We have been itching to take off again since we returned home last June, but this has been our first opportunity to take a few weeks away. We haven't really planned any of it other than to try to negotiate our way down the eastern part of France following the River Rhone to the Sea. However we want to see a bit of Burgundy too so are starting further north, on the Saone at Dijon.
Our adventure began hours before we actually set off. You see Jim, the son in law volunteered to drive us to Poole at 5.30 am Tuesday 27th Sept 2011. But somehow in between attaching the bike rack to the car, fitting the bikes and locking it in the garage (bikes sticking out) I lost the car keys. So this didn’t go down too well but they had to be somewhere!
Finally just as we were going to bed at about 11pm (very early start and all that) I looked behind the chest of drawers where we hang all keys and sure enough there they were on the floor. It never pays to panic - keep calm, something will turn up in the end - and it did. However, 30 minutes later our neighbour Jacqui was banging on the door telling me that a white van had been through the village and stolen everyone’s staddle stones – we don’t have any but I remembered the bikes were hanging on the back of the car – phew, mercifully they were still there so I turned the car around to hide the bikes at the back of the garage.
Exhausted we finally fell into bed at 12.30am and set our alarms for 4.50am.
Tuesday 27th Sept Throop to Dijon
It was a warm and foggy night and I was very pleased not to be setting off by bike in the dark. Far easier to take the car since we are not trying to prove anything on this trip!
We had a lovely easy sail over on the Brittanny Fast Ferry, but not so fast as it limped over on 3 engines. As this is almost always the case we wonder if it is done to save money. There was loads of time to stock up on duty free which we now have to carry so had to be a bit restrained, and eat bacon butties (at least I did but Alec decided to be more European and ate a Croissant)
We picked up a car from Cherbourg town, having managed to fit 3 miles by bike in between the port and finding the car hire office. It felt really good to be back on the bikes again with the usual mix of smells, mostly of fuel and fish, to get one in the mood to travel further. There was a striker’s march going on in the town centre, apparently for the teachers this time, but no one seemed to take much notice.
In order to fit the bikes into our mid sized hire car we had to remove the front wheels but we are used to that and soon were bashing down the motorways to Dijon in glorious sunshine which was a bit frustrating as we were stuck in the car, but it was an easy 7 hours. Dijon is in the process of having a tramline laid throughout the city centre so navigating the route to the Campanile Hotel by the Gare was a nightmare. Around and round we went, through ever smaller streets so were much in need of the duty free by the time we had found our room.
We had a wander around the old part of the city and ate a good steak frite in Bistro Laure. We felt we should eat bifstek as we had passed 1000s of Charolais cows on our way and they are renowned through this part of the France. We were really pleased to get a call from Rosie saying she has been offered a permanent contract at the RSC which is great news so we could relax even more, in fact, order a glass of Cremant to celebrate.
Our hotel was a bit like being on the stage of ‘Starlight Express’ as we directly overlooked the train station, and the freight trains were very busy most of the night, but it is a comforting sound of squealing brakes and track changing. Alec felt quite reminiscent for Jasper where he spent hours watching trains with his mate Willy – never say they are boring! If I had a wakeful moment I just had to hum Lloyd-Webber’s song of ‘Freight - is great’.....it worked perfectly
Wed 28th September. Dijon to Vougeot
There was a bit of a rush on today as we had to return the hire car by 11 and sort out where we thought we were going to on the bikes. Anyway, it was a fabulous day so we started in a happy frame of mind. The locals are amazingly helpful and we struck very lucky in the tourist office where we booked our next night’s b and b. Thus saving the decision of whether to buy a French sim card or not for another day.
The Rue de Grand Cru, also known as the Cote D’or or the Cote de Nuit, leads straight out of the city – apparently, but with the road works it proved trickier than we expected and we got to know some suburbs of Dijon quite well. Our map-reading skills are a bit rusty and we were going between 2 different sets of instructions which added to the confusion.
Anyway we spent a very happy day amongst vines along the route south from Dijon taking in a brief stop in Marsannay.
The wonderful thing about being here as that every second person is a cyclist on holiday so you feel pretty normal in lycra. There are also lots of middle aged, over weight English and Americans enjoying the wine route so we blend in well.
Gevrey Chambertin was beautiful; the chateau is very ancient and unspoiled by any apparent commercialism but was sadly shut for tastings. However we found a great museum of wine and a cave in the town belonging to Phillippe Leclerc, where we tasted some stunning premier cru wines, all rather different from the stuff we glug at home.
We then had to have a little snooze on the verge as we had become rather soporific due to so much sun and pedaling.
We watched a mini whirlwind/dust devil working it’s way up the vines which was fascinating as it picked up everything in it’s path spiraling on up the hill and out of sight.
There are very few birds except for buzzards and chickens, (not sure if they count)
We are booked into a nice B and B in the little village of Vougeot and are feeling very at home back in our old routine of writing a bit of blog, studying maps and generally trying to get the wifi to work - the washing can wait till tomorrow. We have at least had a hot shower, a whiskey and are now ready for a promenade around the village and some supper.
Thursday 29th Sept. Vougeot to Meursault
After an exceedingly good Boeuf Bourguignon in a rather staid Logis, where as usual no one talked except us, we fell into bed at 9.20 (French time) which was embarrassingly early and slept like babes for almost 10 hours, nearly missing breakfast. Well, we had managed to cycle all of 15 miles and were absolutely cream crackered.
Another beautiful day and madame said it is forecast to last for another 10 days or so which is great. We can see the Jura Mountains in the distance with a few clouds over them so they can stay over there.
We continued on via some small roads through the vines passing very familiar names of Romani Conti and the like. It is not surprising these wines are so expensive as the area they are grown in is very small, which has the perfect terroir to make their taste so superior
We stopped in Nuit St George to buy an enormous baguette (to be shared) and a cheese quiche. Nuit was buzzing with loads of tourists relaxing at bars.
We stopped at Ladoix-Serrigny where we sat by a stream in the searing heat and ate our picnic. We were accompanied by ants and masses of minnows and roach, all of whom seemed to appreciate our picnic as much as we did. At this point we have to thank James and Sheila who have kindly lent us their guide maps from a previous cycling holiday because without the instructions the route through the maze of vineyards is pretty complicated. As we swing off minor roads onto routes through private vineyards we just hope someone won’t stop us and ask what tour company sold us this route!
Then into Beaune - what a beautiful place. It reminded us very much of Lucca, and Guerande in Brittany with its old ramparts and cobbled streets. The glazed roof tiles are fabulous colours and patterns.
We stopped to admire the buildings and narrow streets, asked the tourist office to find us somewhere to stay, and then had a bit of a break and a chocolat noir frappè before continuing through Pommard and Volney, before arriving in Meursault where we are staying the night.
We are now on a proper Velo route so are constantly being overtaken by other cyclists; it is all very companiable. However they are mostly cheating by having no luggage as they are on organised trips. In fact some of the larger Americans even have battery motor assisted bikes which we look down on terribly but must be a relief for the young fit athletic guides who accompany them as the alternative would be to wait for them at the top of every incline.
Meursault is charming with multi coloured tiled roofs and ancient buildings. Our BandB is on the edge of the town just down a short hill and easy to find. We made the mistake of going to the front door where we unloaded the baggage, locked the bikes in the garage (huge barn with enormous old wooden doors) and were then told that the guests couldn’t walk to their rooms through the house but had to walk around to the back – about 100yds back out onto the street and in again further along. Now we understood why madame (a nice young thing) looked at us a bit sideways when we said ‘no bother we’ll unload the bikes now’! Our room was OK for the time of year but with no carpet, a tile floor and no visible means of heating would not be somewhere to stay much after mid October.
FRIDAY 30th September
Meursault to Buxy
In the morning we shared breakfast with 4 Belgians and a French couple and were regaled with tales by madame’s (we think) father who stood at the head of the table in a proprietorial way rolling his eyes backwards which gave the impression that he might have told some of these stories before. It didn’t matter as I didn’t understand a word and Vivi was picking up about one word in five.
Eventually off we set, first for the town square where a market was in progress and to visit the Office de Tourisme.
We also quite fancied a tasting of some Meursault, there were two opportunities one in the square and one behind the church but in the end decided against it because a) it was only 10.30 and b) the last time we tried a degustation we had to lie down for half an hour to sleep it off.
After Meursault comes Puligny Montrachet then Chassagne Montrachet – it is all quite mouth watering! The views were glorious and we meandered on through the villages until we reached Santenay
Here we joined the canal Voie Verte along the Canal du Centre taking us towards Chagny and Chalon sur Saône. The countryside had changed completely into farmland with crops and the canal was pretty reminiscent of the Canal du Midi. It is delightfully easy on the canal towpaths but you do miss the variation of the route and start to notice the numbness of the bums as the miles go past.
Monsieur at breakfast had rather advised us against staying in Chalon Sur Saône as it is very much an industrial town, but we had to go in anyway to find a list of b and bs. He was quite right, and it was full of pikeys and down and outs and cement works, but the old centre was quite attractive. The tourist office was very helpful about finding accommodation, but there was none to be had except for another 12 miles further on. We had been going for some hours in the heat anyway, but once booked into a hotel in Buxy, we armed ourselves with strong coffee and set off. On our way out of town, some teenage boys roared past us shouting “Regardez - Anciennes fou” which we thought was a bit rude if true!
In fact it was a pretty easy climb on an old railway line so we were there well before dark. We checked into the Hotel de Montagny owned by Mr and Mrs Girardot, who also own the restaurants, buses, travel agencies and more in these parts. The hotel looked after us very well but the dinner was an awfully small bowl of meat with a few sad pieces of veg. Part of the recession seems to be that whatever meat you order, the side dishes are all the same and very small, ie no choice of rice with the kidneys or potatoes with something else.
There was a spectacular new moon which we could admire from our balcony overlooking the wine presses and meadows. It is very rural and picturesque around here.
Our adventure began hours before we actually set off. You see Jim, the son in law volunteered to drive us to Poole at 5.30 am Tuesday 27th Sept 2011. But somehow in between attaching the bike rack to the car, fitting the bikes and locking it in the garage (bikes sticking out) I lost the car keys. So this didn’t go down too well but they had to be somewhere!
Finally just as we were going to bed at about 11pm (very early start and all that) I looked behind the chest of drawers where we hang all keys and sure enough there they were on the floor. It never pays to panic - keep calm, something will turn up in the end - and it did. However, 30 minutes later our neighbour Jacqui was banging on the door telling me that a white van had been through the village and stolen everyone’s staddle stones – we don’t have any but I remembered the bikes were hanging on the back of the car – phew, mercifully they were still there so I turned the car around to hide the bikes at the back of the garage.
Exhausted we finally fell into bed at 12.30am and set our alarms for 4.50am.
Tuesday 27th Sept Throop to Dijon
It was a warm and foggy night and I was very pleased not to be setting off by bike in the dark. Far easier to take the car since we are not trying to prove anything on this trip!
We had a lovely easy sail over on the Brittanny Fast Ferry, but not so fast as it limped over on 3 engines. As this is almost always the case we wonder if it is done to save money. There was loads of time to stock up on duty free which we now have to carry so had to be a bit restrained, and eat bacon butties (at least I did but Alec decided to be more European and ate a Croissant)
We picked up a car from Cherbourg town, having managed to fit 3 miles by bike in between the port and finding the car hire office. It felt really good to be back on the bikes again with the usual mix of smells, mostly of fuel and fish, to get one in the mood to travel further. There was a striker’s march going on in the town centre, apparently for the teachers this time, but no one seemed to take much notice.
In order to fit the bikes into our mid sized hire car we had to remove the front wheels but we are used to that and soon were bashing down the motorways to Dijon in glorious sunshine which was a bit frustrating as we were stuck in the car, but it was an easy 7 hours. Dijon is in the process of having a tramline laid throughout the city centre so navigating the route to the Campanile Hotel by the Gare was a nightmare. Around and round we went, through ever smaller streets so were much in need of the duty free by the time we had found our room.
We had a wander around the old part of the city and ate a good steak frite in Bistro Laure. We felt we should eat bifstek as we had passed 1000s of Charolais cows on our way and they are renowned through this part of the France. We were really pleased to get a call from Rosie saying she has been offered a permanent contract at the RSC which is great news so we could relax even more, in fact, order a glass of Cremant to celebrate.
Our hotel was a bit like being on the stage of ‘Starlight Express’ as we directly overlooked the train station, and the freight trains were very busy most of the night, but it is a comforting sound of squealing brakes and track changing. Alec felt quite reminiscent for Jasper where he spent hours watching trains with his mate Willy – never say they are boring! If I had a wakeful moment I just had to hum Lloyd-Webber’s song of ‘Freight - is great’.....it worked perfectly
Wed 28th September. Dijon to Vougeot
There was a bit of a rush on today as we had to return the hire car by 11 and sort out where we thought we were going to on the bikes. Anyway, it was a fabulous day so we started in a happy frame of mind. The locals are amazingly helpful and we struck very lucky in the tourist office where we booked our next night’s b and b. Thus saving the decision of whether to buy a French sim card or not for another day.
The Rue de Grand Cru, also known as the Cote D’or or the Cote de Nuit, leads straight out of the city – apparently, but with the road works it proved trickier than we expected and we got to know some suburbs of Dijon quite well. Our map-reading skills are a bit rusty and we were going between 2 different sets of instructions which added to the confusion.
Anyway we spent a very happy day amongst vines along the route south from Dijon taking in a brief stop in Marsannay.
The wonderful thing about being here as that every second person is a cyclist on holiday so you feel pretty normal in lycra. There are also lots of middle aged, over weight English and Americans enjoying the wine route so we blend in well.
Gevrey Chambertin was beautiful; the chateau is very ancient and unspoiled by any apparent commercialism but was sadly shut for tastings. However we found a great museum of wine and a cave in the town belonging to Phillippe Leclerc, where we tasted some stunning premier cru wines, all rather different from the stuff we glug at home.
We then had to have a little snooze on the verge as we had become rather soporific due to so much sun and pedaling.
We watched a mini whirlwind/dust devil working it’s way up the vines which was fascinating as it picked up everything in it’s path spiraling on up the hill and out of sight.
There are very few birds except for buzzards and chickens, (not sure if they count)
We are booked into a nice B and B in the little village of Vougeot and are feeling very at home back in our old routine of writing a bit of blog, studying maps and generally trying to get the wifi to work - the washing can wait till tomorrow. We have at least had a hot shower, a whiskey and are now ready for a promenade around the village and some supper.
Thursday 29th Sept. Vougeot to Meursault
After an exceedingly good Boeuf Bourguignon in a rather staid Logis, where as usual no one talked except us, we fell into bed at 9.20 (French time) which was embarrassingly early and slept like babes for almost 10 hours, nearly missing breakfast. Well, we had managed to cycle all of 15 miles and were absolutely cream crackered.
Another beautiful day and madame said it is forecast to last for another 10 days or so which is great. We can see the Jura Mountains in the distance with a few clouds over them so they can stay over there.
We continued on via some small roads through the vines passing very familiar names of Romani Conti and the like. It is not surprising these wines are so expensive as the area they are grown in is very small, which has the perfect terroir to make their taste so superior
We stopped in Nuit St George to buy an enormous baguette (to be shared) and a cheese quiche. Nuit was buzzing with loads of tourists relaxing at bars.
We stopped at Ladoix-Serrigny where we sat by a stream in the searing heat and ate our picnic. We were accompanied by ants and masses of minnows and roach, all of whom seemed to appreciate our picnic as much as we did. At this point we have to thank James and Sheila who have kindly lent us their guide maps from a previous cycling holiday because without the instructions the route through the maze of vineyards is pretty complicated. As we swing off minor roads onto routes through private vineyards we just hope someone won’t stop us and ask what tour company sold us this route!
Then into Beaune - what a beautiful place. It reminded us very much of Lucca, and Guerande in Brittany with its old ramparts and cobbled streets. The glazed roof tiles are fabulous colours and patterns.
We stopped to admire the buildings and narrow streets, asked the tourist office to find us somewhere to stay, and then had a bit of a break and a chocolat noir frappè before continuing through Pommard and Volney, before arriving in Meursault where we are staying the night.
We are now on a proper Velo route so are constantly being overtaken by other cyclists; it is all very companiable. However they are mostly cheating by having no luggage as they are on organised trips. In fact some of the larger Americans even have battery motor assisted bikes which we look down on terribly but must be a relief for the young fit athletic guides who accompany them as the alternative would be to wait for them at the top of every incline.
Meursault is charming with multi coloured tiled roofs and ancient buildings. Our BandB is on the edge of the town just down a short hill and easy to find. We made the mistake of going to the front door where we unloaded the baggage, locked the bikes in the garage (huge barn with enormous old wooden doors) and were then told that the guests couldn’t walk to their rooms through the house but had to walk around to the back – about 100yds back out onto the street and in again further along. Now we understood why madame (a nice young thing) looked at us a bit sideways when we said ‘no bother we’ll unload the bikes now’! Our room was OK for the time of year but with no carpet, a tile floor and no visible means of heating would not be somewhere to stay much after mid October.
FRIDAY 30th September
Meursault to Buxy
In the morning we shared breakfast with 4 Belgians and a French couple and were regaled with tales by madame’s (we think) father who stood at the head of the table in a proprietorial way rolling his eyes backwards which gave the impression that he might have told some of these stories before. It didn’t matter as I didn’t understand a word and Vivi was picking up about one word in five.
Eventually off we set, first for the town square where a market was in progress and to visit the Office de Tourisme.
We also quite fancied a tasting of some Meursault, there were two opportunities one in the square and one behind the church but in the end decided against it because a) it was only 10.30 and b) the last time we tried a degustation we had to lie down for half an hour to sleep it off.
After Meursault comes Puligny Montrachet then Chassagne Montrachet – it is all quite mouth watering! The views were glorious and we meandered on through the villages until we reached Santenay
Here we joined the canal Voie Verte along the Canal du Centre taking us towards Chagny and Chalon sur Saône. The countryside had changed completely into farmland with crops and the canal was pretty reminiscent of the Canal du Midi. It is delightfully easy on the canal towpaths but you do miss the variation of the route and start to notice the numbness of the bums as the miles go past.
Monsieur at breakfast had rather advised us against staying in Chalon Sur Saône as it is very much an industrial town, but we had to go in anyway to find a list of b and bs. He was quite right, and it was full of pikeys and down and outs and cement works, but the old centre was quite attractive. The tourist office was very helpful about finding accommodation, but there was none to be had except for another 12 miles further on. We had been going for some hours in the heat anyway, but once booked into a hotel in Buxy, we armed ourselves with strong coffee and set off. On our way out of town, some teenage boys roared past us shouting “Regardez - Anciennes fou” which we thought was a bit rude if true!
In fact it was a pretty easy climb on an old railway line so we were there well before dark. We checked into the Hotel de Montagny owned by Mr and Mrs Girardot, who also own the restaurants, buses, travel agencies and more in these parts. The hotel looked after us very well but the dinner was an awfully small bowl of meat with a few sad pieces of veg. Part of the recession seems to be that whatever meat you order, the side dishes are all the same and very small, ie no choice of rice with the kidneys or potatoes with something else.
There was a spectacular new moon which we could admire from our balcony overlooking the wine presses and meadows. It is very rural and picturesque around here.
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