The beautiful little town of Chablis (Yonne) where wine is king!
The beautiful little town of Chablis (Yonne) where wine is king!
(A continuation of Part 2: Pays de la Loire)
(Click on the thumbnail photos to see the full size photos.)
Day
19 (56 km): We set out through cool forests under sunny skies.
Souvigny-en-Sologne is a beautiful little village. We wanted to stop
there for our breakfast but the only café was closed on
Thursdays (!) so we continued to Isdes and had it there. We arrived
in Sully-sur-Loire at 11:30 AM. We checked into our hotel and Carol
and I took off for a ride down the Loire to St.
Benoît-sur-Loire. There's a grand abbey there, the Abbaye de
Fleury. The remains of St. Benoît are there in the crypt.
(We know him as St. Benedict and his followers became
the first great order of monks, the Benedictines.) When Carol
was down in the crypt the current monks filed in for one of their
many daily devotions and began singing. Neat! It was back into the
mid-thirties as we rode back to Sully but it was an easy day for us.
There's a fine chateau in Sully overlooking
the Loire. Carol did a little shopping (of course) but as usual found
nothing. (Sue F. greeted us with
the tragic news that Pugsly had been either lost or stolen. You may
ask "Who (or what) is Pugsly?" A fair question. Click on this line
for an explanation.) As usual with this group, we had fun
at dinner that night at a pizzeria. We had a little trouble getting
back into the hotel when we returned late but finally did get in.
(today's route)
Day
20 (68 km): We headed up the Loire along the south shore, crossing at
Gien, a small city dominated by a chateau which houses a museum about
hunting. While we were there I went to the tourist office and asked
if there was a piste cyclable (bike path) from Gien to Briare,
just 10 km upstream, so that we could avoid the busy road along the
river. "Oui, monsieur! Il y a une piste cyclable au bord de la
rivière jusqu'à Briare!" ("Yes.
There's a bike path along the bank of the river all the way to
Briare.") We found the path; it was
rough; it got rougher; it got even rougher; it turned to soft sand;
we quit! Back on the highway we made our way to Briare. We
stopped at a park where we could have our lunch. Patty, Sue McD. and
Chris decided not to stop and were going to head straight on to the
hotel. Carol, Sue F. and I had our lunch, peeked in at the church
(nice) and then crossed the bridge back to the south side of the
river. This bridge, however, was somewhat unusual. Instead of a road,
there was a canal crossing over the Loire! We rode across on the
towpath.
The canal bridge at Briare (Loiret)
We caught up with a tractor pulling a hay baler at a traffic light in Belleville-sur-Loire and drafted it, cruising at about 35 km/h for 4.5 km right to our hotel in Léré, the Lion d'Or. It had been a hot ride - mid-thirties again! We arrived at 3:30 PM, about a minute after the other 3 and found that our hotel would not open until 5:00 PM. (Actually, it's probably more accurate to describe the place as a restaurant with rooms rather than as a hotel.) We couldn't find an open café in town so we headed back down the road a couple of km to Sury-près-Léré where we found a bar with cool drinks. When we returned the hotel was open so we showered and changed and toured this village. There was a man playing the organ (not well) in the church. We sat and listened for a while - not really in the hopes that he would improve but rather because it was cool inside the church. It always is. Dinner that evening was excellent. This place has a good young chef. As we usually do, we tried the local wine. Here, the local wine is Sancerre! This part of the upper Loire produces some of the world's best sauvignon blanc wines: Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé, Menetou-Salon. A wild thunderstorm swept through the town while we were dining. Since we had missed the son et lumière at Chambord, the storm provided us with a spectacular one in Léré. (today's route)
Day
21 (48 km): There was a large brocante (junk -
like a flea market) set up in the area around the church that
morning which had to be cruised by our shoppers. Carol bought a
necklace. Patty bought a necklace and a ring. I didn't buy anything.
As we continued up river we could see the effects of last night's
storm: washouts, mud, pools of water, debris. We saw fire trucks in a
couple of places as the firefighters helped to clean up the mess. We
picked up lunch stuff in St. Satur just below Sancerre. Carol and I
decided to head for Pouilly-sur-Loire while the others went ahead to
La Charité-sur-Loire and our next hotel. We had been in
Pouilly in 1997 and remembered a
bakery where we had bought some special sweet loaves that we had never seen before nor since. We wanted to try them
again. We rushed to get there before the 12:30 closing, crossing the Loire at about 12:15. We went into the bakery and couldn't see the
sought after treats. We asked the woman but she had no idea what they
were. Rats! We needed a cool drink after our 15 km sprint - the
temperature was up over 30°C (85°F) again - so we went to
one of the many vignerons (winemakers) offering
dégustations (tastings) in town: Cédrick Bardin.
We tried both his sauvignon blanc wines - Pouilly-Fumé
and Sancerre - as well as the local chasselas wine -
Pouilly-sur-Loire. The two former were excellent; the latter is a
nice summer wine. (I asked the young woman - his
daughter - how it could be that he had vignobles (vineyards)
in both Sancerre and Pouilly-sur-Loire since there's a strong
rivalry between the two towns. She said that her grandfather's family
had been vignerons in Pouilly-sur-Loire and her grandmother's
family had been vignerons in Sancerre!) We bought a
Pouilly-Fumé to bring home. The price was about a third of
what I'd have to pay in Canada. We had an easy ride into La
Charité - less than 50 km today, mostly flat. We're getting
soft! There was a braderie ("sidewalk sale") on in town. As we
climbed (on foot - it was very steep)
to our hotel Carol somehow managed to buy a purple "fanny
pack" style purse and a "Power Ranger" T-shirt for our grandson. We
met the others who had already checked in and cleaned up. The
hotelier was a grumpy old guy. He made our stay in his establishment
unpleasant - Hotel Terminus. There's a grand church in La
Charité - very impressive as it is now but at one time it was
much larger! When it was built it was the largest church in France,
next to Cluny. We had a nice meal outside
the Auberge de la Poule Noire. (today's
route)
Day
22 (49 km): We had the option of taking the route nationale
the 34 km to Varzy, our next stop, because traffic would be very
light on a Sunday morning. Carol and I and Sue F. (who had found her
cycling legs after 12 days on the road) planned to take a more
roundabout route (the route des écoliers?) Chris looked
at our route and thought it would be more interesting so we all
headed out that way. We cycled through cool forest and open farmland
with a few ups and downs, stopping for our lunch beside the old
lavoir (communal laundry facility from times past) in
Champlemy. There was another large brocante in full swing
there but amazingly our shoppers had by now had their fill of junk
markets so we carried on. It was still sunny and hot (over 30°C)
when we rolled into Varzy in mid-afternoon. It's a nice little town
with a fine 13th C church and typically very quiet on a Sunday
afternoon. We watched the finish of the Tour de France - Armstrong
won his third. We had a nice meal that night although the
restaurant had no terrasse and it was hot inside. (today's
route)
Day 23 (73 km): Carol and I chose a more indirect hillier route than the others as we set out in the morning. We started with a long climb but then descended in 3 stages to the Beuvron river. The 14 km along the river to Clamecy was shaded and easy, a lovely ride! We assumed that because we had been humming along at a decent speed that even though we had about 5 km more to do than the others we must have arrived at Clamecy ahead of them. We decided to follow their route back towards Varzy to meet them. By the time we had travelled half the route back we realized that they must have reached Clamecy before we did. We turned around and headed back. Once in Clamecy we managed to spot Chris and Sue McD and stuck with them until Patty and Sue F joined us. We all continued north along the Yonne river, crossing it at Pousseaux where we had lunch in a park beside the Canal du Nivernais. We followed the canal north, finally reaching our destination, Mailly-le-Château. The climb from canal level to this pretty little village was very steep but short. Only Carol (without panniers) could make it without walking. We had another fine meal (as usual) at the Hotel le Castel! (today's route)
Day
23 (63 km): We descended the 3 km to Mailly-la-Ville and stopped at a
café for breakfast. Chris, Patty and Sue McD decided not to
stop but rather to press on the 30 km direct route to Auxerre. Carol
and I had planned to go by way of Chablis which would turn the 30 km
into a 63 km tour. Sue F decided to join us. As we turned east away
from the Yonne we climbed for about 7 km, mostly through forests, and
once we crossed over the autoroute we had a fast descent through
Puits-de-Courson and then a gentle descent through forest again until
we turned north towards Chablis. We passed through 8 km of grain
fields and did not see a vineyard until we were almost into the town
of Chablis. We bought our lunch stuff and then stopped for a
dégustation of the wonderful chardonnay wine
that bears the name of the town. We tasted a Petit Chablis, a Chablis
and a premier cru Chablis. Sue and I each bought a bottle of
the premier cru to bring home and I bought a Petit Chablis to
share with the others when we got to Auxerre. It was all lovely stuff
and once again about a third of the price we'd pay at home. We had
lunch in a park by the little Serein river and then stopped at
another cave for another
dégustation. This time only Sue bought a
bottle - we had reached our Canadian customs limit of 2 bottles each
with our collection of Cognac, Pineau des Charentes, Pouilly
Fumé and Chablis (and, probably more
importantly, my panniers were getting very
heavy). We climbed out of Chablis and turned away from the
main road at Beine after 6 km. It was by now 36°C (97°F)
and we wanted to stop for a drink and to refill our water bottles but
the café in Beine was out of business. We climbed steeply
north out of Beine for about 3 km to Bleigny-le-Carreau. Carol
stopped to ask an old woman if there was a bar/café in town.
No! But if you'd like you can fill your bottles here.
(At least, that's what she thought she said since she
still doesn't speak French and the old woman didn't speak
English.) Carol came to find me; Sue was adjusting her
panniers but she gave me her bottle to get it filled. The woman
invited us in and I drank a bottle full of water right there and
filled it again. The woman asked why Carol wasn't drinking and I told
her that Carol only drinks bottled water so she pulled a bottle of
eau de source (spring water) from her refrigerator and Carol
filled her bottle. We had three long descents into Auxerre. We rode
for a while with a Dutch cyclist who offered to buy us a drink. We
accepted his offer and chatted with him for a while before heading
into the city to find our hotel. Carol joined the other 3 women for a
little power shopping. After dinner, Sue F, Patty and Carol went into
the beautiful Cathédrale St. Etienne for the son et
lumière. The lumière was beautiful but the
son turned out to be a history of the church - in French! Carol and Patty
left early; Sue F had already left but got a bit lost and managed
finally to get back to the hotel after Patty and Carol. A very good
day! (today's route)
Day
24 (77 km): We had breakfast in town and then headed north to
Migennes, arriving just before noon. Chris, Patty and the two Sue's
were taking the train from Migennes to Paris while we were squeezing
in a last day of cycling before joining them the next day
(since we've been to Paris many times before).
We headed north to Brion where we had our lunch in a quiet park by a
church. We climbed for 2.5 km to La Fourchotte before descending an
equal distance through a forest. We remained in the cool forest for
10 more km of climbs and descents before arriving at Dixmont. Once
again, the only café was closed. We asked a woman if we would
find a bar in the next village 3 km away but she said there was
nothing until Villeneuve-sur-Yonne 10 km away. However, she took us
into the mairie (town hall) and filled my water bottles for
me. As we cycled through the next village a tractor came through
pulling a wagon of grain. We tucked in behind and drafted it at over
30 km/h for 7 km into Villeneuve. We finally had our cool drink here
and checked out the beautiful church with great stained glass. Off
again, across the Yonne, we cycled the 17 km into Sens. We stopped at
the tourist bureau but I couldn't get my foot out of the pedal no
matter how hard I twisted it. I finally took the shoe off, still
attached to the pedal. I still couldn't remove it. I was able to turn
the shoe 360° but it wouldn't release. The woman in the tourist
bureau directed us to a cycle shop a couple of blocks away. I removed
the pedal with the shoe still attached, put on my other shoes and
walked the bike over to the bike shop. Needless to say, they had
never before seen a problem like this. They managed finally to
release the shoe and we could see that one of the two bolts that
holds the cleat on the shoe had unscrewed so the shoe could now
rotate around the remaining bolt. (I have since abandoned the
clipless system, not because of this loose bolt problem, but because I continued
to fall because I never remembered that I was still clipped into the pedals.) We walked
from our hotel first to McDonald's for a
refreshing milkshake (it's over 30°C again) and then to the
train station to get our tickets for tomorrow's train to Paris. We
had dinner at a restaurant on the square outside the magnificent
cathedral in Sens. (today's route)
Day 25: The train arrived in Sens at 9:05 and would leave at 9:06 so we had to be ready to load our bikes on to the train and then find seats for ourselves. (We always take trains which allow us to take our bikes along as bagage à main (carry-on luggage). Not only do the bikes travel free but you are guaranteed that they will arrive with you since you put them on and you take them off. If you ship the bikes it's expensive and they may not be there yet when you arrive at your destination.) We managed. The train ride was about an hour and a half, much of it through the unsightly urban sprawl that surrounds Paris. Paris itself has a population of 2 million but the metropolitan area has a population of about 11 million so there's a huge ring of suburbs around the city. We arrived at Gare de Lyon and made our way to our hotel, the Grand Hotel Amelot. It was fine and modestly priced (at 400 francs) for Paris. After settling in we headed out to do a little promenade. We huddled under our tiny umbrella a couple of times as several short showers swept through. Carol braved the crowds and the pickpockets to take another look at Notre Dame and we picked up a few small gifts to bring home to friends and relations. We rejoined our group and headed out to the "left bank" across from Notre Dame so they could experience rue La Huchette with its dozens of (mostly) Greek restaurants with waiters standing in the doorway saying things like "Come in, listen to our wonderful orchestra. If you don't like the food you don't have to pay!" We finally picked one - I can't remember what determined our choice. I'm sure they're all interchangeable. The food, typically for that turista area of Paris, was mediocre. The best part was the pitch man at the door.
Day
26: Carol headed out in the morning with Sue F and Patty. They went
first to the Louvre where they saw the Mona Lisa and Venus
de Milo, of course, among many others. Then they shopped the
great Parisian department stores (Galeries Lafayette,
Printemps, Samaritaine, even Monoprix) returning to the hotel
at 5:45 PM , just 10 hours after they left. I walked up to Gare
du Nord to make sure of the route to the airport the next day,
especially to check out once again how to get the bikes down to train
level.
Then
I walked from there all the way across the Seine to boulevard du
Port Royal in the 13th arrondissement to
make a reservation at La RéCréative, a restaurant we've
eaten at twice before on our last nights in Paris. The chef is a
young woman with imagination and talent in the kitchen. The
ladies got dressed in their finest and we all headed out on the
metro (Paris' subway system) for dinner. La
RéCréative did not disappoint. It was the best meal of
the trip. Chris and Sue McD treated us to our wine - thanks!
Day
27: We loaded up and headed out just after 8:00. We stopped for
breakfast a few blocks away. Carol had a set of panniers on her bike
for the ride to the airport because I wouldn't be able to negotiate
the escalators in the station with 2 sets on my bike. When she tried
to get on her bike after breakfast she was unused to the weight of
the panniers and she started to fall as her bike fell. I reached out
to try to catch her and I fell too, landing on top of her. No serious
damage to either of us or our bikes. We got to Gare du Nord,
descended on the escalators to train
level and got everything on the train to Charles de Gaulle. At the
airport it was relatively easy to get to our terminal. Check-in went
smoothly but the flight was delayed about an hour so we got home a
little later than we had planned.
It was a fun trip, made especially so because of our companions. It was probably more strenuous for them than they had expected - we averaged about 65 km per day. I hope we haven't turned any of them off. Our accommodations (for 2) averaged 280 francs per night, our meals (with wine) 250 francs. Once again, France didn't disappoint us.