August 26, 2017
Beaune: A short but fantastic day
We had a lovely time with Rosemary and John and last night went along to a local restaurant and sat out beside the canal eating a delicious meal. Ken in particular enjoyed his main which consisted of lots of little deep fried fish rather like tiny sardines. Despite the very warm night we slept well to be woken by John with a cup of tea then breakfast of blackberries that John had collected from the roadside.
Today really was one of the nicest we have ever had cycling. We started off along the Canal de Centre and there was a cycle way along it all the way to Santenay. This was a pretty part of the canal with attractive houses and pretty gardens. Santenay was for us the first of the wine towns. It is affluent looking with a central square. It was clearly going to be a hot day so we sat in the shade next to the fountain and drank the first of our coffees.
From Santenay to Beaune there is a cycle route that winds up through the vineyards on the Route des Grands Crux. This is amazing, not only are you travelling through the pristine vineyards of Burgandy but you are passing through picture perfect little towns. Yes they are ‘touristy’ but there is a good reason for this and none of them seemed too crowded. There were cafes and bars in all of them so naturally we couldn't resist another coffee. We were passing through villages whose names are well known wine names like Volnay, Meursault and Pommard.
As we arrived in Beaune we saw a bike shop, I had been wanting a rear vision mirror, and it was here that we met Cedric. Cedric was highly excited when he saw our New Zealand shirts. A couple of years ago he had lived for a year in Wanaka. While he was there he did the Wanaka Challenge, a triathalon which has the same distances as an Ironman - he completed this in a creditable 10hours and we saw the photos of it. In three years time he intends returning to NZ to do the Taupo Ironman. He took selfies and other photos of us setting off. I have a nice new rear vision mirror.
We easily found the Ibis, showered, had a big wash up and have worked out the next bit of our route. Tomorrow we should get to St Jean de Losne - once more it promises to be a hot day
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Today's ride: 32 km (20 miles)
Total: 1,142 km (709 miles)
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