Cycle Touring in France: Chalk and cheese

The last two days could not have been more different. Yesterday it forecast rain and we hoped to have a relatively easy day traveling down by the canal after cycling back through the vineyards from Beaune to Santernay. The day started fine, but cloudy, and we were lucky to find a bar around lunchtime just before the showers arrived. The sky went black and we had thunder and lightening for an hour or so before it finally cleared. The velo route took us away from the canal, presumably to make the route more interesting, but we found ourselves literally going up hill and down dale and soon got tired. There were no tourist information booths open, so we did not know where would be staying for the night. The afternoon wore on and, although the scenery was very pretty, we had some concerns about getting a hotel. We finally arrived at Montceau les Mines at around 7pm after cycling for over 80km and the first hotel we tried was full. We got the last room in another and were relieved to have a place to stay. We ate at the hotel and were in bed soon after. Today was a different story. It started fine and sunny as we followed the canal down to Paray le Monial and we arrived fresh and early in the afternoon. We found a good and inexpensive hotel in the centre of town and spent the afternoon sightseeing. It's a pretty religious town, in that there are several churches, a basilica and a museum of religious art. They are all impressive and the town in general is well laid out with gardens by the river and canal. We are still feeling the effects of yesterday's long and hilly cycle but hopefully we will be back to full strength tomorrow.

On the way back south through the vineyards of Burgogne