Day Forty Four: Tonnerre to Cheny: (Year 44: 2011)
Flash Back to 2011:
The year of the first "official" Grampies tour - Across Canada, Victoria to Quebec City, 7500 km over 141 days. Our excuse was to go see our new, 3rd grandchild Amelia, in Montreal. Of course we stopped off in Missoula, Montana to see Avi and Violet, and to make sure they were well started as cyclists.
We pedalled out of our own driveway to cross Canada. Our house is conveniently located on one edge of the continent.
The east and west Cross Canada expedition has been a big thing since the founding of the country. One Warm Line is Stan Rogers' ode to one or more such expeditions. So it is appropriate for ours as well. "One Warm Line" was also chosen for the title of the documentary about the life of Stan Rogers.
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Fast Forward to 2017, France:
Our hotel in Tonnerre. We love this type of small hotel.
We pedalled up the (only) main street for a quick look at Tonnerre. As is the case in other "white" French villages, the photos look almost like paintings. The place is very attractive in that sense, but otherwise it is a touch lacking. The two bakeries are not terribly well stocked, though of course they easily and totally blow away anything we have at home, and there are two small grocery stores. We did not check if we could go into the one main church, just being content with a photo. Then we coasted back down the street and to the Canal. I was a little late in snapping my promised shot of the ugly apartments at the Canal, but I did get a little piece of them.
From there, you guessed it, we were back on the canal. We of course took a photo of that, plus some of the towns or buildings trailside. One of the buildings was a "lavoire", which is a wash house - part of a movement to improve sanitation, sometime after the Revolution. There are dozens of lavoires hereabouts, and even a bicycle circuit laid out to go see them. Somehow we have not generated the requisite enthusiasm to go hunt them down.
Through France we, like other cyclists, have been amazed to see the number of fishermen (not women) sitting patiently by canals or rivers, in cold, rain, or dawn, or twilight, and always apparently catching nothing. We have taken to looking in the canals and rivers, trying to spot a fish, but with little success. Until today - we spotted maybe one 6 incher and several smaller ones. Big excitement! Dodie went and pulled out some muffin (we still had it, because French muffins are terrible) and tried to attract the fish with it. No luck. But now here we were, like all the other fishers, staring patiently into the water, waiting for something to happen.
Back on the canal. Don't worry, this is our last day of canal cycling so you will not have to look at many more photos just like this!
We pedalled along happily until we suddenly encountered a crew beside the canal, who had cut down a bunch of trees and were busy feeding branches into a large and noisy chipper. We were amazed that they had casually totally and thoroughly blocked off the path, without so much as a "Route Barrée". Now there is a very quirky thing about bikes on the tow path of the canals - through all France I think. The law from way back provides for pedestrian traffic only. But when the authorities decided to promote bicycle routes, instead of changing the law they merely moved to "tolerate" bicycles. That gives cyclists no rights. However in this case, the crew had also blocked any pedestrians, so we had them dead to rights. I walked up and had trouble getting them to shut off their infernal machine. A discussion ensued. I could have called it an argument, but really it was fairly civil. We did end by backing out to the last cross road and taking a parallel route. If truth be told, the parallel route was smoother and faster than the canal path, because for some kms the canal path had been degraded to a quite rough track.
Towards the end of the canal path (or beginning if you are coming the other way) the authorities have lost focus and do not have a good surface.
The parallel route took us to the town of Brianon sur Armancon. We rode up into the town, looking for a spot to eat our sandwiches, but we really did not find anywhere. What we did find was the unfortunate situation we have seen in other towns - traffic, and especially heavy truck traffic, going right through the centre, along a narrow street. Not only does this create a hazard for us, but we have to assume it bugs the residents.
In Brienon they seriously need an alternative truck route.
With that decision taken, we made our way to the B&B we had booked, just out of Migennes, in Cheny. The GPS led us to a fairly blank door, but at least it did say "Les Bains", the name we were looking for. There was a bell, so we did not have to try a dicey phone call. From there - heaven. A lovely couple opened the door and ushered us into an inner courtyard. No need to do anything further with the bikes, since the courtyard was completely enclosed. The room was really a separate building/apartment, large, and beautifully decorated. There was water, juice, oranges, even stollen set out for us, and soon our hostess brought fresh juice and even two glasses of Chablis (the famous wine from the town we are near). Our window looks out on the river, and there is a terrace above our room where we could eat if we liked. From the terrace you can see fish flashing in the river. No kidding.
Right now Dodie is looking at booking a place near Montargis, on the way to Paris. That is probably too far for us, but any other places we see are way too close. We have about 5 days to go about 250 km to Paris. That is great, on average, but of course averages are only statistics and we know you can't trust statistics!
In the Spring we saw lots of trees chopped off half way up - seemed like club feet. Here we now see what might be one season's growth.
There are chrysanthemums all over the place, though here they are mainly thought of as being for cemeteries. This variety is weird, growing long rather than cushiony.
Our hostess brings juice and Chablis. The picture is fuzzy, though no one has yet drunk the wine? Chablis is of course an Appellation Controlee from the area a bit south east of us. There are 20 villages involved, lying along the river Serein. Chablis wines are made from Chardonnay grapes (white) and are based on soil that has a lot of fossilized oysters in it. It seemed harsh and alcoholic to me, based on my one sip. Dodie mixed hers into the orange juice. We just do not know how to drink wine!
