Paris - Morvan - Burgundy - Lyon - Mézenc -
Provence - Gorges du Verdon - Côte d'Azur - Alps - Grenoble

After spending the month of July lounging in front of the television watching the Tour de France, we were ready to return to France for a final batch of cycling before work reclaimed our time and energy. This time, we cycled 1204 miles (1931 kilometres) over 26 days with one exhausting "rest day". Starting in the south of France and ending in the Alps meant that we had to use more public transport than usual (e.g. 3 days were devoted to travel and nearly £10 per day of our expenses were spent covering this cost).   We climbed a total of 25,456 metres (83,517 feet). The biggest day's climb was from sea-level into the Alps - 2364 metres (7756 feet) - on the 13th of September. The longest day on the bike was 7 hours. The average was usually 4 or 5 hours. The pulsating heat of summer continued and the hottest day recorded was 42C (107.6F). Cooler air came our way towards the end of our trip, with a wintry 6C (42.8F) in the mountains. Day 1: Home - Boulogne-sur-Mer   20 k A gentle cooling breeze and a blue sky full of billowing white clouds provide the perfect start for the last of our three-part cycle tour of France. What a shame we are only cycling 12 miles today! Both the London and Dover trains have cycle space so the trip is relaxing and uneventful. We are put on an earlier ferry as there is plenty of room. We are the only cyclists. The train from Calais to Boulogne-sur-Mer has a guard's van for cycles but as the train is empty we place them beside us in the aisle. The French holidays have not yet come to an end and no one is about. The local bus station lurks just outside the front of our hotel. In the US and even parts of the UK, this would be the worst part of town. Here in France it is a practical location for travellers. The owners are extremely friendly and accommodating. Once the bikes are safely stored inside I decide to make the best of our clean but plain accommodation. The bed is like a giant egg carton and the concrete-block post office is not our most inspiring view. However, a few streets away (1/7 Rue Faidherbe) we find Le Grand Restaurant, (part of the Logis de France - "LdF" - independent hotel chain), where we enjoy a fantastic dinner. Snail butter and a fish mousse are consumed as we study the menu. The food is creative and delicious, e.g. a fish casserole contained in an aubergine boat and a crème brûlée made with saffron and cherry tomatoes. It is a wonderful return to France after 6 weeks in the UK recovering from our May and June cycling adventure. Day 2: Boulogne-sur-mer - Brie-Comte-Robert   41 k The train is waiting in the station when we arrive half an hour before departure. This provides plenty of time to load our bikes in a former smoking compartment which has been stripped of seats. We lean the bikes against each other and find a seat nearby. A bungee strap helps stabilise the cycles. There aren't many stops before Paris but at one of them another cyclist gets on and tells us about his cycle trip from Marseille to Amsterdam with his 13-year-old daughter many years ago. He is one of the rare touring-camping French cyclists. He is surprised and pleased to hear that you can take bikes on certain TGVs without bagging and boxing up the bike. He is not from Paris and needs to get quickly to the Gare de Lyon for his connecting train. G leads the peloton wearing his blue bandana, I follow in a red Brioches-la-Boulangère cap while the French cyclist remains hatless. He finds it terribly funny to be led through his capital city by an Englishman (sic) and chortles as we whiz up and around Parisian traffic. When we part at the Bastille he is quite moved and wishes us well. We head out on a mixture of bike paths and lanes through Paris, then along the Seine for over 18 miles. It is a fantastic route for getting out of Paris without the need to battle traffic. [PHOTO] However, it is not an attractive route. We cross the périphérique (ring road/interstate) and pass close to various large industrial constructions along the river. Travellers have created free homes under the bypasses but unlike those in the UK, these are tidy and attractively decorated. The Chinese alone have recognised the importance of the confluence of the Seine and the Marne rivers through the creation of an enormous temple-restaurant-shopping mall extravaganza, bright red and looking most uncomfortable amidst the grey and brown factories which surround it on all sides. We stop after 20 miles in one of the suburban villages where masses of road furniture obstruct our route. As no one is about, it doesn't really matter. This is probably the best week to be this near Paris! One of the boulangeries has a notice saying it is closed from 1st through 31st of August. The mass return will be in a week's time. The first field we see marks the edge of Brie-Comte-Robert. We are staying in a former coaching inn. The hotel has retained the evocative name "By the Grace of God…" The ruins of a 12th-century chateau are being restored by local builders and archaeologists. Dare-devil children cycle around the moat while slow moving parents admire the fountains. A few blocks away, the church doors are wide open to display the high arched nave. Day 3: Brie-Comte-Robert - Provins   68 k A carpet covered room hides cracks in the walls and muffles the sound of early morning rain which brings heavy mist and much cooler temperatures to the region. The roads are quiet and the gently rolling farmland provides easy cycling. We are in the land of Brie cheese but there are no cows in sight, only cornfields. The pretty hamlets are interspersed by large fortressed farms built of stone in the 17th and 18th centuries. It is hard to believe we are so near Paris and Disneyland. Our route along tiny roads is a reconstruction of the oldest trade route through Gaul. There would have been more traffic on this road 2,000 years ago when wine was being transported from Marseille to Boulogne-sur-Mer. Just outside Châteaubleau, we would have left an offering and given a prayer to the Gallic version of the god Mercury (who protects travellers). This Gallo-Roman religious site, excavated in the early 1990s by archaeologists, also provides evidence of a goddess who protected horses. The only animal now is a dog whose incessant barking distracts us as we try to read the descriptive plaque placed in the middle of a muddy field. We continue on ever smaller roads to Provins and enter this "best preserved medieval city in France" by passing under the 12th century Jouy Gate, [PHOTO] surrounded on either side by thick double-walled ramparts. We have been seeing the tops of Caesar's Tower and the Saint-Quiriace Collegiate church for the past 10 miles. We visit the oldest 12th-century "Romanesque House" which houses the local museum. One of the most interesting displays (amongst many) is the "tour d'abandon" where unwanted babies were left for the Sisters. It is a barrel divided in two with a sliding door. From the roadside, you would put the baby in and then turn the barrel so it faces the inside of the Convent. The Sisters would then remove the baby and raise it in the Catholic religion. The statistics of the number of unwanted babies left in this way are amazingly high, especially considering the population of the local town and countryside. Unmarried mothers obviously came from some distance to use this popular service. The Counts of Champagne were the first to issue a passport to merchants for safe passage across their territory. Due to this innovation, the fairs of Provins became the most important in Europe. Traders in cloth and spices, but especially money-changers from Italy filled the squares and streets. Poets such as Chrétien de Troyes also made this town famous. The 14th century marked the beginning of its decline but fortunately the town layout was retained and is now protected by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. We have ample time to walk in and around, past vegetable gardens and farmyards, still housed within the ramparts. Day 4: Provins - Chablis   116 k No cows and no shops as we roll through the countryside past attractive stone villages on yet another beautiful sunny day. Cornfields are abundant and in one, a small clearing has been made to display a towering megalith (supposedly) kissed by Attila the Hun, now defaced by an IGN altitude marker. [PHOTO] Attila wasn't the only one to wreak devastation on this region and we are soon passing through the village of St Maurice-aux-Riches-Hommes renamed by the Taliban of the French Revolution as "St Maurice-sans-culottes", i.e. "rich men" replaced by "revolutionaries". All this living history has made us hungry and we are relieved to find some shops at last in Courgenay, though the choice is limited. The butcher and his customer are very interested in our cycle trip so a long conversation ensues while I frantically eye the counter to see if there is anything I can buy for lunch. The fully feathered but clearly dead specialty hen has to remain in the shop while I opt for some tabouli salad. We continue past corn ready for harvesting and sunflowers bowed in prayer - or resignation at the coming of winter. The countryside undergoes subtle changes as we venture into the Cerilly Valley. Large smooth rounded hills loom on either side. Desperation for food is now replaced by desperation for water. Cemeteries in this region have no running water and shops are still scarce. But our troubles pale as we consider the history of this route. Unwanted babies and small children used to be collected from the countryside, placed in carts and taken to Paris. The men pulling these carts would give the babies wine to keep them quiet and throw out those who were sick or dead. One of these babies was a girl tossed into a ditch near Venizy. She was retrieved and brought up by the town's Republican Committee. She became a laundress. We pass no baby carts and very few cars or trucks pass us until we reach the buzzingly busy Saint-Florentin. A very pretty valley from Chéu to Ligny-le-Châtel is followed by views of steep sided hills covered in vineyards. The outskirts of Chablis are unattractive with its many single-storey pre-fabricated buildings set up to house and sell wine. The town itself is filled with a mixture of architectural styles from different periods and is more attractive. Our hotel, pretending to be an English B&B is really awful - pretentious, expensive, over-decorated and verging on the dishonest. Fortunately, dinner at a nearby restaurant, La Feuillette, is delicious as well as affordable. All of the options on the menu are a perfect accompaniment to their wines. We have a Chablis "Cave du Connoisseur". The guests in our hotel also enjoy the local wine and, unusually, we are kept awake by drunken Frenchmen. Day 5: Chablis - Vauclaix   92 k The silly, gossipy and disorganised women running the hotel (called Hôtel Bergerand's Au Relais de la Belle Étoile) decide the price of the room does not include breakfast (though it was promised over the telephone) and we leave hungry and disgusted. We exit the town past arched stone gates and several grand old wineries. A breakfast picnic is consumed under the stairs of the Hotel de Ville in Lichères, empty except for a few dog walking locals. Nitry and Sacy are neighbouring villages that used to hold each other in the lowest regard. Sacy attracted dirty beggars while Nitry was accused of being too worldly. Nowadays, Nitry, surrounded by roads, is much less attractive than Sacy which is hidden amongst forest-covered hillsides. A massive 12-13th century monastic church must have been one attraction for beggars. Sacy was also home to Restif de Bretonne, an early novelist/ethnologist. We enjoy a lovely long descent into Joux-la-Ville. Along the way we pass a pilgrim walking from Cologne, a "man of the cloth" with a map stitched on his jacket. The oyster shells surrounding his route on the map indicate that he is on one of the many routes to Compostela. We are now entering the Morvan, a landscape described by 19th-century visitors as "severe". Interestingly, the cyclist we met on the train to Paris used exactly the same term. We don't find it so but perhaps the warm autumnal weather is masking some other reality. Stone farm buildings dominate the small villages we pass on our way to Givry. At the top of this gentle climb we cycle along the flat Cure river valley with tree covered slopes on either side. The rounded hills look like massive waves about to break. It is an easy climb from Asquins to Vézelay up narrow roads which provide wonderful views of this religious site where an abbey was founded in the 9th century. The Basilica is propped on top of a rounded hill. We cycle up tourist-filled narrow roads, lined by shops. The route is nearly vertical for the pilgrims who were desperate to reach the relics of Mary Magdalene (see May 2005 account). The façade is as impressive as the large and airy ambulatory. [PHOTO] The church nave, ribbed by ceiling arches, is beautifully open and light. There are no side chapels though there are wide side aisles with columns decorated in stone carvings, each telling a story from the Bible. We copy the Tour de France and quickly descend to Saint-Père, where another beautiful church invites us in. The deep porch is decorated in filigree stone carvings and delicately arched doorways through which television cameramen filmed the brightly coloured TdF peloton back in July. It is amazing that there were no accidents on the narrow winding roads through this minuscule hamlet. We are shocked to attention by a large number of whizzing Dutch, German and Parisian cars on our way from Bazoches to Vauban. Tranquillity returns as we climb steeply to "la Justice" where people were hanged while enjoying a 360 degree view of the countryside and the church spire of Lormes. Lormes is a busy, non-descript town full of bored teenagers on noisy motor scooters. We are glad the hotel claimed to be full when we tried to book in July. Getting out of town requires steep ascents and descents but soon we are in "deepest Morvan", cycling past denuded hills, forlorn looking trees and old trucks tangled amongst weeds. We are on the officially sign-posted flottage route (log-driving), a historical reminder of when wood was floated to Paris on rivers rather than carried on large trucks. Vauclaix is tiny but it has an LdF hotel which is one of the best of our trips (the Hôtel de la Poste). Our room is in an annex past the swimming pool, past the child-sized chess pieces on coloured paving stones and an outdoor ping-pong table. The dining room is in a large conservatory and we have a most enjoyable and delicious evening with our host who has all the best traits of a hotelier. Morvan dishes, local cheeses and honey beer are accompanied by a Bordeaux wine. Day 6: Vauclaix - Autun   72 k G has not slept well and I wake with the beginnings of a cold but this does not deter us from enjoying a delicious buffet breakfast of fresh orange juice, homemade breads, local honey, fruit salad, all served on plates made by a local potter. The Michelin guide notes that though the Morvan is described as mountainous, it is actually a plateau with valleys carved out by the rivers. The non-porous rock contributes to the poor soil as well as to the strength of the torrential rivers. One field we pass is so full of rocks that I assume they are potatoes. The autumnal sunshine lights up the differing shades of green in the meadows and forests we cycle past. The white Charolais cattle match the bulbous clouds overhead. [PHOTO] The landscape reminds us of Perthshire (Scotland). For the past two days, we feel as though we have been cycling on a ridge road. The gradients are always moderate, the roads are generally empty and the countryside is pleasantly diverting. However, shops are rare and we are relieved to find food and drink when we reach Montsauche-les-Settons. The Lac des Settons is a disappointment. Views never materialise and when we finally arrive at its shore, all we see is a large expanse of water for motor boats. However, there is great excitement when we realise this marks the spot of our 10,000th mile in France. We eat yogurts in celebration. [PHOTO] The day began with an average of one car every 30 minutes. Now there are 30 per minute. The road that follows the lake is wearyingly curvaceous. At Cussy-en-Morvan, a donkey in a field below the road almost breaks its neck begging for food and attention. [PHOTO] A descent through tall shady pine trees brings us into Sommant. We enter a flattish valley at Tavernay and soon after we are cycling under a Corinthian style double-arched Roman gate into Autun. [PHOTO] It is well-preserved though cars drive under it daily. There is a surprising mixture of architecture in Autun: Roman, 11th century, late medieval and 1960s. Unique to this town, it seems, are the many tiled roofs pitched at 80 degrees. We visit the Chapterhouse, which has beautifully detailed stone carvings on the capitals, such as the death of Cain and the sleeping Magi. A lively rendition of the Mouth of Hell and an image of the Devil trying to weight the scales of St Peter dominates the tympanum above the Cathedral doors. We dine with families, all with teenage children wearing t-shirts covered in images of guns while the bikes have a raucous dinner with the staff in the courtyard. Day 7: Autun - Cluny   104 k G wakes early to walk a mile to the outskirts of town where two sides of a temple of Janus still stand. [PHOTO] The tall rectangular walls are punctuated by small square openings through which the rising sun can be seen. [PHOTO] Janus doesn't provide a cure to my cold, which is worse - not the ideal day for a 100 km ride. We begin with a steep climb out of the town [PHOTO] past a perpendicular pyramidal Roman structure. The swelling and rolling green landscape displays a greater variety of deciduous trees in addition to the pine and fir forests of previous days. A moderate clamber up to Montromble provides good views of Le Creusot, a former mining town which no longer shows any signs of its past. All is quiet due to the usual Monday shop closures. A series of small villages take us downhill to the Canal du Centre. The promised canal bike path on the Michelin map does not exist, but the road is perfectly pleasant beside the canal and the flowery hamlets. Villeneuve-en-Montagne was bombed and occupied during WWII for its strategic position. Now it is a bare village with wide-open views across acres of farmland. At Rosey, despite the lack of signposting, G locates the promised bike path. It is fantastic - it has an excellent surface, is well-maintained, wide enough for 3 cyclists, has useful signposting every kilometre as well as information about exits to hotels, shops, water and toilets. It is used by racing cyclists as well as families. Even better, it goes through varied countryside. The prettiest section is before Cormatin [PHOTO] where we cycle on a flat path past steeply sloping vineyards (we are on a former rail line used for transporting wine). The towers of the Abbey and Church dominate the skyline of Cluny, our stop for the night. The hotel is adjacent to the Abbey and we enjoy a delicious dinner in a very elegant dining room. Day 8: Cluny - Lyon   121 k Gallo-Roman ruins stand to attention just outside the breakfast room. Inside we have a view of perfectly attired cyclists from the USA. If this had been the 19th century, we might have been joined by Lamartine (Romantic poet and President, briefly, of France) who stayed here. The cycle route we are continuing today goes past his home. Once again, there is no signpost to the cycle path, but once found, it proves as good as yesterday. There is some climbing after Cluny. At one point there are two options and as my cold is continuing its assault, I opt to go through the longest cycle tunnel in Europe while G goes over the Col du Bois Clair. The tunnel is well-lit with a very wide clear path. It is also refreshingly cool on this hot day. The bike path ends at Charnay just outside an Information Centre which provides water, public toilets, cycle parking and information for cyclists. The parking lot is full of people putting on roller blades or unpacking bikes from their car. In an attempt to make the day shorter and easier, we decide to omit Mâcon. We assume there will be no problem finding food elsewhere but in Cormoranche we can only find hairdressers and flower shops, row upon row for nearly a mile. Not sure what they eat. Eventually we are forced to stop in a restaurant in St Didier-sur-Chalaronne as any shops are now closed until late afternoon. We lunch with a roomful of road workers who consume more food and wine than we are capable of on this very hot day. A dull countryside of drying cornfields and drained ponds bake in the hazy heat. All is quiet. This is the region known as the Dombes. A few cattle and horses amble lethargically in fallow fields. After a climb up to Tramoyes we start seeing local racing cyclists out from Lyon for a late afternoon ride. Why here, I wonder, as I only just avoid slipping on the gravel covered roads, so thick that we pass a man shovelling it up for use at home. G leads us expertly over a single track bridge and we are suddenly in the Parc de Miribel, 20km from Lyon. We lose the bike path (the problem of there being too many routes to choose from in the park) but eventually find it again. As we get closer to the University (and the centre) we are joined by ever more racing cyclists out on a training run, students on rollers and families on variously extended bikes. We conclude our entry into Lyon by cycling through the largest city park in Europe, the Tête d'Or. It is early evening and the massive tree canopy makes us wish for bike lights. We emerge from the park to a most amazing sight - a queue of people waiting to pick up one of the city's rental bikes. [PHOTO] Vélo'V is a fairly new scheme that has mushroomed. Using a bank or credit card, you register your details on a computer. This then allows you to borrow a bike which has baskets, lights, easily adjustable seat and handlebars, 3-speeds, disk brakes, chain and mud guards. The tyre pressure is checked by computer when the bike is reinserted into one of the thousands of parking places. This link also records the end of use and if less than half an hour, there is no charge. The bikes cost 1 Euro per hour after that, with a maximum period of 24 hours. It is incredibly easy and flexible and it is clear during the next day that many people use a bike for a free half-hour repeatedly throughout the day. Young and old, tall and short, folks in jeans and others in suits all use this new facility. What a success in this cycle positive city! Our hotel (Hôtel Bayard) is friendly with large rooms in odd shapes. The bikes are in a courtyard with large potted trees. It is 9pm before we are bathed and dressed for dinner in a nearby brasserie. It is around the corner from the Place Bellecour, destroyed by the Revolution before being rebuilt a mere 10 years later. Now it is full of bookstores, expensive clothing stores, restaurants and people out strolling on this warm evening. Day 9: Rest Day in Lyon Steep climbs up from either side of the wide rivers (Saône and Rhone) running through the centre of Lyon mean that this is not an easy rest day. Hundreds and hundreds of steps lead up to Notre-Dame de Fourvière. [PHOTO] Hot and tired, we peer down at Lyon from tree-shaded paths and amble past the massive remains of Roman theatres. We visit the Basilica which contains a large quantity of modern mosaics telling the story of Lyon. An enthusiastic nun selects us for her detailed tour of the interior. A Thai lunch and long nap provide us with sufficient energy to tackle the climb up the banks of the Rhone later that day. We look down on former weavers' houses, tall chimneys visible from every housetop. Nowadays, there is no smoke but we can imagine how the prevalence of factories in homes during the 18th and 19th centuries would have darkened the sky for miles around. Click here for Part Two Click here for photographs Back to home page