Cruising the Cru's: Day 13 - Montceau Les Mines to Nuits Saint George - Get It While It Lasts... A Big Loop Through Europe 2017

August 20, 2017

Cruising the Cru's: Day 13 - Montceau Les Mines to Nuits Saint George

Chalk this one up to serendipity. We were headed to the (very) tiny village of Tart le Bas to see Olivier and get Kirsten's cog changed. This forced a detour north through some of the most amazing wine country on this planet. Oh, and we had a perfect day for it!

We got off to an early start, and given that it was Sunday morning, we cycled for over an hour under a perfect blue sky beside canals overhung with trees with only a couple of other cyclists to wave and shout Bonjour too. In other words, a perfect morning.

When we reached St Leger sur Dheune we stoped for a quick bite to eat from the only patisserie open (sitting on the curb watching the world go by). We then left the canal and turned north onto the Route de la Grand Cru's.

First stop, Satenay, then Chassagne Montrachet, then Puligny Montrachet, then Meursault, then Volnay, then Pommard .... All of them were picture perfect villages, with Satenay and Meursault being a little larger. As it was Sunday, most shops and wineries were closed, but there were a lot of cyclists touring through the villages. We out numbered the cars by a good margin!

By the time we got to Meursault it was starting to heat up so we thought we'd take a break and get a cold drink. How may times will we be sitting in the town square of a beautiful and famous wine village? An Orangina wasn't going to cut it so we broke one of our touring rules and had a glass of wine (we normally don't drink while we are biking, once we're done riding though, all bets are off!).

On the way into Meursault we came across a Dutch couple fixing a tire under the shade of a tree. We stopped to see if they needed help. They were Dutch and were born on bikes, so of course they didn't, but we had a nice chat and saw the huge spike the gent pulled out of his Marathon Plus.

By the time we got our wine and Pellagrino in Meursault, they pitched up at a table across the street. Salut!

The day continued along like this and we even took a little side trip of about 5 km to Savigney Les Beaune. We were there 26 years ago for our second wedding anniversary so it was a little bit of a nostalgia trip. We had stayed at a small, but incredible inn called Le Vieux Moulin, which had a two star Michelin restaurant. We were there for two nights and ate there both nights. Neither one of us can remember anything else about Savigney which is too bad because it is a lovely town. Unfortunately Le Vieux Moulin no longer exists, which is probably a good thing as we may have been tempted to stay if it did. That would have been a big dent in the budget.

As it was we continued on to a really cool campsite (12 Euro's not 1200!!) just outside Nuits St George. It was a fairly new place and it's claim to fame was a small lake with a 'beach' and cable pulled water ski operation. It was Sunday and the party was on! A bar, a band, waterskiing and a lot of 20 -30 ish crowd having fun,

We hung out at 'the beach' for a beer, got cleaned up and headed into Vosne-Romanee about 6 km for dinner (it's Sunday so many places were closed closer to the campsite).

This whole day sounds like a 'wine snob name dropper convention', but that's just how it was. We had a very elegant dinner with a very local wine (what we saved on hotel by camping we blew on the wine!) and then headed back to camp and bed.

Days don't get much better than this!

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Song of the Day:

Shine on Me by Dan Auerbach -- I left yesterdays post pretty gloomy as far as song of the day. Today was a different kettle of fish - ended feeling great and this song sums up the feeling, plus he's got Mark Knopfler playing guitar with him!

We broke our rule today - a short break in Meursault - we had to sample the local wares. We normally do not have beer or wine until after we've finished cycling, but today....

Even a Marathon Plus cant stand up to this! We met a Dutch couple just outside of Meusault working on a tire. He pulled this out of it!

Classic Burgundy Chateau just outside of Volnay

Vinyards and stone walls outside of Volnay

Really cool campground we stayed at a few km's away from Nuits St George. They had a small lake with a 'beach', a band, and a cable pulled water ski operation on a small lake. It was Sunday and party time for the mostly 20 - 30 crowd. Everyone was having a lot of fun

Since it was Sunday, the villages were very quiet, but they were all immaculately taken care of

Statue to honor the folks who tend the vines in Puligny-Montrachet

dinner for the night in Vosne-Romanee. we drank local. Dinner was very good, the wine was excellent

First of the iconic villages along the Grand Cru route, working south to north

This place is larger than the other villages and to the north of Beaune.We spent our second wedding anniversary here at an incredible inn/restaurant called Le Vieux Moulin. It was a two star Michelin place then run by a self taught chef and his spouse. They've since moved on and the business has long closed. Pity, but it saved us some money .. we camped for 15 euro's rather than splurge on nostalgia

Today's ride: 86 km (53 miles)
Total: 989 km (614 miles)

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