September 19, 2015
A glorious day to Buxy through wine country: We finish with canals and are now on a rail trail
Today was really so very relaxed we felt just like the pictures you see in brochures advertising bike touring. There was no pressure as we didn't have a great distance to cover, the route was obvious for 90% of the time, it was traffic free, there was interest all around us and the surface of the cycleway was perfect. What more could you ask for. We left the little wine village of Satenay thinking that the first thing we would do was ride a little on 'the Route de Vines' as we had such a short distance to cover today. This didn't work out perfectly. We were soon up in the vineyards with grapes all around us and I noticed my front tyre was nearly flat, I obviously had a slow pucture. Ken blew it up and decided that we had better turn around and get on with the main event for the day. All the grapes up there had been picked, Ken was intrigued by the way the vines had been pruned just to 2 spurs, quite different from the what we do. Along the way coming out of the wineries was that delicious smell of fermenting grapes, a smell that I always associate with late March and April.
Now it was back on to the Canal Du Centre and what an easy trip as the locks were going down hill all the way so we just rolled along with no head wind at all. In the Canal du Centre the locks are all automatically operated so there are not the beautiful romantic looking lock houses that you see on some of the canals. Getting into Chalon we were stopped by a couple looking for the way to the canal. He was absolutely delighted as not only did we speak English but we knew the way!. They were Australians from Melbourne who were going to various places and doing day cycle trips and having a great time. He was 83 so it gave us hope that our trips might continue for a few years more! Yesterday they had ridden to Buxy were our ride for today finished so we were able to get good instructions on how to get from where we were to the rail trail that we would now be following.
This rail trail is only a few years old and apart from rather iffy signage at the beginning is absolutely wonderful. It is 73km long (today we only did 15) and winds its way through wine country and little villages. Arriving at the 'Railway Station' in Buxy we found a Tourist Information which had the most helpful woman running it. We got an excellent map from her but not only that was able to sort out what would be the best route for us between Macon and Lyon and book accommodation half way along the way. Then on to a wine cooperative. It was a treasure trove of interesting wines. I think Ken was a bit disappointed that we didn't have more capacity to carry things but bought a couple of bottles from places we have been - we will have to get stuck into drinking them to lighten our load!
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Today's ride: 51 km (32 miles)
Total: 2,585 km (1,605 miles)
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