Burgundy with a Tandem

[MrsMothy]

We will be doing some fixed base touring from just south of Chalon sur Soane (South of Dijon) at the end of August / beginning of September. Has anyone got any routes they can recommend, please?... preferably routes of no more than 100/150km to allow time for tea-shopping... or visiting the odd vineyard.

[wirral_cyclist]

Have a look at http://www.gpsies.com and look at your area of interest for other peoples posted routes - you don't actually need a gps to use the routes as you can easily zoom in to see what roads to highlight on any old map of a decent scale.

Looks to be few in the area:-

http://www.gpsies.com/home.do#12_46.779 ... 7_mapQuest

[johnb]

Spent a few days on a campsite just south of Chalon sur Soane a few years back, lovely place and great cycling countryside. You have many options from staying on the flat on the Rhone valley or you can take a climbing route back up to Beaune and over the mountain to Pouilly En Auxois via the Canal de Bourgogne when you come down off the hill on the other side. Don't miss Chateauneuf just past Bouhey. Or you can head south to Macon and loop back towards Switzerland and enjoy the mountain views. Enjoy the Mistral.

[MrsMothy]

Wow,! Thanks Wirralcyclist! There's loads of ideas on that site! Mothy will check out the GPS options for some of the routes which will be really useful. We don't want to waste a moment of our 'oh so short' holiday.

[MrsMothy]

Hi Johnb. We definitely hope to get to Chateauneuf... the Mecca for Mothy's favourite wine, but also hope to get to Cluny and and some of the other religious sites. The only built up day we have planned is to head up to Dijon to go to the tomb of the Dukes of Burgundy.

Which campsite did you use, Johnb??? We are staying at Chateau de l'Eperviere because we couldn't find a recommendation but they take camping cheques from 25th August which makes it only about £13.95 a night, including caravan, car, two adults, electric hookup and the use of the facilities including the pool and shower block if we want them, which we thought was pretty good.

[johnb]

I stayed in a little campsite in Tournous about 20 mile south of Chalon sur Saone, lovely little town and campsite. I think it cost me ten euros. All the campsites in this region seem to be of a very decent standard and they are all full of English tourists with caravans breaking their journey North to South and vice versa.

South of Lyon there is a town called Vienne which is built in the old Roman style and is full of Roman ruins. Has to be one of the nicest towns in the region.

[MrsMothy]

We'll have a look at Vienne in the guide book as it's possibly not too far for a pedal out and a look at the ruins. Mostly we avoid towns and head out on the tiny lanes to the little villages. I enjoy the chance to use my French and being amongst the villagers often gives the best opportunity. I always come back more fluent than I go, or so my French friends tell me.

[johnb]

Would be a good spin, 100 miles each way.

[MrsMothy]

Yes but Joybringer could have a ride on the roof of the car part way. We like to do as much walking and cycling as possible whilst on holiday as it means we can spend a certain amount of time sampling the local food and wines so our tandem is very much our day to day transport but not exclusively so.

[johnb]

That's perfect then. I stayed on the west bank of the Saone from Macon on down for the most part and really enjoyed it.

[MrsMothy]

Holidays usually are perfect but we can't get enough of them .