Burgundy Calling

We’d been constantly on the move through the Loire, having a great time visiting all the chateaux but after all that activity we felt in definite need of some chill time.

We found a lovely Aire by the Loire river with large grassy pitches that enabled us to set our table and chairs out and enjoy the weather. This was in the small town of Briare.

Briare is at the centre of a network of canals that parallel the Loire river and is the perfect place for leisurely cycles or strolls along the waterways. On our first day we returned from our cycle across a stunning aqueduct built over the top of the Loire river.

This aqueduct is part of the Canal latéral à la Loire and was opened in 1896. It was constructed by Gustav Eiffel, of the Eiffel tower fame, and was, until 2003, the longest navigable aqueduct in the world measuring 662m in length. That title now belongs to the Magdeburg Water Bridge across the Elbe river in Germany.

On our second day in Briare I headed off for a long cycle along the Loire but unfortunately when I was around 15km away from the Aire the chain on my bike snapped leaving me stranded, with no bike shop anywhere near. Sarah had to pack everything up to come and get me.

After a few days relaxing and feeling suitably refreshed, we moved on from the Loire region into Burgundy. Burgundy is best know for its wines and has over 4000 individual wine producers. The Burgundy region is responsible for 0.3% of the world’s total wine.

But first we had to get my bike fixed so we stopped off in the town of Auxerre. The bike shop here was fantastic. They fixed my bike while I waited.

The town of Auxerre itself is very pretty and we took the opportunity to walk around it and enjoy a leisurely lunch.

Given that Burgundy is a renowned wine region we made our first stop at a wine producer in the small town of Beine, which is in the area where Chablis is produced. We stopped at the Alain Geoffrey Winery who are very welcoming to motorhomers by providing free overnight parking with full services including power.

We repaid their generosity by taking part in a wine tasting of 4 Chablis wines of differing values.  Surprisingly I liked the most expensive ones best, even though white wine isn’t really my thing.

On site they also have a museum of corkscrews and wine making equipment. They have over a thousand different types of corkscrews (who knew!).

From Beine we started driving South and went to the small town of Vezelay.

However on the way to Vezelay we stopped off at the Abbaye de Fontenay. This is a UNESCO World Heritage site and the abbey is the oldest Cistercian abbey in the world. It was founded in 1118.

The abbey was beautifully kept and is situated in a lush valley amongst manicured gardens.

At Vezelay, there is a pay car park which isn’t very flat and just outside town a small campsite. We decided to head to the campsite and were pleased to find that staying here, without electricity, was actually cheaper than some of the commercial Aires we’ve been to.

Vezelay is well known for its hilltop abbey and steep main street leading straight up to the abbey.

The abbey was founded on the site of a Roman villa but the current abbey was built between 1120 and 1150. The monks claim to have brought relics of Mary Magdalene here from the holy land in the 9^th century and as a result the site became a destination for pilgrimages. Richard the Lion Heart departed from here for the third crusade.

It was round about now that summer was beginning to catch up with us and the temperature was hitting over 30c. It can get very hot in a motorhome making sleeping at night difficult so in these temperatures our main aim is to find places to stay which allow us to keep as cool as possible, which means heading back North (not an option), water, shade or height.

Burgundy has a lovely regional natural park with three large lakes in it. The park is called Morvan and the biggest lake is called Lac des Setton. We decided to spend a couple of nights in a shaded grassy pitch on the shores of the lake so we could enjoy the cool lake breezes.

After dragging ourselves away from the beautiful relaxing lakeside we carried on south to the wine producing town of Nuits St George which is just south of Dijon. We had intended to spend a day exploring Dijon but on arriving there were some major roadworks blocking the road which lead to where we expected to park and we had to reroute ourselves on the fly and ended up abandoning the city for another time.

Nuits St George was a welcome surprise though. The municipality provides a small free Aire which is on a quiet road a five minute walk from the centre. The only downside was that it meant a hot night.

We went into the town and found one of many wineries, Caveau Moillard. Having enjoyed a white wine tasting this time we thought we would try the reds. This outfit was a little more upscale than the one we did near Chablis but the wines included were much more expensive and for me, being more of a red wine drinker, much tastier. They were all excellent with the Santenay, at €32 a bottle, probably being the best value in terms of taste but the Nuits St George Premier Cru was my favourite. Unfortunately, at over €60 a bottle it is unlikely to be a regular on my table.

Before the tasting we checked out the free municipal museum which had a basement exhibit of roman remains from the area, including a couple of skeletons and lots of burial markers. It was actually surprisingly good.

As the sun was shining and we’d had some wine we stopped off at a bar in town for some beers and this turned into staying out for dinner with a little more wine. We had a lovely afternoon/evening out, made all the more enjoyable because it was completely unexpected. On returning to the Aire we were surprised that the quiet parking area where only one other camper was parked when we arrived was now full with campers parked in every official and some unofficial spots.