10. Breakfast, Bike, Fun Chateau, and Beaune

This was a cool one, literally. Temperatures here are slowly dropping as fall arrives in Burgundy. It was 36 degrees when we woke, and that is too cold for little ole Florida bike rider ME. So we decided to spend some time finding the best and/or closest boulangerie, to buy some fresh croissants and baguette for breakfast and lunch. After scraping ice off the windshield, we drove to the best recommended boulangerie in Nuits-St-George, but it was closed. Second choice was a few kilometers down the road at Comblanchien…it was open and we scored! We hauled our goodies back to Villers-La-Faye, and pretty soon had our own version of the perfect French breakfast for a cold day: hot chocolate, fresh baguettes, and jelly. Tres bon, even though the memories of those incredible breakfasts we enjoyed last week still linger…

Our breakfast treats from the boulangerie

Leaving the house in Villers-la-Faye: still kinda cold! 

As the sun rose, the coolness eased and I got out on the bike. My favorite type of riding lay ahead: keep a map in your pocket, but head out and just take whatever roads look good, chase down pretty villages that appear in the distance, ride til you’re pooped, then turn around and find a way home. This day ended up being ideal. 45 degrees to start, clear sky and little traffic on the back country roads I found. This area is almost totally devoted to agriculture, including livestock, traditional farm crops, and thousands of acres of vineyards for the local wine industry. So, LOTS of narrow, hidden, little-used paved roads criss-cross the entire area. Perfect for biking. The terrain was also ideal: rolling hills, with some occasional short hard climbs, and plenty of downhill stretches to make the climbs worthwhile. I rode through all kinds of tiny villages with names like Marey-les-Fussey, L’Etang-Vergy, Clos-de-Veugeot, and my “turnaround” spot, Gevrey-Chambertin. Most of them were not as “scenic” as you’d expect…these are working farm towns, with lots of ancient buildings converted to modern use, but not spiffed-up to look all touristy and cutesy. Each village has an “Eglise", a church, on the main square, so many times you look for the road signs at the main intersection and figure out where to go next while being watched from above by an ancient church bell tower! 

Rest stop at an endless vineyard, near this ancient wall with arched cave entrances in the back wall

Attempt at panorama pic showing vineyards on every side, on the hill, and beautiful sky today

THIS is my idea of perfect roads for cycling! 

I took some pics of the countryside, including the vineyards, farm crop fields, villages in the distance and the awesome narrow country roads. THIS is why you stay in shape by riding in the USA: so you can come and enjoy places like this, where there is very little contact between bikes and  motorists in the first place, drivers seem not to resent cyclists and give them a wide berth, and the culture seems to encourage cycling. Yes, there is a heaven for cyclists, and maybe it is Burgundy!  My planned 2 hour ride turned out to be more like 4 hours by the time I found my way home. I was delayed by one encounter with some cool hikers I thought were from Switzerland. While leaning on a stone wall in Chevannes, puzzling over my map trying to find a way back to VLF, 7 hikers appeared from the woods with small backpacks and walking sticks…and TOPO MAPS! They immediately took me under their wing, and we talked back and forth to get me back on course, even though only one of them spoke some English, and I just speak idiot-French. I showed them how my bike can be disassembled to fit in a suitcase, and one of the guys mentioned Mont Ventoux! I zipped open my jacket and proudly showed him my Mt. Ventoux jersey I just happened to be wearing that day, and he was very impressed I'd climbed that famous mountain on my bike…at least, I THINK that’s the impression I made! We took photos of each other to seal our new friendship, and everyone took off on their journeys. This is why I love riding solo on trips, stuff like this doesn’t happen if you’re with a pack of other riders. 

This hiking group helped me get un-lost, and were as nice as anyone I've met yet. 

After arriving home in VLF, Lynn and I decided to check out a local chateau that is reputed to be really funky! Savigny-les-Beaune is only 6-8 kilometers from here, so we took the afternoon to explore it. WOW, what a worthwhile visit! Chateau Savigny dates back to 1340 AD, but was destroyed and rebuilt in the 1500’s. The Count whose family has owned it for the past 50 years or so restored the Chateau, and now uses it to store and display his eccentric collections of MILITARY JET PLANES, FIRE ENGINES, TRACTORS, MOTORCYCLES, MINIATURE cars, trucks and motorcycles, Ancient Furniture, and my personal favorite: about 50 ABARTH RACE CARS from the 1960’s, which the Count used to race all over Europe. These things are all stored in various places around the estate, the planes are all kept outside, exposed to the elements and basically rotting away. Thankfully, the racing Abarths and all the Count's racing trophies are all displayed on an upstairs floor of a beautiful outbuilding near the Chateau. We crawled all over the collection, touching nothing but trying to absorb all the mechanical wonderfulness we could (well, I DID. I think Lynn just tolerated it for my sake!)

PART of the Abarth race car collection the Count keeps from his racing days in the 1960-70's This was just like a huge racing time-capsule! 

Well, it's just an indescribable scollection of jet planes from USA, Franee, Russia, Great Britain, etc. All out behnd the Chateau! 

Lynn marveling at the Fire Truck collection! 

Some Abarth prototype cars and the Count's racing trophies

Then, it was over. We headed for Beaune on a scouting expedition, to drive through the Centre Ville (center of the village) in case Lynn wants to drive in there for market or browsing while I’m riding sometime. Mission accomplished, we made it back to VLF,  and are preparing for tomorrow’s adventures, whatever they may be.

Thanks for reading about our foolishness. We are enjoying ourselves immensely. See you all soon! 

Here are some extra photos of the trip if you are interested:

Trip PHOTOS