Canal de Bourgogne - First Day

The day of the trip, we met on Sunday, May 22, at 8AM near the Guillotière Bridge in Lyon.  Tom our fourth member, who came over again from England, was staying in a hotel nearby, and his rental bicycle was in a storage locker also nearby.  The weather was very threatening, and had been wet for most of the Spring so far.  

Ready to Go - Hoping it Will Not Rain

After loading the bikes on Gerard’s trusty car, we were off on the 2+ hour drive to Saint Jean de Losne, the eastern end of the canal.  We reached Saint Jean de Losne, parked the car, unloaded our bikes and bags, and were off about 11:30.  The first 2km or so of the canal path was basically cobbles.  We thought - this will be fun for 240km.  Luckily the trail smoothed out shortly after and we were able to get our speed up to 17-18km or so.  [Roger had installed an electronic odometer/speedometer on David’s borrowed bike – being able to see the effect of surface, slope, and weather on speed was illuminating.]

Abandoned Lock House With Distance Sign

Our Chambre de Hôte was in Fontaine-les-Dijon, several kilometers north of Dijon, and we wanted to get there in the early afternoon so we could do some sight-seeing in Dijon.  Unfortunately a light rain combined with a head wind soon began.  Not only were we slowed considerably, but we were also wet.  Luckily it was ‘only’ light showers, and we could dry out in between.  The combination of wind and water acted to chill us considerably, however.  At a couple of points we went off the trail to small towns looking for a restaurant for lunch – nothing open on a Sunday, however.  We had to stop at least once to wait out a heavy shower.

Bike Path with Canal Lock on Left, Lock House on Right

Bike path and Canal with Tom, Roger, Gerard

We entered Dijon about 3:30PM, found a boulangerie, and bought sandwiches and drinks.  We then set off for our rooms for the night, finding them after a short hill-climb.  We planned to unpack a bit and go back into Dijon, but the rain began to fall steadily.  We wound up having to take a cab to Dijon for dinner and forgo sight-seeing due to the steady rain.

David at Dinner Surrounded by Wine Glasses

We did enjoy a good dinner - salmon with Béarnaise sauce for David, a burger for Tom, large salads for Roger and Gerard.  David ordered a bottle of Marsannay to try – not bad.  We then called another cab and returned to our rooms as the rain continued.  44km for the day.