Macon was our first destination after Lyon. We stayed in a lovely and spacious apartment above a tea house in the old part of the town and stored the bike in their courtyard under the staircase. We do find that wherever we stay the hosts are very helpful and hospitable about bike storage. We very much enjoyed the lovely warm shower we were able to have to remove the thick layer of dust from cycling a large part of the day on dusty trails. In addition we had access to a washer and dryer so we could start with clean cycling clothes again. It’s the little details that make this kind of travel more comfortable.
We spent the next day on a self guided walking tour of Mâcon and learned about a famous local poet, author, and statesman named Alphonse de Lamartine. We also learned about an important group of WW2 resistance fighters (men and women) who gathered and organized themselves here in Mâcon. Whenever we are in Europe we see so much evidence of the destruction and loss of life that occurred during both world wars and feel very fortunate to have been born when and where we were.
For dinner one evening in Mâcon we ate in La Maison Bois, a building that dates from 1490! The exterior is very unusual with wooden siding and grotesque sculptures of monkeys, unicorns, snakes, and a gryphon. The food wasn’t notable but what was notable is we were helping a couple of other diners with translating the menu and trying to order their food as they knew no French and the waitress knew limited English. Our French is limited so it made us feel smart for a short time. Having bilingual packaging in Canada is good for something.
The next day we left Mâcon for our next destination of Chalon sur Soane. This was a shorter ride of 68 kms, mostly along the Soane river again, but very little of it was unpaved so we stayed cleaner. We continued along the same cycle path, the Voie Bleue, and saw many other cyclists along the way as well as one other tandem. Most of the day was quite pleasant but the last 15 kms we were racing to our destination to try to avoid some nasty looking dark clouds and we made it before we got soaked!
The Soane river is wide and calm so is used for fishing and recreation as well, even water skiing, although we didn’t see any that day. We have seen a number of river cruise boats that stop in these various cities that we are also visiting. It looks like a comfortable way to travel.
In Chalon sur Soane we were again in an apartment in the old part of the city. This one is above a library on a top floor with low ceilings and exposed beams. It’s a good thing we’re not very tall or we would be bumping our heads. The apartment is eccentrically decorated in a wine theme but also well equipped and comfortable. The bike was stored in the hallway on the main floor, locked to the railing.
We spent the day here on another walking tour which took us all over the old part of the city as well as over to Ile St. Laurent across the river. There were many historic buildings to see and we learned about one of the inventors of modern photography who was born here: Nicéphore Niépce, a name that doesn’t really roll off the tongue too easily.
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