September 21, 2015
From Macon most of the way to Lyon: We are back in the real world
We had been concerned about the route between Macon and Lyon. The woman in the Tourist Information in Buxy had told me that there was a track beside the Soane and had given me a complicated diagram of how to follow it. As all information given by non cyclists we were a bit suspicious, we did tried to follow it for a while but it was terrible, completely unsuitable for loaded bikes and although beside the river was certainly not picturesque as there was rubbish everywhere. We soon gave this up and got on D roads. For those of you looking for information. Cross the bridge at Macon onto the other side of the river then take the D51, this has light traffic. It eventually comes to the end and you get on to the D933. We followed this all the way until we turned off to go to Anse in search of accommodation. The D933 is safely ridable in fact at times it has a reasonable hard shoulder. Most of the time the traffic is fairly light getting heavier as you go through the small towns on its route. Tomorrow we will cross back over the river and return to it - it should only be about40km to Lyon.
It was like returning to the real world today. Gone were the days of dedicated cycle tracks, ancient castles, super sized dogs, tunnels and acorns popping from under our pedals. We were riding along small roads through attractive working towns where all the men were dressed in the uniform of blue overalls. The sun was shining, there was almost no wind and life felt particularly good. the road was undulating but none of the hills were steep enough to make you get off and push so you felt strong and then had a wonderful downhill as a reward. We stopped for coffee at a PMU then a little later Ken saw a 60year old Renault with its proud owner. It always amazes me how two tractor enthusiasts with little in common in the way of language can apparently form such a bond in the matter of a couple of minutes.
We had no booking so were on the lookout for a place that might be big enough for a hotel so we turned off and have found the little village of Anse which has a comfortable hotel and considerable charm.
Riding along I have been thinking of the route Pat and Armand may have taken out of Paris. I do not think that they would have followed the route we did, it really was too remote and without the present day cycle ways too steep. I think rather that they will have gone from Paris to Orleon then followed the Loire and the Canal du Centre to Chalon then the Soane to Macon and on as we did today to Lyon from where it would have been relatively easy to follow the Rhone to the Mediterranean.
Tomorrow we get to Lyon and intend to spend two nights there. Have had trouble though finding reasonably priced accommodation as nearly everything seems to be booked for Wednesday night. It is therefore as expensive as Paris but never mind
Today's ride: 58 km (36 miles)
Total: 2,719 km (1,688 miles)
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