Chateaus and Vineyards: Nuits St. George to Dijon.
We had a great cycle into Dijon today. The Chief Navigator had plotted a course that worked out perfectly, with only one little hiccup. More on that later.
We left our hotel and Keith was oiling the bike chains while I checked out. He asked me to fill his two water bottles so I tucked mine under my arm to take his and proceeded to give him a shower worthy of a super soaker. I honestly couldn't figure out where the water was coming from for a moment. Needless to say I found this much funnier than he did. My irrepressible laughter did not help his mood. So began the day. I am still laughing writing about it.
We picked up baguettes before leaving Nuits St. George, yesterday's lesson learned. I want to mention that cobblestones seem so quaint and attractive until you have to ride any distance on them. It boggles the mind that the Tour de France goes over them on road bikes. I feel like they are rattling my fillings out.
We cycled through the vineyards and made slow progress. So many photo opportunities. We stopped at Clos de Vougeot Chateau for a tour. It is the home of the Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevins. Literally 'The Brotherhood of the Tastevin Knights'. It was quite something.
We stopped for lunch in another wine village. They are all beautiful. Then it was clear sailing until we tried to find the bike path on the map, into Dijon. Really, we should know better by now. We went up, and up, and up. The CN was sure we were on the wrong track, but I wanted to see what was around the next corner...I really am a slow learner. I ditched my bike and walked up, and guess what? More hill as far as the eye could see. I conceded defeat and down we went, on the brakes the whole way. The views were terrific though!
After that it was back on the quiet D road which spat us out right in Dijon. We were a bit concerned about finding our way in to the hotel, because Keith's phone had died and wasn't charging with the auxiliary battery, so no GPS, just a GTW. I asked for directions at a bike shop, he said to follow the tram line, and unbelievably we rode pretty much straight to the hotel. We walked across the street to the train station and are off to Mulhouse tomorrow to pick up where we left off when we went to Provence.
We walked and walked and walked around Dijon. What an amazing city. We bought Keith a new iPhone cable as that turned out to be the problem so will have GPS tomorrow. We are back in the hotel now getting organized for tomorrow. Two train changes. Yikes!
