Biking Day 12

• Length ridden: 88 km
• Ascent: 415 meters
• Rating: 9.5 out of 10 - a great day, half a point deduction for the rain in the evening
• Highlights: Meeting George Blanc, the market at Châtillon, Cluny and getting a place to stay
• Lowlight: ...that a pass with a few turns made me tired...
• Map of the day

I slept very well and the nice couple treated me to a breakfast, I also shared the cheese I was carrying. I left around quarter past seven.

The next place was something very special - it was a small village called Vonnas. My hosts did say something about "George Blanc", but I had no idea if that was something to visit, eat or drink. Well, it turned out that there is a gentleman with the name of George Blanc, who happens to be a master cook. He created an entire gourmet village dedicated to food - supposedly the best food in France. There are two restaurants, one which has 3 Michelin stars, that serve the most delicious dishes accompanied by superb wines. A 5-star hotel and a holiday residence are also to be found here, in addition to a magnificent boulangerie/patisserie, wine store and shops dedicated to all things French cuisine – including tableware. Village Blanc in Vonnas is the place to go for foodies.

Monsieur Blanc is very welcoming - as I was contemplating of having a late breakfast there, the chef steward asked me whether I had met him - and when I said no, he introduced the world-famous cook to me. There was a long list of celebrity guests who has been served there - politicians, kings and queens, actors. As I did not except my name to appear on the list (and wasn`t really hungry) I left - but not without buying some pastry and a special cake at the boulangerie - it had an affordable price tag.

The road out of Vonnas was very quiet and was really scenic. I stopped at a beautiful farm house to admire it and when the owners spotted me, they invited me in. We started chatting, they offered me a glass of cold orange juice. It turned out they were one of the few French people I had met on this trip who had visited Austria.

As beautiful as the village of Vonnas was, I was up for the next wonder of the day - and this was the Saturday market at Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne, a small medieval town. There was a huge traffic jam, as everyone wanted to visit this market, I whizzed by the line of cars and soon I was in the midst of the town. The highlight is a market hall from the 15th century, full of stands selling everything from live chicken, grilled chicken (yup, sorry, birds), fruits, breads, pastries, ham, etc, etc.. According to a sign, this market hall was prized as the third nicest in France. The village itself is beautiful, there are half-timbered houses, you get the feeling of going back hundreds of years.

In the afternoon, I reached a town called Mâcon, at the gate of the Burgundy region. While it did not turn out to be my favorite town of all, it definitely had something mediterranen about it (a bit like Neuchâtel) - even though we were far away from any kind of salt water. The Old Cathedral of Saint-Vincent, built between the 11th century and the 14th century, is the principal highlight, although much of the original structure is no longer standing - unfortunate, because it was clearly an imposing structure. The remaining octagonal towers and the imposing entrance give a clue as to what the cathedral was once like.

As you might have guessed, I do love biking, but am no follower of Tour de France (TdF) - I find it boring to watch packs of riders for hours. However, I was quite honored to see that a few weeks prior of me visiting Mâcon, the TdF journey passed through here at the beginning of July.

Now that my primary phone was charged, I had the SIM cards swapped back, so all systems were "green".

I headed off in the direction of Cluny and had a smile on my face when I found out the road I was riding on was the same as the TdF followed. This was pretty much like my ride in the Pyrenees, when I rode from Barcelona to Bilbao - without planning to, I followed a number of TdF sections from previous years.

For sure I was much, much slower than those riders, especially when it came to later in the day - this was not the most pleasant thing for an early evening hour. Oh well, after taking some smaller rests, I did make it to the top. A beautiful castle, called Castle Berzé cheered me on, like it must have cheered the TdF participants a few weeks earlier.

Soon thereafter, I was at the summit - funny, how such a relatively small pass can make you tired; I was a bit ashamed that reaching 400-meter hill took such an effort.

I reached the outskirts of Cluny and started looking for a place to stay. There was a campsite, but the rain by now was inevitable, yes, I would have survived, but it is not pleasant getting wet, so I started looking for places. Being a weekend summer night at a very beautiful place , there was absolutely no vacancy at any of the hotels I checked, I even tried my luck by knocking on the door, talking to the receptions, they were all shaking their heads. About 15 kilometers away was a place, but I did want visit Cluny , it is just an imposant historic place. There were some chambres d'hôtes (room hosting), or B&B's, where I thought of knocking.

While I am not a religious person, there is a line in the Bible that says "knock and the door will be opened to you". So I tried that, rang the bell of a B&B and a lady stood there. She immediately started shaking her head, explaining they had just gotten back from vacation and the room was not ready. In that very instant, a huge downpour started, so, to my surprise, she literally grabbed me and pulled me in. Wow, I was in the middle of this ancient town, with a roof above my head! It was a beautiful room for 80 Euros, one I will not forget for a while. It was a wonderful mix of old and new - the bathroom was modern, but parts of the room were from a couple of centuries ago. The name of this place is La Maison des Gardes and I can surely recommend it. Here is a link.

The rain turned to a drizzle and it even stopped. I left my bike at my accommodation and went went for a walk, carrying an umbrella my mindful hosts gave me. It was rather late, but there were still a lot of restaurants open - under canopies, herds of people were enjoying all kinds of food. I picked a nice restaurant next to the abbey of Cluny - and if I was in the Burgundy region, I ordered a boeuf bourguignon. As said at the beginning, I was not impressed by the food in France - and this meal was just OK, but the one made by my Mom is a lot better. Not even the dessert was of a quality that made me entirely satisfied - and, mind you, I am not a picky person. While I appreciated many things in France, the cuisine was not quite mine.

It was really a wonderful town - and I was strolling the streets, saying hello to the house animals of the town.

I was now quite far out west and it was middle of July. The days were really long, it getting dark only after 10 pm or so...I love it! It started raining again when I got back to the hotel and boy, was I glad not having to get wet that night!

I rode 88 kilometers - and each of these were beautiful!