the River Arroux in the town of Touloun sur Arroux. Today is our 8th
day since leaving London. Its also our first rest day (don't pooh pooh
this Full Gas Cycling Club, our bikes weigh 38kg!). In this time we
have covered 777km, got somewhat fitter, have improved our French,
slept in a few forests, set about growing some beards and really
enjoyed the French cuisine and the wine. In fact we have just
travelled through the Burgundy region, which boasts the best wines in
the world. No blends here. We have also maintained our coffee intake
although it is from Sainsburys...Its nearly finished so we will be
buying some of the 'good stuff' soon as long as we can time our visits
to the shops correctly. Whenever we get to a shop its closed. Talk
about work life balance.
The last couple of days has taken us through some amazing scenery. The
best wehave seen (the route from Dieppe to Fontainbleau is somewhat
dull!). Things kicked off when we hit Auxerre,which used to be an
important trade link along the great Roman highway between Lyon and
Boulogne. From there we headed up the Cure River to Vezelay, a world
heritage listed village perched on a rocky spur and crowned by a
medieval basilica. This was our entry point into the Parc Naturel
Regional du Morvan. The Morvan, which is the Celtic word for Black
Forest, extends over 700 sq km and is thickly forested with beach,
oak, hornbeam, birch and conifers. The route we selected took in the
villages of St Brisson, Chateau Chinon and Luzy and was restricted to
backroads which rarely had numbers. Linking these villages took us
through forests where we saw nobody, up steep 5-10 km long climbs
which had us panting for breath but we were always rewarded by a long
swooping downhill and then another climb. The area is interspersed
with lakes the most spectactular was Lac des Settons. The lake and
the surrounds were deserted and we got to enjoy the silence amd soak
in the views. We spent one night camping in a forest largely because
the campsite we were supposed to stay in was closed. We found a great
spot in an oak forest with a very soft leaf and moss covered floor
which made it very comfortable. The next day dawned clear skies. A
treat indeed seeng that it had been overcast since London and i was
cursing the heavy sun tan cream weighing down my pannier. We left
Morvan on an awesome downhill which took us to Luzy at 40km h plus.
Unfortunately Luzy's only campsite was closed so we headed south
residing ourselves to another night of rough camping. But luck would
have it that 20 km down the road we came across Toulon sur Arroux
which has a lovely campsite with hot showers. The decision to take a
rest da was quickly taken although we think we may need some more
clothes as at 4 am the temps hit zero. Not fun when your sleeping bag
is rated plus 3 degrees!
We are now off to find some beer. We have not had an since Friday the
7th! Long may the sun stay out!
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