August 15th
The forecast was for rain and thunder showers so we started out on a drive to find a place that might be dry for biking. After driving to Chalon, then up near Dole we finally found some blue-ish sky at Abergement la Roch on the Canal du Rhone au Rhin. We hopped on the bikes and rode a few kilometers until we reached the Soane River and followed the trail to Saint-Jean-de-Losne about 16km away. There was a market going on so we walked through the booths and bought some nuts for a snack and decided we'd better get riding before the rain hit. The clouds got darker as we rode and we had occasional bits of rain that we managed to get out of under a tree. I actually had my umbrella with me and opened it up a few times. We had just made it back to the car when the cloud burst began and I raced to the car leaving Jay and the bikes under an awning. Needless to say he and the bikes got soaked. Once the rain let up I got out to help load the bikes and we made our way back to our little home away from home.
I have no photos for this day so will move onto the next day and our tour of Dijon.
Dijon isn't just a Mustard
August 16th
We rode over to the train station to catch the train to Dijon and barely made it onto the train. The ticket machine was only in French and it kept spitting us out until we had little time left to buy our tickets. Luckily the man at the ticket counter knew we were in a hurry and helped us as quickly as he could. I got on and Jay came running just as the doors were about to close. Whew! Dodged another bullet.
I have the VoiceMap App on my iPhone which has been really great for us in several places already. I dialed up the walking tour of Dijon and we were off. There are little bronze triangles with owls on them that lead you through the city to the most important and historical sites. This tour didn't cover all the places the owl takes you but we got a great overview of the history of Dijon. The palace of the dukes of Burgundy are located in the centre of the old city where they ruled the area starting in the 9th century. The architecture is amazing and the main square is surrounded by a semi-circle of beautiful buildings and fountains. Once the tour finished I worked my way to the Maille mustard shop to purchase a few items. Mustard is hard to find in France right now due to a shortage of mustard seeds out of Canada.
Lunch was next at a cute little cafe on a side street...
for Jay un cafe au lait and a chicken bowl and a
salade du chèvre for me😋
Following lunch we rode our bikes back to Beaune for 52km through the gorgeous vineyards of Marsannay, Gevrey-Chambertin, Nuits-Saint-Georges and Aloxe Corton. I was ready to get out of the saddle for sure!
