whats is the story behind this tunnel?
Not a tunnel as such mate, its called" les caves de Bailly" and behind the lights in the background is a tasting room, wine shop and 11 hectares ( i think) of caves.
Bailly is the vilage.
between the villages of Bailly and Cravant, dug into the valley wall, there are 3 large openings. Two of them have been condemned and the entrances sealed. The 3rd ( the one in the picture) is now a cooperative wine cellar. Originally dug as stone mines early in the last century, during the 60's they were used as a mushroom farm but more interestingly, during the occupation, this one was used as a munitions depot by the Wehrmacht, the next two down ( now unaccessable) were used as an underground fighter repair facility and as you ride by the entrance you go past a defensive pillbox
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then past the old entrance, which is flanked by concrete pylons, or the remains of them, which originally supported a cableway down across the river to the old airfield which is now a model airoplane club...
then on past another defensive pillbox, a ruined barracks and canteen and on to Cravant.
The luftwaffe apparently used the facility to repair Focke-Wolfe fighters.
Most people have no idea that it even exists outside the current usage for making Cremant de bourgogne.
[URL="http://www.bailly-lapierre.fr/en"[/URL]
I thought I had some more pics of the old installations somewhere but I can't find them, I can easily take some thoug if it's of any interest, it's kinda on my way to and from work.