To Avallon

May 25, 2022

Two images from last night’s dinner and the walk home:

A wonderful evening. We should do this more often.

We’re staying in a curious B&B in Semur, offering up an acceptable but modest breakfast - a B&SB, as I like to think of places like this. We don’t want to wait around for our first coffee of the day so we walk out into town looking for a pre-snack snack. We first try the chocolatier we had coffee and a nice pain chocolat at yesterday, but they aren’t open yet. We find a bar though and enjoy a tall coffee and a croissant watching the town gents tipping their bar stools and sipping their espressos.

The sun is bright this morning when we walk out for our first coffee before returning for the small breakfast at our B&SB.

We’re due to assemble in front of the cathedral at 10 sharp. We’re late - we hear the bells count out the hour just as we pull away from our lodging, and we don’t arrive at the square until 10:02, a delinquency that distresses Rachael until we arrive and see that we’re here first for a change. Phew!

Finally the rest of the crew shows up and we spend the next fifteen minutes taking turns viewing the interior of the cathedral, as Keith exhorted us to do before we leave town. A beautiful structure and well worth the visit. Thanks, Keith!

Before leaving town we stop in to look at the interior of the cathedral. An impressive structure, but Keith especially wanted you to see these windows honoring the soldiers from World War I.

The view from the front of the cathedral.

And then it’s time for a group photo. Susan is leaving us tomorrow morning and this looks like the best spot for a proper portrait. First we have to get the postal carrier out of the frame, and then Suzanne places her tripod on the cobblestones and captures a few hurried shots before rushing back to rescue the camera before some panel truck comes through the square and crushes it.

It’s a good thing there’s so little wind today.

Leaving Semur is a rocky affair. The entire core of the town is cobbled, and I’ve mapped us on an exit route that rounds a tower and then plunges steeply downhill to the river. Susan and Suzanne decide they’d rather backtrack to take a more gradual descent but the other three, undaunted, plunge down the precipice and come out the other side shaken but unbroken. We meet them at the bottom, cross the river, and climb up the opposite bank. At the top we stop to look back at the best view of the town.

Leaving Semur-en-Auxois, a town we’d be happy to return to; especially if they do something about those cobblestones.

Video sound track: We Gotta Get Out of This Place, by the Animals

It took awhile for me to find the optimal route to Avallon. It’s not a long distance and there are multiple choices, but most of them skirt the north end of the Morvan and include one 13% hill or another - fine for the others, but I’ve somehow lost my two lowest gears and I’m protecting myself from the humiliation of pushing up a slope the others zip up with ease. Finally I cobble one together that stays further to the north and has a pair of modest climbs I should be able to manage.

The ride begins with five or six miles on D954. Attractive riding on a roller that trends downhill, but it’s narrower and busier than we’d have preferred and would have chosen if there'd been any reasonable alternative. Soon though we come to Époisses, home of a locally famous cheese, and stop to explore the elegant grounds of the chateau.

Waiting for the stragglers to finally roll in, Époisses.

In Époisses, the house that fromage built.

Well, this is interesting! János was nice enough to watch over our bikes while we wandered the grounds at Époisses, and found ways to divert himself while he waited.

Leaving Époisses we soon find ourselves at the base of the longest climb of the day, an easy one that rises for about a mile at a modest 4-5% that even I can manage. We assemble at the top and look around for some shade and a spot for a snack. I pull out the phone, check the map, and see that there’s a church just a few blocks off so we head there, find a nice shaded park with a few granite slabs for benches, and break out the lunches.

There’s a bit of a climb out of the valley after leaving Epoisses. The view from the top makes it well worth it.

Here comes Rachael. I was lucky to get this shot. I’m standing at the only roadside clearing, and she’s only briefly visible. By the time I spotted her she was leaving the stage already.

So what are these flowers anyway? We see them everywhere.

Lunch in the shade outside the Eglise Saint-Germain, in Pisy. Odd name for a pretty little village.

It’s just past one when we leave Pisy. We aren’t even half way into the ride, but it’s only 27 miles in total today so there’s no rush. There’s one second climb ahead similar to the first one, but otherwise it’s an easy ride through gorgeous Burgundian countryside. We pull up to our curious lodging for the night in Avallon, the Pub Vauban, and check into our hotel - we’re all staying at the same place at this one, a fact that makes me a little uncomfortable when we see how simple the quarters are. We forget now why we picked this place when we booked it last winter, and hopefully it will work out for the others.

Another splendid view, toward the Morvan Susan tells us. Spectacular day.

That’s sure a funny looking bike by yonder wash house.

In Burgundy, a place you might care to put on your wish list.

Looking down on Sauvigny-Le-Bois, the last village before Avallon.

Susan and Rachael are off immediately to shop for breakfast groceries. The hotel has modest kitchen facilities that we’ll use since tomorrow is a national holiday and we’re not certain of finding anyplace else open for breakfast. In the meantime I stay around the room and wash out some laundry. There’s no place to hang anything out in our room so I’m inspired to take it down to the courtyard and hang my bike shirts and my not-so-well washed underwear across my Bike Friday, where I’m sure they’ll dry quickly in the afternoon sun.

The gals return after about an hour and a half bearing groceries and the news that they found a restaurant for dinner. First though they chastise me for hanging my underwear out in what turns out is actually a public space. When they returned to the hotel they were greeted by the indignant proprietor who requested that theofdending articles be removed from sight immediately. As an alternative he offered up the root cellar, where Rachael relocated them after bending over double on her way down the dark, steep, narrow stairwell.

After they returned I took the camera for my turn at investigating the town (photo dump to come), and met up with them at the restaurant ninety minutes later.

We’ll remember this evening’s meal for the company we kept, but maybe mostly for the fact that we waited a full half hour after completing our mains until desserts finally arrived. Some were on the verge of dozing off when finally Susan walked up to the counter to ask (for the third time) if they’d be arriving before midnight; and of course as soon as she’s stepped out of the room the desserts finally arrive.

We make short but sweet work of the desserts, and then I walk up the counter to pay the bill, and ten minutes or more later I’m finally back. I was unlucky, because one other couple was settling their bill first. The bills are prepared by hand as we watch, with each item carefully entered after checking the menu to confirm the price. It takes time! Finally she’s done and they leave. She looks up, sees I’m here to pay also, but leaves immediately because a new party has just arrived and she’s off to take their orders.

Finally she returns and commences to prepare our bill by hand, recording each item carefully after checking the menu to confirm the price. It takes time!

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Ride stats today: 27 miles, 1,600’; for the tour: 2,078 miles, 104,400’

Today's ride: 27 miles (43 km)
Total: 2,106 miles (3,389 km)

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