August 12, 2023
Couches to Savigny-lès-Beaune
We're back to hot and sticky nights in the tent again, but everyone was feeling pretty good when we woke up. Tobias was back racing around with the neighbour kids after breakfast while we got packed up and hit the road.
We were back on cycle trails today - first the EuroVelo 6 along canal du Central then along the EV51 through the vines. Maybe it was the improved weather but the canal riding today seemed more appealing than the other day. A boat was headed into one of the locks just as Tobias was getting ready for a break so we stopped and watched the gates close and the water drain before it headed off our the other side. He was very excited to pass the same boat once we were underway again.
Before too long we turned off and into some lumpy terrain through the grape vines. We stopped for lunch at the playground in Chassagne-Montrachet. There was a restaurant right beside it and while we were eating 3 different Dutch families with young kids showed up to eat so Tobias had more buddies.
I like riding thorough vineyards. Somehow it seems more interesting than farms, but maybe that's just because I grew up on one. We had a really nice ride and made it to Beune just as Tobias woke up. We stopped to check out some of the sights and have an ice-cream before heading out towards Savigny-lès-Beaune. We stopped at one of the stupidly big supermarkets on the way or and Tobias wanted to come help me. He likes to touch everything at the moment and while it's nice to let him be in charge of some things (like choosing the chips) it's also nice to get through the supermarket in less than an hour. So then I end up carrying a heavy toddler and trying to find everything on the list and wheel the trolley around while James gets to rest outside with the bikes.
So I was a bit grumpy for the last few kilometres of the ride. I got over it though when we were riding through the town of Savigny-lès-Beaune and we got chased down by David. He asked us (in French) if we were camping, if we liked natural places and if we spoke french (yes, yes, no). He spoke enough english to explain that he had a place we could stay with a stone hut and no shower. It would have been easy to say no thanks and carry on to what is familiar to us, but we said yes and followed him in his car to his garden on the outskirts of town. Its an amazing spot with fruit trees, a fish pond, and a little stone hut that we can sleep in (there is also a tree hut, but that was a bit tricky with Tobias). David showed us around then went back and returned with a bottle of Bourgandy wine and some glasses and we shared a drink. He is a teacher in Beune and has kids of his own and did cycling trips when he was younger. We were a bit overwhelmed by the generosity, it's been a really relaxing evening. There is even a play house and a tiny wheelbarrow for Tobias and I'm so comfortable in this hammock in the garden that I don't know if I'll get out to go to bed.
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Today's ride: 41 km (25 miles)
Total: 2,870 km (1,782 miles)
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