May 28, 2022
Auxerre to Tonnerre: Then there were only two
We met again for breakfast and a final good-bye hug. Bonne route and say hello to Susan when you get to Paris!
I might have forgotten to mention that our tour wasn't over just because we were no longer riding with the Andersons. We had planned four more days on our way back to Dijon and picking up our car. Will it still be there?
The recommended bicycle route out of Auxerre was a potholed dirt path along the railroad tracks which fortunately came to an end soon. After a climb or two we were traveling along quiet and flat country roads.
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The highlight of the day was our visit to the Abbey of Pontigny, the anchor around which today's route was planned.
The Abbey of Pontigny was founded in 1114. It was the largest Cistercian church in Europe, and gave birth to some forty foundations in France, Italy, Hungary and Romania. The abbey estate was managed by monks for centuries. The church is entered through a porch whose simple lines anticipate the architectural purity of the light-filled nave. The white stone, the grisaille windows, the cruciform pillars and the near-abstract capitals all express an aesthetic of austerity. The nave is an example of the earliest Gothic style in Burgundy, while the apse displays its full maturity.
Before we reached the Canal de Bourgogne which we would follow for the last 15 kilometers of the day, we made a slight detour to find a bench for our picnic break.
Tonnerre came as a surprise to us. Although we had been here 14 years ago, we had no recollection of how run down the town was. Many buildings were boarded up or in a state or disrepair. Was it so different 14 years ago?
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A main attraction in Tonnerre is the Fosse Dionne, a water source in the centre of the old town. In the Middle Ages there were several legends surrounding the continual supply of water arising from the subterranean karst. In 1758 a circular wash house or "lavoir" was erected at the source. The unusual blue-green color of the water is the result of the high density of limestone in the water.
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Our hotel was outside the town, probably due to our needs as part of a group of about 44 people (22 couples on tandems) so I don't really recall the town vividly but Tonnerre even then seemed past its prime; a small and generally unremarkable place in an eddy of time and largely bypassed in modern times.
2 years ago
We arrived in Tonnerre around two or so and were happy to discover that we could check in to our hotel immdiately and not at five as we had been informed. The Hotel du Centre also had a perfect bicycle storage room.
Today's ride: 54 km (34 miles)
Total: 385 km (239 miles)
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2 years ago
2 years ago