The magic is back!! Today dawned cloudless but really cold so after b'fast, got the bikes from their room and headed back to our beautiful bakery and selected lunch. Headed out of town with no trouble today and were again soon into the countryside.
Don't think I've ever worn so much clothing whilst on a bike - the air was really cold so thermals, sleeves, plus a warm coat and two pairs of gloves!! Burgundy is just so diffrerent from any other places we have cycled. Quite flat (there were only two climbs today, neither of which was any thing like the Greek Is climbs. Hate to think how many tonnes of grapes they grow here but the whole countryside is just one huge vinyard really with quaint villages every kilometre or so on top of hills rather than mountains. Pretty easy riding except for the very rough roads in some places.
Only one navigation glitch today and that brought us to the village of Vosne Romanee, apparently the most famous of the wine producers, a few kilometres earlier than we were supposed to so that was not a problem. On the recommendation of the lady in the Nuits St Georges Tourist Office we visited the Domaine Rion (again apparently famous) winery and did a bit of serious tasting. Very nice and a lovely hostess took us through their whites and reds - no pressure to buy, probably as while the wine was fairly reasonable - circa 35euro - shipping to Australia was a mere 230 euro plus 4% insurance. We'll have to live without our Burgundy but it really isn't that great. Apparently the wine from the paddock next to the one that the wine we were tasting was grown sells for over 1000euro a bottle. Explain that.
Went and had our beautiful bread/cheese/sausage for lunch outside a little church (we had brought a bottle of wine for lunch but after all that tasting decided not to open it!) and then back to the rolling hills, villages and vinyards for the afternoon - very pleasant riding - but already cooling down again by 3. Got back to Beaune about 4.30 so just a beautiful day. The cycling in Burgundy is, as I said, very different - the scenery is not as spectacular as the other rides we have done but it is beautiful countryside nevertheless. Lovely people - we stopped in one village just to refer to the map and a fellow came along the footpath and thought we were lost - I told him it was OK we were just heading for Flagey-Echezeau, but off he went, explaining with all the sounds and hand gestures how we should get there - we certainly understood when he was describing roundabouts!!
Tonight we went a little restaurant just down from the hotel - they offered foi gras so everything else follows!! -We also had the MOST beautiful fish (sea bass) in a wine sauce - the French are just so good at sauces plus a grand marnier desert - back to earth next week!!!
Cheers all
Trivia: When the French say "Publique Toilette" that's exactly what they mean!! (see photo)
Pictures:
* refer trivia
*At the Domaine Rion winery
* The rolling hills (and vinyards) of Burgundy
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