Melun to Avignon. About 840km. July/August 2011
The road south from Paris to le Midi is one of the great thoroughfares of Europe – travelled by Grand Tourists, artists and holidaymakers bound for the sun – and a gastronomic pilgrimage through Burgundy, the Lyonnais and the Rhone Valley. Declining the chance to spend half a day pedalling through the Paris suburbs, we caught the RER to St Fargeau, near Melun, and set off from there through Fontainebleau forest, followed by a long day’s ride to Chablis and Burgundy wine country. After a spell on the towpath at the top of the Canal de Bourgogne and a tasting lunch in Puligny Montrachet we skirted Lyon to the east (the flatter side) and made our way south through the Drome with more wine tourism chez Chapoutier at Tain L’Hermitage. Entering Provence via the beautiful Col de Tartaiguille, we had time for a tour of perched villages and lavender country that brought us to the herb market town of Nyons; and took the Dentelles de Montmirail wine road to Avignon via Gigondas and Beaumes de Venise.
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Information:
Seine-et-Marne: www.tourisme77.fr
Burgundy: www.crt-bourgogne.fr
Rhone-Alpes: www.rhonealpes-tourisme.com
Ain: www.ain-tourisme.com
Drome: www.ladrometourisme.com
Trains: www.eurostar.co.uk; www.raileurope.co.uk; www.voyages-sncf.com
Fruitful Burgundy. The covered market in Sens.
Chablis vineyard walks
Noyers
Noyers, La Maison du Schematisme
Canal de Bourgogne, Grand Pré lock
Canal de Bourgogne near Pouilly en Auxois
The Cote de Beaune at Meursault
“Now for the real test.” (Lunch a little out of focus by this stage.) Chez Olivier Leflaive, Puligny Montrachet
Mosaic floor at St Philibert, Tournus
Georges Blanc’s Ancienne Auberge, Vonnas. The proof of the poulet is in the eating
Pérouges
Body-drying. The Y-front foulard
Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle. Special occasions only
The Rhone at Tournon
Chapoutier, the uptake
Chapoutier, the intake. Tain L’Hermitage
Before the pass
Lavender or lavandin?
At the pass
Nyons
The Dentelles wine road
Le Ventoux, brooding and accusatory
We ignored it
Cooling off period in the Ouvèze
Avignon, Pont Bénézet