Day 10 Nuits St George to Baumes Les Meisseurs

Following a wonderful stay in a little village outside Nuits St George, where the hosts were remarkable, even washing my cycle kit!! And Joel made homemade pain au lait, fruit tartlets from cherries and apricots in the garden, and his wife introduced me to Palais du the tea, which may prove financially unfortunate! The Green The du Louvre was delicious! Having found cycling the plains near Chartres a real challenge, it was with some trepidation that I set out this morning across the Saone valley floor, a 60Km wide corridor between the hills famed for Burgundian wines, and the Jura mountains.

I was pleasantly surprised as again Komoot provided a beautiful route with very little vehicular traffic; wending my way through little woodlands interspersed with crop fields, many of which were already harvested given the recent heat! I also came across fields of another crop famed near Dijon, Blackcurrants! I am a huge fan of a Kir, an aperitif, comprised of a dash of crème de cassis, made in this region, with white wine, ideally Bourgogne Aligoté! Delicious!

I reached across towards the far side of the valley and came upon the little town of Losne; perfect stop for coffee and croissant o’clock! I then followed the riverside tow path, before joining the canal which joins the Rhone to the Rhine; a really quite popular route for day trippers on their boats; I spied one couple similar to some family friends of ours, the chap helming with a pastis in hand, and the lady of the boat writing away on her laptop on the deck at the back! This canal forms part of the EuroVelo 6, a route that runs from the Atlantic to the Black Sea! Maybe a route for the future!! https://fr.eurovelo.com/ev6 A real treat for being part of such long-distance route was that this little stretch of canal featured, drum roll please, a water fountain!!! Woohooo!

It was at this treat that my route departed from Eurovelo6 and headed towards more local destinations; a very rural route, following the route of a disused railway, 20 Km of traffic free cycling which was lovely, I only saw two other cyclists! It was a little light on a provision opportunity so I was glad to have a goody bag from our B&B! I took my lunch stop at the disused railway station in Pleure, and was delighted to discover that this little building doubled as the local village hall, and my timings coincided with some village event, so I requested if I could avail myself of their facilities. I politely declined to join in the afternoon’s activities, it looked rather like bingo or a beetle drive, and continued onwards. The route became a little hillier, and distinctly more grazing rather than arable farming land. I was reaching the start of the Jura. The weather had thus far been favourable, warm rather than baking, and dry; however, clouds were amassing apace and I stepped up the pace to try to reach my destination before the storms! The sky darkened as I climbed higher, a text from my mum warned me of terrible flash flooding just east of me; i.e., where the dark clouds were which were heading for my direction! There was little shelter apparent so I kept cycling onwards, through a delightful village, Arlay, a tempting stream for a swim but I continued.

It was at this juncture the thunder started, distantly, and as yet no lightning so I continued. It really felt like I was in a race with the weather! I was so close (12Km) to my destination that I was determined to continue; however, the weather gods had other ideas; the wind suddenly whipped up, viciously, and I cycled as fast as I could (35Km it transpires, a speed I had no idea I could reach on the flat!) to reach shelter; the lightning bolts started striking with increasing frequency, and thunder with increasing intensity. I was so relieved to see a little roadside bar open at Domblans, which I arrived at just as the heavens opened! The patron was a very elegantly presented lady, possibly in her seventies; meticulously dressed, coiffured and made up I felt a poor guest at her bar, clad in lycra soaked through! She was incredibly kind however, and welcomed me inside to warm up and weather the storm. She noticed my tremor and carried my coffee to the table; she asked whether I had Parkinson’s and was curious to learn more about it. I shared my prescription for living well with Parkinson’s; exercise, nutrition, minimizing stress and focusing on what one can do. She shared how her approach to coping with the grief of suddenly losing her husband 30 years ago was not dissimilar and how one should seek the silver linings! Outside meanwhile the road had rapidly become a torrent, and I was quite relieved when the cavalry stopped by! We enjoyed a coffee hoping that the rain would subside, but it did not, so I graciously retired for the final few kilometers up to Baumes Les Meisseurs.