We made an early start from Savigny and had completed the 20km to Semur-en-Auxois by 9am. Semur looked magnificent from a distance, with the churches silhouetted against the morning sun and we were looking forward to an espresso. Close up the town was depressing with a stream of heavy trucks passing noisily along the cobbled main road and only a couple of seedy looking cafes.

We joined the Bourgogne Canal a few kilometers later just after Villeneuve. The path alongside the canal was to take us the remaining 70 kilometers to Dijon. The villages along the way were smaller than we expected and, being a Monday, the bakery at Saint Thibault was shut. We managed to buy a loaf of bread and a couple of buns, and had our long awaited espresso at Pouilly, but the supermarket was shut for the two hour lunch break.

See the video of cycling along the Burgundy Canal (use left arrow to return to this page)

The weather was perfect, a blue sky with a few clouds but no suggestion of rain. The cycling path is excellent. It was traffic free and the passing cyclists smiled or said ‘bonjour’. We ate the bread at a bench by the canal at Chateuneuf in sight of the chateau and next to some moored holiday barges. One particularly luxurious one had every winch and windlass polished to shine like silver.

We found it later on the Internet.

Just before Veuvey the canal changed direction from South East to North West and the slight headwind became a tail wind. We finally found a café at Fleurey and had an espresso followed by a beer. Essential fluids back to nominal levels, life got even better a couple of kilometers later when the path surface changed from gravel to paved and we clicked up two gears for the same effort. I always enjoy the stability of a heavily loaded bike on a flat smooth road and we speeded the remaining 16km to Dijon. When we reached the apartment we had clocked 121km for the day.