Day 9 Dijon to Chalon sur Saone ( la Genete near Tournus)

Having enjoyed a “bonsai petit dejeuner” I set off bright eyed and bushy tailed in the rain again. The busy lanes of Conforama and laPeyre  soon gave way to the Grand Crus Route which wound its way from wine village to wine village. The wine villages were all very pretty but nowhere is attractive in the rain so I put my head down and made some kilometres.

Nuits Saint Georges came along at about coffee time but it was hissing down so I carried on for a bit. The great names of burgundy wines are all produced on a fairly slender hillside crammed in between the railway line and the motorway and the hills on a strip of land about 1 km wide. When I eventually stopped as the rain did I was chatting to two vignerons about the coming vendange ( quinze jours) they queried my order of a coffee saying that ik would be better with a white wine like them (this is 11.00 am) When I said that I didn’t want to be drunk in charge of a bike they said that the bike would ride itself. I was tempted  but stuck to coffee.

lunch stop - to eat my quiche and chocolate eclaire

As the rain eased the burgundy hillside eased into the flat wooded land leading to Chalon sur Saone. I realised from the map that it was a big city but I was not ready for just how busy and frenetic it turned out out be. I quickly gave up on my plan to stay in the centre and headed for the edge of town. The sign for the F1 hotel heading into an impenetrable retail park did not seem inviting so I decided to keep on heading south and see what would transpire. It has turned out to bed a bad mistake because I have ended up in a second rate hotel where I have been systematically “fleeced”

“It’s all part of life’s rich tapestry,”and it is but to be avoided if possible and it was possible. The trouble with being Scots is we are born mean. The nice lady at the “office du tourisme” told me what the going rate was but I wouldn’t accept it. I ended up paying it for somewhere very inferior. I will try to learn to be less mean but it is well ingrained. Meanwhile in the unlikely event that you are tempted to stay at “la petite auberge” in la Genete – don’t!

I have decided to “go with the flow” a bit more this week. The current plan is to ditch the plan and go into the centre of Lyon, Frances’s second city, for a couple of days assuming I can find a hotel where Sybil Fawlty is n’t in charge.

Should I stick to the smaller roads?

Now that I know that I can make it I can spend more time enjoying the sights and exploring a bit off the beaten track rather than just focussing on getting to the next planned stop over.(maybe but it will be against my nature entirely)