Visiting Taize and Cluny enroute to Creches sur Saone

May 12, 2018

We had a great night at the campground in Cormatin. Our neighbours from Belgium had a lovely tabby cat with them in their trailer, and it looked just like the cat we used to have, Elsie. Like our cat, she was afraid of many things and stayed in the trailer. Of course, I had to visit her.

After a day of enjoying the rail route from Chalon sur Saone, we camped last night by the charming historic village of Cormatin at Le Hameau des Champs. We are getting accustomed to French campgrounds which offer spacious pitches with privacy hedges and good facilities.

Breaking camp - a good sleep and ready to enjoy a good day of riding.

Travelling, especially by bike, requires compromise within the context of time and how much riding you need to do. Something has to give and today we made choices and the places we missed will have to wait for our next visit. A few of these that may pull us back are the famous abbey in Cluny and the chateau in Cormatin. We had planned to visit and spend some time at the Commune de Taize, so off we went.

Today will be the last good weather for a number of days so we need to get moving.

Who could resist these “cheeky” calves who came to visit on the edge of the stone fence? Not us, that’s for sure. We were a little wary of the one on the corner as you never know when the call of nature will come.

Our friends Georg and Cora had told us about the community of Taize in the region of Burgundy and shared with us its importance as a site of pilgrimage for over 100,000 young people who come and stay annually from all over the world. Since Taize is on our route just past Cormatin, we will drop by and attend the noon Choral gathering.

Taize is an ecumenical Christian community founded in 1940 with 100 resident brothers (Protestant and Catholic) from around the world. The young people are encouraged to live in the spirit of kindness, simplicity and reconciliation. Typically, groups come and stay for about a week.

Irrespective of one’s religious beliefs, Taize is an interesting place to visit as it is inspirational to see a community of 1,000’s of young people living together in a spirt of cooperation and kindness. There is a huge area where the pilgrims camp and life is simple and unconnected to their digital lives. When we visited, 3,000 young people had been staying there for the past week. Doesn’t it give you a sense of hope for the world that harmony amongst such a large and disparate group is possible?

We attended the noon Choral gathering (there are 3 per day) and there were several thousand in attendance. This is held in the Church of Renconciliation.

The chanting and harmonies of the unaccompanied songs was quite lovely. Young people/pilgrims below are playing cooperative games. The photo of the kitchen area shows one of the areas where participants perform chores while staying here.

Cluny is a well preserved medieval village with an impressive Abbey. We saw more cyclists here than we have seen on our whole trip. We did some sightseeing by bike and had lunch here. The Abbey will have to wait for us to return.

After leaving Cluny, the route suddenly became very hilly with steep climbs and culminated in a sharp uphill to this tunnel which is 1.6 km long. As we approached the tunnel, the cold air came out to greet us. We got into our woollies and enjoyed the ride through the tunnel and marvelled at the labour that went in to creating it.

Just as we felt the need for a treat, this Boulangerie Patisserie appeared. We shared the savoury bottom left (sausage, bechamel sauce, mustard in a flaky pastry) and a vanilla slice.

We have had an interesting, but it was a stop and start kind of day, so we are anxious to make some miles before the weather turns nasty. So far, we have escaped the rain, but the wind is out in full force, and it is a headwind! We know of a Municipal Campground at Crèches sur Saone so we’ll head for that. It was a challenging ride as the temperature is dropping and the wind is slowing us down. The campground had opened today - the start of their season. Clearly they weren’t ready as half the bathroom block wasn’t functioning, the pitches weren’t prepared for the season and the bathroom areas that were open were open was pretty bad. And the surprising thing is that this campground is rated as a 3 star with the highest price we have paid so far. If we had known of another campground nearby, we would have left. However, with the storm rapidly approaching, we overlooked the negatives and set up camp.

When we arrived, there were 2 trailers and we were the only tent. Later, a school cycling group from Freiburg Germany arrived with their tents. They are making the trip from Freiburg to Marseille in 8 days - 100 to 150 km per day. Wow!! But we consoled ourselves with the knowledge that we probably have 50 years on them.

Anyway, the wind is howling in from the river and we are quickly trying to finish dinner and head in to the tent. Speaking of dinner, Barry went to the nearest supersized Carrefour supermarket to get our dinner. He came back with a French extravaganza - Paella avec les fruits de mer (mussels, giant prawns, etc), Couscous with sausage, lamb and chicken, celery rabe salad and Beaujolais wine. It’s amazing what wonderful food you can have at camp on a minimalist clikstand Trangia cookstove with one titanium pot. Granted, we ate in courses, but isn’t that the French way. It was a feast!!

We took no photos of dinner - sorry!! - but we were fighting the elements and just wanted to enjoy the food. It will be a cold night and we’ll be wearing everything we have to keep warm. Let the rains come!!

Today's ride: 56 km (35 miles)
Total: 1,139 km (707 miles)

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Steve Miller/GrampiesIn a misery enjoys company sort of way, it's interesting to read how you too have been struggling with the elements in the past few days. Hiding under the fluffy quilt seems to be a common strategy for us. Makes sense.

p.s. We find we are falling behind on replying to comments that may need an acknowledgement or answer. In our email, they get blended in with other messages, and in Cycleblaze "What's New" they get blended in with news of other people's postings. All in all, though, What's New would seem to be the best place to manage them.

Now, not that I am crying about not yet having the answer to my question about your brake failure (after I deigned to remember the darn question), but I do see a partial answer to what I was asking, within your photos, - you have disc brakes. And in one photo I could almost read the brand name on the brake lever!
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