Author: Brian Burger

After leaving the horse farm we picked up another escort of local cyclists and headed west and north toward Digion, about twenty kilometres or so, following the Canal du Centre after leaving the hills around the farm.

Digion brought us to the last river of this trip, the Loire. The Canal du Centre actually crosses the Loire on the Pont du Canal at Digion, basically an aqueduct carrying the canal over the river.

We had a quick group photo with the local tourism office on the bank of the Loire, then headed to the town of Bourbon-Lancy for what turned out to be another awkwardly translated mayor’s speech and a snack. Pretty little town centre, though.

Lunch was picnic style in a little village a few km north of Bourbon-Lancy, and we used both the official Eurovelo 6 route and main roads to finish the ride to Decize. Unfortunately the EV6 through this district has almost no signage, making it hard to follow even with a map and GPS. With the detour out to Bourbon-Lancy it wound up being a long day, over 100km and we didn’t get to our hostel until nearly six.

Dinner was a very nice pizza at a place right on the bank of the canal just outside Decize, then an early bed.

The day ended with a really spectacular front of very dark clouds filling the south-east horizon, so our weather might be in for a change…

Random amusement: when I misspel “canal” while writing these posts on my phone, one of the options it offers is “cabal”… biking alongside the cabal would make this a very different sort of European trip indeed!

Short day of 50km or so again, mostly along the canal with a few detours into low hills. Easy riding, no rain, and the temperature topped out in the low twenties, which is a nice riding temp.

Paray-les-Monial is a nice small town with a well-preserved 11th/12th C Romanesque church. We spent the afternoon poking around Paray, including a stretch of using the tourist office’s free WiFi, then got back on the bikes to ride out to our lodging for the night.

We’re actually staying in a Gites d’Etape, part of a horse farm about 8km outside of Paray-les-Monial. It’s well out in the country, very quiet, and very horsey. Most of us are in hostel style dorms, which is fine with me but does cause a certain amount of murmuring now and then.

Off to Decize tomorrow, a longer day of 70+km.

Left Chalon in the morning with a couple of the local cyclists riding along for the first five km or so, including a stop at one of the few supermarkets open on a Sunday morning. France really does shut down on Sundays, especially in the villages we ride through. An open shop or cafe is not to be passed up.

After the thunderstorms of the previous afternoon and overnight we had been wondering how rainy the day was going to be, but I managed to miss the heaviest rains, although others got caught.

Mostly along the Canal du Centre today, which connects the Saone and Loire rivers. That kept the hills to a minimum, although we did climb steadily alongside the canal locks most of the day, including one set of seven step locks.

Finding our lodging at the end of the day’s riding has been a challenge since the start of the trip, and was again today, especially because I hadn’t been able to get the appropriate high detail map tiles onto my phone for half the town… Eventually two locals hopped in their car and lead our group to the auberge, which was clear on the other side of Montceau-les-Mines, several kilometres away.

One last thunderstorm rolled through just a few minutes after we got to the auberge, and while some folks got caught in it we got to watch it from the porch with the bikes tucked away in the garage.

As if to make up for the lousy night in the local gym, breakfast this morning was really, really good. Arrangements had been made to eat at a local cafe, and it was the best breakfast we’ve had in France, probably the best of the trip so far! Great coffee, a German-style cheese and meat platter, and good juice. Free WiFi, too.

The ride was short again and fairly straightforward along the canal, and we found our lodging easily enough.

The local cycling group and the tourism people hosted a short wine and canapes reception on a motor barge moored near the city centre, and while there we had the first of a string of epic thunderstorms march in, with crazy heavy rain and even hail.

I learned a new and slightly off-colour French phrase while watching it rain from inside the barge, “Il pleut comme une vache qui piss”, literally translated, “It rains like a cow who pisses”, ie it is raining very hard. Useful phrase, that.

We had an abbreviated guided tour of the old part of town with a very nice English-speaking guide, cut short as we watched yet another thunderstorm march in.

Managed to get back to our hostel without getting soaked. The place is normally student housing so instead of multi bed dorms I had a single room that was effectively a bachelor apartment. Nice and quiet, lots of space to put stuff out to air and do a bit of sorting.