This weather is developing a bit
of a pattern, “cloudy with a few showers”, however we’ve managed to dodge it up
until now and we’re hoping to continue with that luck. In fact, we didn’t see a
drop of rain all day. 14 to 19 deg, perfect again.
After Bob consulted with the Tourist Info people and the lady who owns this
motel, we decided to head for Tournus, a city on the Saône, which was not on
our radar previously. They also recommended some other places which we hadn’t
considered.
As Bob’s AFL team, Richmond, is in the Grand Final starting at 0630h this
morning French time, he was understandably a little distracted from when he
woke up until after brekky. He would have liked to watch it on his phone but
the WIFI wasn’t up to it, so he had to listen to it live streamed instead. He
was very happy with the result Richmond flogged Western Sydney.
We ended up riding away about 0830h into a gorgeous sunny day. However, it wasn’t long before the clouds rolled in and made it another overcast day. The first 30 km was on a beaut rail trail, smooth and flat. I knew immediately as the tell-tale signs of cuttings, banks and under/overpasses were all there. My thoughts were confirmed when we came across the first of many ex-railway stations.
Unfortunately, Tournus was not on the rail trail but 25 km East over several character-building hills. We well and truly made up for the lack of lumpy bits on the first 30 km. We still made good time though and were at our destination before 1300h. Just in time to enjoy our lunch sitting on the banks of the Saône overlooking the small marina.
We then rode the 2.4 km to our motel to find they don’t start booking in till 1600h, quite a long wait. I don’t like the French habit of late book in as I like to get my bike and luggage stored away and go walking around the town. It is what it is and as the saying goes “when in Rome ...”. I do note though they still want you out of the room mid-morning.
To kill an hour or so we headed back into town to check out the Abbey, which started as a Romanesque abbey church about the year 1,000. Amazingly there’s parts of the original church still standing, like the crypt and some paintings, although a lot has been rebuilt. The Abbey was dedicated in August 1019, so there has been lots of celebrating this year so far and that will continue till December.
After 1600h we returned to the motel and booked in. Dinner was an in-house affair, well above the standard normally associated with a chain motel.
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