I’m a little sad but glad that
we’re on the homeward run for this tour as the weather is starting to turn.
It’s been amazingly good up to now, but it seems to be getting a little damper
and cooler. Rain was forecast for early morning and early afternoon. We saw it
a couple of times in the distance but each time it skirted around us, apart for
a very light drizzle for a few minutes. Lucky once again. The temperature
didn’t change much the whole day, 14 to 19 deg. The clouds kept the minimum up
a fair bit, so we were lucky in that respect and a max of 19 is just perfect
for riding.
As the hotel brekky wasn’t till 0800h we just had some muesli and fresh fruit
in our room and headed out at 0751h. There was no major cycle route for most of
the way from Beaune to Lyon on my French cycle path app, but there was a well-marked
one on the ground which took us all the way to the Euro Velo 6. It weaved its
way through vineyards, back lanes/roads and more fantastic little villages. We
again saw the picking and crushing of the grapes in full swing. There were
literally 100s of little wineries, most located in the “backyards” of their
owners, obviously all had an underground cellar for maturing the wine at the
perfect temperature, 6 deg and below.
At the 25 km mark we bid farewell to the vineyards and re-entered the
traditional farming land of cows and corn. We were also on the EV6 until we got
to Chalon-sur-Saone, which meant a wide smooth and separate cycle path to die
for. Most of the time it was alongside the Central Canal.
We pulled into our motel at Saint Rémy, a couple of km out of Chalon-sur-Saone
city centre at 1321h. Although check-in was listed as 1430h the lady saw us
sitting outside and let us in early. Nice secure undercover place for the bikes
too. Although the WIFI is practically useless it’s a nice quiet place. A couple
of km from the city.
After a few minutes to settle in and catch our breath we rode the bikes into
the city to get a map and instructions from the Tourist Info Centre. That done
we rode around the city to get our bearings. By that time the worms were biting
so on the way back to the motel we called into the supermarket and acquired dinner,
freshly roasted chicken, tomatoes and a lovely big fresh salad. Got a nice
vinaigrette with mustard (Dijon of course) to dress the salad. Bob shouted
himself a bottle of local (from a place we rode through today) Pinot Noir. He
said it was the best he’s tasted in this tour.
A relaxing walk to settle dinner finished another fine day on tour.
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