Auxerre - Beaune

Friday

We got up early and packed up camp - we then lugged our stuff to the Gare de Lyon (Lyon train station) We then grabbed lunch while at a cool cafe while waiting for our train to Auxerre to leave.

The train was fast, comfy and quiet.We arrived in Auxerre after 2 hours and put the bikes together to the sound of thunder......

Guess we are destined for a rainy trip. We got the bikes together, everything is fine and they seemed to have survived the trip well. The heavens opened so we took refuge in the train station. After around 10 minutes we headed to the campground - very expensive at €8.30 a night (not). We set up camp and decided to go get food - again very cheap to shop. It seemed everytime we went near our bikes it started to rain.

After dinner the clouds had moved on so we rode into town to have a look around, while riding into town we noticed two very large cathedrals and headed their way. The first one we came to was in bad repair, so we walded our bikes to the second one St Etienne Catherdral. It as huge - not as big as Notre Dame but not much smaller. The catherdral is in the process of being restored.

We kept moving and came to yet another catherdral - this one was St Pierre and although quite run down was still in use. Apposed to the previous 2 catherdrals this one was decorated with nice images rather than gargoyles etc...

It was starting to get late so we headed back to the campground.

Saturday

Our first day of riding - we were slow to get started. We had coffee and breaky and took advantage of the free runing hot water in the showers. It was well after 10 am before we were on the road.

Did I mention coffee? What a production.....

We started out with some issues to overcome, the first being that we had no way of brewing coffee and we weren't going anywhere near that instant stuff, so..... using our very cool origami plates (that we picked up in Calgary) and some trial and error with coffee filters Voila.... as the French woulsd say Deux Coffee au lait - é coffee with milk.

Okay, so back to riding - we rode along the Yonne River where we passed a couple of Dykes and weirs. At Bailly we took an unintentional detour which led us to a mighty big climb - by big I mean probably small for those of you that ride regularly, but BIG in Jay terms. The good news is that our gears were good and the legs didn't feel too punished.

From St bris we rode towards Chitry - from there there was another big climb. The view fro, the top looking back down the valley was well worth the effort. The next reward was an awesome 7km decent. you know you are going fast when you hqve to break to do the speed limit. I think my top speed was 56 kms per hour. Yippee what a rush.

We soon arrived in Chalis, where we found a beautiful spot on the Serein River for lunch. From Chalis we followed the Serein River through Chichee, Chemilly sur Serein, Polley sur Serein, Molay, Moutot nto Noyers sur Serein. For those of you wondering, sur serein means on Serein ie Noyers on Serein River.

Molay was an amazing town - as we rode through it was like we entered a time void - the town looks exactly the same as it would had we been in the 17th century.

Noyers - our final destination for the day is a medievil town complete with gates at either end and a big wall surrounding the city. The streets are all cobblestone - which makes riding tough.

Our campground is quaint - it is small but has a toilet and a shower with hot water.

After setting up camp we headed to the local super,arket for our daily supplies. Whilst in the supermarket we were stopped by an Aussie wonab from Sydney. her and her mum had ben living in Noyers for the past 3 months before heading to Florence to work.

We again picked up the necessarities from the supermerket, wine and chocolate.

Sunday

So today we were up and having breakfast at 7am. After breaky we went for a wonder around town. The town surrounded by a stone rampart. We headed back to the campground and pack up our stuff. We could not return the key until 9.30am.

We headed off at 10.00am. The ride started off with a hill and didn't really stop all day. We rode through a town called Tormancy - this town was so beautiful. Massangis & Civry sur Serein to l'Isle sur Serein. We stopped at L'Isle for coffee at a bar opposite the town fountain and church. From there we headed to Avallon where we stopped for lunch.

Lunch was spend sitting on the city ralpqrt overlooking the valley aruond 100 metres below. This was a great decent to stqrt our afternoon seesion.

Once in the valley we rode alongside the Cousin River through forest - hikeable and mountain bikable. We followed the river until Pontaubert, from here our ride changed fro, leisurely to painful. We started the first of 2 yucky climbs. This climb was 10kms long but the elevation gain was only 100 metres. Once you got going it wasn't too bad on your legs. From the top we enjoyed another fast decent - we dropped the 100 metres gained but this time over 5km's. From St Pere we headed to our second climb of the day. Thankfully this climb was only 2 kms with an elevatin gain of 100 metres. A lot steeper!! Halfway up when ,y legs were seriously starting to scream we found a vineyqrd with tastings and sales - we gladly pulled in.

We tasted the Chardonnay, Rose and Pinot Noir. After chatting with the wine maker for a while we bought a bottle of Rose and headed up the last 1km to the town of Vezelay. Vezelay is nestled on the top of a hill and the town is heritage listed.

We found our campground and set up camp. We then rode into the town centre and wondered around. At the very top of the hill sits the Bascilica of St Marie Madeleine. From the outside this church looks pretty run down and plain compared to Notre Dame and the churches in Auxerre, however, once inside this simple church is breathtaking.

From the church we headed back to the campsite stoping twice, the first time to purchase some creme de framboise de Bourgogne (simple terms - Raspberry liquor) and secondly for desert - ice cream.

Just as we were finishing dinner the rain came in - BUMMER!!

Oh well an early night might help me deal with tomorrows ride.

Monday

We woke to the sound of pitta patta on the tent. Looks like we are in for a wet day. We were really unmotivated and after our morning coffee we both went back to sleep for another hour or so. We got up and started the slow process of packing up camp.

On the way out we popped back into the store and purchased another bottle of creme de framboise. Just the thing to warm you after a long wet day in the saddle (isn't it amazing how easy it is to justify anything......)

We were on the road at around 10.30am. At about 10.45am the rain started again - this time it did not really stop all day. The going was slow, of the 55kms we did today only 12 - 15 kms were downhill or flat. I (Jay) was suitably impressed as I am sure ALL of you can well imagine. I found the day really hard emotionally - the driving rain and the continuous climbs. During my major dummy spit of the day I do remember mentioning to Cam that I would have preferred to be cleaning toilets with my hands than be here right now!!

Not long after that we came across the only open store since leaving this morning. We pulled in and had a coffee and a chat with the owner. He assured us that tomorrow would be much better.

I seemed to hqve missed telling you about Mike and Michelle. We were enjoying one of the few downhill rolls of the day when we stopped to take a photo. Not long after that Mike & Michelle appeared out of the bush - they are hiking the pilgrim trail to Spain. We got chatting and after awhile we all decided that we should keep going. We were supposedly going to be eating at the same place.

After arriving in town for lunch we found the cafe had closed down - Cam and I went to the town square where there was a place to sit. Mike and Michelle arrived soon after. Through the course of lunch we descoved that Mike & Michelle worked for the company that developed Breathalisers that qre used by the Aussie cops. BASTARDS!!

Okay back to the cafe. We were 7km of uphill from our destination. Now according to the Lonely Planet this should have been a reasonably hard climb - but to our relief the climb was pretty easy.

We decided to put up the tent as soon as we arrived as it had actually stopped raining temporarily.

We went into town to find the only cafe for dinner - hmmm closed again. We headed back to the campground and Cam started cooking dinner and I went to have a shower to warm up. Not to be - only cold water. We decided to skip the shower and have one tomorrow at Chateau Chinon.

All in all I am happy that this day is nearly over - not one of my most memorable.

Cam on the other hand didn't mind the day - I think he enjoyed the challenges. Freak!

Tuesday

When we woke up it was still miserable outside. We were both very slow to get going - however this turned out to be a good thing as not long after we set off the sun broke through the clouds and the day started to warm up.

Our first stop of the day was a telephone booth - it was my dad's birthday (Tony) and we also needed to call and let our parents know that we were still alive.

After having a nice chat with our parents we were on the road again. According to the Lonely Planet we were in for an easy day and should be in the saddle for only around 3.5 hours.

Our second stop was at the Musee de la Saboterie - which is the Woodcarvers Museam at Gouloux. Gouloux's woodcarvers hold the record for the worlds largest woodcarving - a shoe carved from a single piece of wood 45 m long & weighing 18 tonne. As luck would have it we arrived just as a school tour started so we were able to watch and learn. It was reallt interesting to see how the old machinery was used to make a pair of shoes similar to clogs in around20 mins.

From Gouloux the road climbed quite steeply for the next few kms before we decended and came out at Lac des Settons. The ride around the lake was quiet & peaceful. From the lake the road climbed gently towards Planchez - which was our third stop for the day.

We stopped and had coffee in the now cloud free sky and chatted with the barman.

From Planchez we again decended before heading up our final climb of the day to Chataeu Chinon. For a day that was supposed to be easy it was amazingly hard. The campground was on the opposite side of town on top of the hill. This gave us amazing views down the valleys on all sides.

However, as we quickly learn't also left us very exposed. By mid afternoon the wind had picked up and was blowing a very chilled wind straight through the campground. Cam assummed that Chinon is the french word for cyclone!

After setting up camp we headed in to town to have some lunch and to restock our supplies. We finallt remembered to buy some laundry powder and went about washing pretty much everything we had. The wind alloed us to dry our stuff over night.

Cam cooked up another feast and we read about the next days adventures before heading to bed.

Wednesday

We woke up to the sounds of the wind still buffering the campsite. Again we were slow to get started but once we were going that wind became our friend as it was straight into our backs for the first half of the ride.

From Chateau Chinon we enjoyed a short decent before heading up - the climbs were long but they were easy - especially with a tail wind. We headed to Les Buteaux where we stopped for morning tea.

From there we enjoyed a long fast decent before we started climbing again. This time we were climbing to Mont Beuvray and the ruins of Bibracte. Now when I said climb I meant climb!! the road sarts out at 18% grade and then levels out at the Bibracte Museum before climbing once more - at 20% for just under 2kms to the summit. Bibracte is a Gaulish town that dates back to the 1st century.

Archaelogical work began in 1868 until 1904 where it lay dormant until 1984 zhen the Centre National Recherche Scientifique resumed excavation work. In 1988 Mont Beuvray was declared a protected site and the European Centre for Archaelogy is now leading the excavations.

Most of the city has been unearthed and it is quite amazing to see the size of the stones used to build their houses and churches.

Once we reached the summit we stopped for lunch and a coffee and of course to ad,ire the spectular views. After lunch the going was pretty easy. We basicallt decended for 20kms with the occassional hill. However, the tail wind was now a head wind. Cam went up front and blocked the wind for me as my legs were very fatigued.

We arrived in the campsite in Autun and found a nice spot to set up camp.

We both enjoyed a wonderful LONG HOT shower before grabbing a meal at the restaurant on site. After dinner we both climbed into bed for a much needed rest.

Thursday

We had a morning of sight seeing Autun. We visited the Temple of Janus, Le Porte de Langres, St Lazare Catherdal and Le threatre Romain.

We packed up camp and headed towards Beaune (pronounced Born). We left at around 2.30pm with the intention of only doing half a day - depending on how we felt. We were both pretty tired from the previous day and there was still a very strong head wind blowing.

From Autun we headed to Sully where we detoured to catch a glimpse of the fa,ous Chateau de Sully. From here we headed to Epinac and a chqnce to stop if needed. The going had been pretty tough as we rode into the wind however, we both decided that we would like to push on to Beaune. From Epinac we headed to Molinot where we past a cool building with its own small lake. From Molinot the road climbs upto Irvy en Montagne. From here we took another side trip to visit the Chateau de Coraboeuf. From the Chateau we back tracked a short distance to join the route again. We continued climbing before we levelled out on top of a plateau - where we could see the whole Cote d'or. We then decended - oh my god what a rush! the decent was fast and we very quickly gain speed, after about 7kms the road flattened out a little and opened up to reveal hillsides upon hillsides of vineyards. It was truely amazing - it xas grapevines as far as you could see.

We continued our decent past the towns of St Romain & Pommard before arriving at Beaune. We were both pretty happy to have made it to Beaune and we are looking forward to our rest day tomorrow before heading to Alp D'Huez!