we have a short day planned, from Dijon to Pouilly-en-Auxois. before leaving the town we stop at a bicycle shop to have to loud ticking in one of our bikes checked out: it might be dirt in the bearing of the pedals or the bearing coming loose itself. bad news is they can’t fix it, good news is that it probably won’t break down completely, so we resolve to learn to ignore it.
the sky is bright blue and even in the morning the sun is warm so for the first time during this holiday we can ride with only one layer! from here on on we will follow the Canal de Bourgogne all the way back to our starting point Migennes. no vineyards here, but hillsides with pastures and fields, bordered by hedges and trees. the road is smooth asphalt so we make good progress. it’s one thirty by the time we manage to find a restaurant that is open, we had more or less planned to buy provisions for a picnic, but the villages by the canal are so small that they don’t even have a bakery.
camera bag on top, two small bags in front and two big bags on the back, plus about three liters of water. on top of 16 kg of bike, makes about 40 kg in total
we go uphill slowly: our destination today is at the divide of the water shed, so the locks come quicker and closer together and at the end the canal disappears into a tunnel under the divide, while we set off to get over it. we sleep in a business hotel close to the highway and have dinner in a restaurant nearby with a penpal who lives in this neighbourhood.
- total distance: 530,6 km
- distance today: 61 km
- cycling hours today: 4:09 h
- average speed today: 14,7 km/h
Febe writes 