Day Forty One: Gevrey-Chambertin to Chateauneuf: (Year 41: 2008)

October 31, 2017

Flash Back to 2008:

Here is a year of gain and loss. We gained our now longtime friends Marius and Christian, and we gained our first two grandchildren, the twins Avi and Violet. But sadly we lost Hilda. Although Hilda did encounter the twins while they were still unborn, she never did meet her great grandchildren.

For three previous years we had hosted kids from Australia, Japan, Sweden, Germany, France, and England to visit and work on the farm. The final two were Christian and Marius, from Germany. They stayed on in Canada and became some of our best friends. We have since visited their parents in Germany and those parents have often come to Canada too.

Sadly, Hilda left us in 2008 only a month before her first great granchildren were born..

We think of Time to Say Goodbye, most famously sung by Andrea Bocelli, as fitting for the departure of Hilda. This is due in large part to the English version of the title. In Italian "Con Te Partiro" is an offer we are not making at this time!

The revolving door gave a big swing and in came the twins, Avi and Violet. Steve and Dodie now became the Grampies.

The twins! Even now, 9 years later, they are still the best of friends.

This cradle was made by Steve and Dodie and first used by Laurie. Now her babies were in it! Soon the newest arrival next year will have naps in the cradle.

John Denver's For Baby perfectly expresses our feeling toward the twins.

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Fast Forward to 2017, France:

When Keith Klein rode out to meet us two years ago at Losne, he simplified his journey for us by saying he came from Dijon. One often mentions a nearby big city when people you are talking to do not really know your area. And two years ago, even Dijon was a foggy entity somewhere north of our position. But last night we stayed in Gevrey-Chambertin, 12 kilometers from Dijon, and guess what, Gevrey-Chambertin is actually where Keith lives!

So Keith easily made it over to intercept us this morning, needing only to make sure we had not yet buzzed out of town. There are so many things to talk about, in this case not only with a fellow cyclist but an actual local resident. We did not have time to go into everything, since we had a long road ahead of us.

Keith gives Dodie some tips about the route ahead

Keith's elegant town bike. When Keith left us he headed to the bakery. Gliding on a bike like this to a French bakeryhas got to be one of the greatest pleasures of life.

The overriding thing about our visit here is that we are in the super famous wine region of Burgundy. Keith confirmed that truly the narrow strip between the hills and the D974 is "it". The restricted area is what helps drive up the prices. Also, about the grapes left on the vine - Keith explained that these come from a second flowering. The second flowering sometimes ripens and sometimes not. He was surprised that we felt they were sweet, because maybe if sweet they would have been picked. In any event, there is again no great push to increase the supply, especially if quality might suffer.

Since our hotel was called Hotel des Grands Crus, we asked Keith if the vines just by the hotel might be Grand Cru. No, he replied, these are just ordinary village type vines. Keith also told us that the vineyards are very small and will be reatedly subdivided die to inheritance. We later saw a map of the different plots, and yes, there are many, and there are areas that are not deemed that special. It is beyond us how anyone can tell the difference.

I remarked on how the vines are often on the flat, while in Moselle they can be on 70 degree slopes. Keith simply noted with pride that for whatever reason the wine here is superior.

Being total newbies, we had formed the impression that the wine region extended from Nuits St Georges to Dijon, but no, it actually extends south, down to Beaune and Merseault. Even so, that only makes the whole darn thing 50 km.

The incredible "petiteness" of the region became really clear as we bopped along past Fixin, past Couchey, past Marsannay-la-Cote and on into Chenove. In almost no time, it was all over. The vines magically melted away and we were in a city! Probably one should look at the magic as not the black magic of the vines disappearing, but the good magic that the city of Dijon has this whole thing right in its back pocket. Here are some of our images, collected between Gevrey and Dijon:

Images of our ride from Gevrey-Chambertin to Dijon

Without passing through much city, really, we arrived at a large bakery, standing on the corner of - the Canal de Bourgogne! This time we did not try to go into Dijon, we simply hung a sharp left and we were off! One thing to note for anyone following in our tracks, hanging that sharp left would put you on the south side of the canal. But the path there dead ends. The real veloroute is on the north side.

Suddenly the vines are gone and we are in bland city outskirts.

Well, maybe this building is a bit interesting - it is decorated with QR codes. I wonder if you can scan them?

For almost the rest of the day, our story is one of floating along beside the canal. (That is a figurative "floating", actually we are careful not skid or bounce or otherwise end up in the drink.) The scenery was the usual pleasant blend of water, forest, and field, with occasional glimpses of churches or towns. There are actually a fair number of towns along the way, but each is off route, maybe a half to one km. Our bike map has symbols to denote what is supposed to be in the towns, but these have questionable accuracy. Especially now, in what is really the off season, even things that do exist may very well be closed.

We found out about not trusting the map as we left the canal at lunch time and went up a hill to Gissey sur Ouche, where the map showed an enticing cup of coffee and a knife and fork. After the 1 km on road and the 1/2 km climb, we did arrive at the (closed) restaurant. Oh well, we had seen a picnic table along the way, so we went back there and just dug stuff out of our food bag.

To some extent canal riding is boring, though it does give the chance to think, plan, and talk together, or to just fall into a rhythm and enjoy pedalling. But we did run into some interest in the form of Annie, a lady who used to live in Paris, used to be a flight attendant for Air France, but who now lives with her husband out here in the country. One thing she does is to ride her ebike up and down the canal, 40 km daily. Annie credits the ride with helping her lose weight (did not seem to be needed) and maintaining heart health. Her cardiologist agrees. She just absolutely adored her bike and the activity of riding it.

We have only seen two other fish, dead or alive, in all our canal riding this trip.

Some canal action - at a lock. This one is being cranked open manually.

Along the canal - interesting mistletoe.

All the diamonds in this world that mean anything to me. Sometimes as we ride along we talk about things like this.

We are just north of Charolle and are seeing lots of Charolais cattle.

Speaking of cardiologists, we now come to the cherry at the end of our day. Dodie had found a Chambre d'Hote in Chateauneuf and booked it. Chateauneuf is a 15th century fort and town perched on top of a hill, overlooking the local river, the Vandenesse. It is 2 km up to it. Straight up.

The push was really worth it. It was really really worth it! The little town and the fortress are relatively untouched, and picture perfect at every turn. There are two or three places to stay and two or three places to eat, but that is it. As we pushed by the entrance to the fort, a young woman approached and asked if it was us. (Of course, it was!) She had been watching for us, and she led the way to an absolutely genuine medieval building. She grabbed our bags and conducted us around some corners inside under some heavy beams and up a staircase into a little room then up further stairs - we were in a tower. It's very cool - there are heavy rough beams across our room, and we go down some stairs to find the washroom, but its all behind our locked door.

Have a look a the photos of the house and the town and fort!

Chateauneuf in the distance, but zoomed in.

There was a long wall with these grapes, and a man working behind it. We asked why the grapes had not been picked and the reply was that the property was owned by someone from Germany, who had not been around.

A walled garden. There are so many stone walls here!

The restaurant, which is down the street, is run by the same people as the Chambre d'hotes, and their parents, it looks like. It is also in a medieval building with heavy rough beams. It figures, because that is what this whole place is, without exception.

We ordered - yes- boeuf Bourginon. But first we had salad. It came in a mustard dressing. What kind of mustard? Are you kidding! There was also mustard on the plate with the boeuf. The grainy style of Dijon. Maybe I am just enchanted by the place, but even the mustard seemed very refined. I ate mine just straight - it was relatively mild and very flavourful.

Tomorrow we will zoom back down to the level of the canal, and carry on. Dodie had found another place, for tomorrow, where a climb would reward us with a statue of Vercingtorix. But no, this time we took a pass.

There are many more chateaus and medieval villages in this area. We have to look at this pass through for us as just a preliminary exploration. But even so, our knowledge and appreciation is deeping dramatically hour by hour. Who knows what we will find, or what will dawn on us tomorrow!

Where we have been, where we are, where we are going. We will hit Montbard, leave the region, and keep going. Do you see Chateauneuf - our current position?

Today's ride: 62 km (39 miles)
Total: 1,612 km (1,001 miles)

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