The Best Vines Grow on Hills!: Beaune to Nuits St. George
The plan today was to cycle north to Dijon...well, we didn't quite make it and are in Nuits St. George. We are really enjoying Burgundy and there is no point in rushing through.
We were using our Euro Velo 6 map which has a good scale (1cm = 1 km or 1 : 100,000) and it showed a bike route north of Beaune going in the direction of Dijon, so we thought we would use it. The beginning was beautiful, but instead of vineyards it soon had us more in the valley going through corn fields. This is probably to avoid hills, which makes sense for a bike route.
It was approaching noon and we headed to the nearest village so we could grab some supplies for lunch before everything shuts down between noon and 2:00. Makes for some nice cycling - nobody around! This village was lovely, but had no bakery. That is almost unheard of in France. Lots of wineries though. So a mad dash to the next village, on the cornfield side of the valley, with better luck. We stopped and had a picnic lunch in a schoolyard with no one in sight. Kathleen started to moan that she was really missing the sound of screaming kids typical of lunch hours at home.
Once riding again we looked across the valley and realized that was where we wanted to be. We decided to alter our route and head west back up into the vineyards and wine villages. We paid for our navigational error with a 4 km climb to where we thought we should be. It added some time and distance to our intended destination as it took us a half hour to get to the top of that first hill. And that was only the first one. It paid off with some gorgeous views of the valley.
It was about 3:00 when we arrived Nuits St George where we stopped for coffee and decided to spend the night. The GTW mentioned that her energy level was down and she has a sore throat - possibly coming down with a cold. So off to the Tourist Information to find a room. We are now drinking a lovely red in the room to ward off any germs. Tomorrow will be a short day to Dijon.
The Chief Navigator decided we could manage for 700 meters on this road, and we did. French drivers are incredibly respectful.
Look carefully for the bike helmet in this picture. If you must take a nature break it might as well be behind incredibly aromatic piles of grape skins. On the bike paths and D roads we are riding there are no public facilities...note to self: stop drinking so much coffee in the AM.
Success. The ponies resting while waiting for me to get some fruit. Bakeries are the Chief Navigator's department, so he headed into the bakery next door as soon as I was done.
I now really understand the phrase 'you can't tell how steep it is in the picture" that I see in so many Crazy Guy blogs. Heck, it doesn't even look like a hill. It certainly wasn't ridiculously steep, but we were reduced to seven or eight km an hour and granny gear.
Francois speaks very little English, we speak very little French, but we bonded over wine and understood a surprising amount of what he was trying to get across.
And finally, on an evening walk, the Chien of the Day. He was very patient, could shake a paw, and had a tail which never stopped wagging. I loved him. He came with two great humans who have Canadian connections. Our chien was the strong, silent type, and so his humans told me his name and I have forgotten it. I am so sorry about that. If his humans read this message please send me his name through the guest book. Thanks!
