Burgundy: Where can you cycle and what's there to see?

Of course you can bike anywhere you want in Burgundy. If your priorities are little traffic, you can still cycle almost anywhere you want in Burgundy. There are many quiet secondary roads which take you through scenic and hilly countryside and there is a network of bike paths along the canals. Everyone knows what riding hills is like. Some love them, others avoid them at all costs. Now what about the guaranteed flat paths that follow canals?

Riding along canals is a mixed bag. Even if you're not keen on hills, towpaths or what used to be towpaths can get monotonous if you ride them all day, day in and day out. Furthermore, when you get on a canal path you don't always know if it might not deteriorate into a patch of grass and weeds, forcing you to retrace your steps or push your bike to the next intersecting bridge over the canal.

Bad path (We discovered later we were on the wrong side of the canal.)

But then there are some superb, scenic stretches of bike paths along canals with sealed surfaces and excellent signage. They are not just beautiful, they will also save you a lot of sweat climbing hills and there will be no traffic to contend with, an obvious advantage.

Perhaps if we were stronger cyclists we would prefer the hills more often, but as it is we frequently choose the monotony as more feasible. For us a mixture is the answer. If we are bent on seeing a certain town, we take the road or path that gets us there, be it a boring towpath or a steep climb. Then the only thing that really counts is that we find a route with little traffic.

When finding your way on small roads, good maps are a boon. We used the IGN (Institut Geographique National) Carte de Promenade, 1:100 000, and I don't recall that we ever had a problem with traffic.

www.burgundy-by-bike.com This is the site where I found basic information on bike paths in Burgundy. From this website you can download a pdf document, Cycling Tour Of Burgundy - 2007 Edition , which has five itineraries and information on where you can stay, eat, what to see etc.

You can download this 27-page pdf file in French, English, Dutch or German

We had five days at our disposal and planned an approximate route of about 300 kilometers which would give us time for sightseeing along the way. At home Janos chose a campground in Montbard, situated on the Canal de Bourgogne, as the starting point for our tour. We cycled a loop which took us to Tonnerre, Auxerre, Pontigny, Vézelay, Semur-en-Auxois and Avallon - all lovely towns located in the northern part of Burgundy. There are still plenty of highlights left in the rest of Burgundy for another jaunt.

Existing and projected bike paths in Burgundy: The green lines indicate sealed surfaces with good signage; the green and pink striped paths, at least the ones we cycled, are not sealed but well maintained; pink stands for projected paths; blue represents rivers and canals

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