully crafted column, and the Bonnet Fountain, distinctive for its semi-circular basin, its octagonal column adorned with animal heads and topped by a cast-iron bowl, not to mention the Lion Fountain and the four others, each with its own distinctive character. 

D – Karst collapses are caused by the poor quality of the rock, which is often limestone and crumbly, and is constantly dissolving. Underground streams carve out passages and, through erosion, thin the layer separating the ground from the subsoil. When the roof becomes too thin, it can no longer hold, leading to collapses.  

E – This complex consists of a sump covered by an imperial-style roof and two aligned rectangular basins: the drinking trough and the washhouse. The complex is about twenty metres long in total. Built between 1763 and 1764, it is one of the oldest fountains in the department. It was constructed according to the plans of the Besançon architect Jean-Charles Colombot.In the 19th century,the washhouse was covered with a canopy for the comfort of the washerwomen. The building was listed as a historic monument in 1988.

Information gathered on site or from various websites.