Those of my 3 readers with sharp wits will notice my sequential numbering of days does not include stationary days. This was an early decision based on the fact that days 2 and 3 were spent partying in a Wiltshire field and seriously affected my early distance averages. Since then I have only had the two nights at chateau nobel - the wanderlust has set in with a vengeance!
So after bidding Sus a fond farewell I retraced our wheel tracks via Chapaize (receiving a 'bon route' from the previous nights waiter en passant) to the lovely greenway heading south via Clun y to Macon.
This image attempts to demonstrate the size of the Church at Cluny, in its prime around the 11th century the biggest building in christendom! To say Clun y set the religious agenda for 3-400 years is to underestimate its influence with monastic institutions scattered throughout what is now western europe. In the museum I was reminded that Henry 8th dissolved the monasteries some 200 years before the revolution did them from France. Good ole Henry!
Bats are a conservation issue in France as elsewhere. We shared our Burgundy tower with several much loved by Bertrand so when I mentioned we were headed to the Tunnel do Bois Clare the longest recyclable tunnel at 3km in Europe he pointed out that we should check if it was open....Fortunately it was as it closes in the winter months when the bats hibernate!
This photo is for Bertrand - bat lovers and cyclists of the world unite! My superb light sensitive front light was finally used!
Indeed it was nearly required later that day as I headed off piste up to Solutre a rocky escarpment which is famous as a prehistoric kill site with thousands of skeletons of butchered deer and horse. It also just happens to be where one of the great Chardonnay domaines is sited in the twin little villages of Puilly and Fuisse
where as luck would have it the hotel was shut but the tasting shop was open allowing me to taste the blessed nectar, then coast back down hill (carefully) to come round a corner and find a little bar/restaurant open to soak it up with a light meal before cruising all the way to the river Saone for a campsite in the failing light. Not a bad day!
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