Wednesday August 23rd
We leave with our camping car direction Dijon to get to a camping site, Camping du Lac de Kir, Dijon. We arrive there late afternoon, get settled and like it. I prepared a salad at home, get a pizza with it and we enjoy a lovely dinner. After that a nice stroll around lac de Kir. We make it an early bedtime. Unfortunately, a lot of noise around us, the neighbour packs up at 6:00. But we can leave the camping car in " garage morte" modus until we return. Very convenient!
Thursday 24th August
7:00, we are early birds. I've prepared at home a fruit salad, I pour some coffee, buy some bread and organize a nice breakfast. After that, quickly cleaning, washing up, getting the car to the garage morte and leave. –“Le Canal de Bourgogne“ is right next to the camping site. So, we can easily follow it after getting some nice pictures of “Chateauneuf”. For the rest nice, smooth water on the canal, some ducks and houseboats. The air is damp and moisty, really heavy. On our way we pass Pouilly-en-Auxois, where we have been cycling years before.
7:00, we are early birds. I've prepared at home a fruit salad, I pour some coffee, buy some bread and organize a nice breakfast. After that, quickly cleaning, washing up, getting the car to the garage morte and leave. –“Le Canal de Bourgogne“ is right next to the camping site. So, we can easily follow it after getting some nice pictures of “Chateauneuf”. For the rest nice, smooth water on the canal, some ducks and houseboats. The air is damp and moisty, really heavy. On our way we pass Pouilly-en-Auxois, where we have been cycling years before.
Here the canal runs through a very long tunnel. At about 3 o’clock a very hard wind starts to blow our heads off with strong gusts. It looks like rain; the sky is totally black, but we can make it without any serious downpour. Get to a supermarket and buy enough drinks (it is still very warm; we drink liters and liters. …), and get to Pouillenay, Hotel Macarena 102km.
Dinner at the hotel
 |
| Chateauneuf |
Friday, 25th of August
In the night we can already hear some heavy rain drumming against the windowpane. This means for us to get our rain gear immediately sorted out, rain jackets right on top of the bag, we try not to despair, get some breakfast first and start cycling in a lighter rain than during the night. I don’t mind the rain so much since the general temperature is still rather warm.
After 1 hour we can already take off the full rain gear and gradually we peel out of the warmer clothes. It is clearing up and the day evolves into a pleasant cycling day. At times we are all alone: no roads, no houses, no other cyclists, only us and the canal. The ride is easy, and we find a good pace. After a little break we get to St Florentin, Chambre d’hôtes. This is an old “maison de maître”, well restored and decorated. We get a lovely room and just when we open our bags to get settled, a very heavy rain shower starts outside. Glad we are indoors now; we shower and do some shopping and find a little “crèperie” for dinner. 101km
 |
| Saint Florentin |
Saturday 26th of August
In the evening some more heavy showers left us with cooler temperatures than the previous day. So, we dress a bit warmer and leave, rain gear ready to use it any time. We hit the canal and leave St Florentin. It is really chilly; I wear my jacket. Our ride is a bit varied today since we often leave the canal to cycle through little villages and small towns. A nice change, a different landscape. We get to Auxerre, a perfect little jewel of a town: a very nice Gothic cathedral, half-timbered houses and many tourists tasting some Bourgogne wine and having lunch. We enjoy a little stroll around while pushing our bikes and taking pictures. Later we learn that Vauban was born in this area, there are countless castles and fortifications, he must have had a hand in that…
We are on and off the canal, getting a bit lost at places and end up in a tiny village Surgy, l’Auberge de l’Orme 102km. Here we are close to the canal Yonne. The hotel is very old and extremely modest, but it was all we could get. Nevertheless, the elderly landlady cooks her first vegetarian meal for us (this is after all the Bourgogne, not exactly a “veggie” place…) and we are grateful for that.
Sunday 27th of August
Get our breakfast, get our bikes out of the bar where they spent the night and start to cycle. Soon we are at another canal, “le canal du Nivernais”. This is a famous channel for “la tradition du bois flottant » (floating wood) : this is a system where they float big wooden logs, align them similar to a raft and let them drift downriver. After a while we peel out of our warmer clothes although temperatures will be moderate for the rest of the day. One part of the canal ascends: “l’échelle à 16 écluses”,a row of 16 sluices, one after the other,this is quite tiring. We get to Cercy La Tour and, surprise, find an open little “épicerie”. I quickly buy some fruit and drinks for the coming day.
After that we arrive at our Chambre d’hôtes, chez Marie, with extremely friendly people. They show me a kitchen that I am free to use, and I hurry back to the little shop to buy some food. I cook a nice vegetarian pasta with a salad, and we enjoy it thoroughly! Cleaning, showering and resting.
Monday 28th of August
Breakfast at “Marie’s” is delicious, we can borrow even a pump to refill our tubes and happily leave these friendly hosts. Again, a rather chilly morning. We return to Canal Nivernais and follow a little loop to Decize, a little town on the top of a hill, the church in the center, the houses in a circle around it.
 |
| Decize |
Pittoresque! Get back to the crossroads and continue to Bourbon-Lancy. At Devay the 2 rivers split up and we take the side of the Loire en Bourgogne. We do not always follow the river Loire in a straight line, although right at the beginning we ride on a kind of “dam” next to it. But later we follow a track that leads us through the countryside, the canal gone, but up and down, at places rather steep ascends to our surprise…. We stay on this track for quite a while until we read a sign “Voie verte de Dijon” 37km. We decide to use this typical old railway trace, aligned with big trees and less hilly. Soon another surprise: Dijon is now announced at 19 km, so much less than a few moments before. Well, we don’t mind this cut off since it had been a bit of a difficult day weatherwise (warm clothes on/off, rain gear on/off…) so we feel like getting done with this.
In Digoin we cross the same water bridge (bridge plus canal, so water over water) than 2008. Funny to be back suddenly.
 |
| Digoin |
In Digoin we cross the same water bridge (bridge plus canal, so water over water) than 2008. Funny to be back suddenly.
Hotel Montagne et Mer
94km
Shopping and pizza
Same procedure again: after breakfast prepare all the warm clothes and keep the rain gear at hand since it is cold again. Heading away from Digoin we ride across the country until we hit “Eurovélo 6” (The EuroVelo 6, which we have done years before, is an almost 4,500 kilometer long cycle route that connects the Black Sea with the Atlantic) that leads us soon to Paray-le-Monial, a nice town with its abbey (rather famous) and the cathedral. The place developed a bit into a cultural highlight with the numerous exhibitions, art galleries and concerts.
 |
| Paray-le-Monial |
We cycle on, up and down and over and out, I sometimes lose all sense of direction and wonder if we are turning in circles… which we obviously don’t do because we safely end up at the river again. Here we can follow an easy line along the river and get to Monchanin. Some way to go before we finally find our “B&B” hotel, get a good place to store the bikes and have our first little rest since we started the tour. Dinner next to the hotel and get settled for the last day.
Wednesday 30th of August
Chilly morning again, so back to warm clothes. After riding along a canal until Chagny we turn off and get another veloroute. Although the temperature is really modest for an August day, we still enjoy the kind of serene atmosphere. The track’s quality is really good, the ride enjoyable. Finally we get to the wine hills and vineyards, amazing, as far as the eye can see vines!!!And….the picking and harvesting has just started, “les vendanges”, it is very busy around us. We cycle through this landscape for many kilometers, enjoying the sights and stopping at places to watch the activities…Everywhere “les clos, les domaines, les caves” in full action. The wine villages are really nicely restored and maintained, there is some money where there is wine!
Wednesday 30th of August
Chilly morning again, so back to warm clothes. After riding along a canal until Chagny we turn off and get another veloroute. Although the temperature is really modest for an August day, we still enjoy the kind of serene atmosphere. The track’s quality is really good, the ride enjoyable. Finally we get to the wine hills and vineyards, amazing, as far as the eye can see vines!!!And….the picking and harvesting has just started, “les vendanges”, it is very busy around us. We cycle through this landscape for many kilometers, enjoying the sights and stopping at places to watch the activities…Everywhere “les clos, les domaines, les caves” in full action. The wine villages are really nicely restored and maintained, there is some money where there is wine!
 |
| Meursault |
We come through “Beaune”, beautiful town in the Bourgogne and certainly a highlight of our trip: the buildings with that typical Beaune style (colourful tiles on the roof, arranged in a special pattern) , “Hotel de Dieu, the Cathedral, little streets with countless wine shops and wine tasting places…
The sky shifts from grey to kind of blueish back to gray…until we arrive in “Nuits-St-Georges”, one of France’s “wine-Meccas”.75 km Ibis Hotel
We stroll through the little town, there is not a lot to see, get dinner at a kind of “crêperie” and go back to the hotel.
Thursday 31st of August
We leave Nuits St George for rather a short cycling day. We get back to our camping site outside of Dijon to find our camping car patiently waiting for us at the parking space. We load the bikes on the car, pay the camping site, hop into the car and off we are towards Luxembourg.
670 km
Thursday 31st of August
We leave Nuits St George for rather a short cycling day. We get back to our camping site outside of Dijon to find our camping car patiently waiting for us at the parking space. We load the bikes on the car, pay the camping site, hop into the car and off we are towards Luxembourg.
670 km
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen