May 31, 2014
Home to Sancoins: A beautiful day for a long detour
I got up early today. It's the anticipation, I guess. I have a hard time waiting for the right time to leave, so as usual, I was out the door before I needed to be. I rode into Dijon to catch the 10:19 train for Nevers. It was a bit on the chill side, but gloriously sunny, looking like a perfect day for riding was in the offing. I stopped at an automatic teller in Dijon to get some cash for the trip, then wheeled down to the railway station (Gare). The train was just being put into place, and as luck would have it it was on track A, the only track that doesn't require one to go up and down stairs, so I rolled right on. The train takes a little over two hours to get to Nevers, and once again it's roll right off with no stairs. This is good, because my back is not up to the strain of carrying a loaded bike up and down stairs, and it's a real hassle to load and unload every time stairs are encountered. I grab two ham sandwiches from a kiosk in the gare, and head across the river Loire until I fetch up at the canal, where I have a picnic at some tables at a trail entrance. Now here is where I fall into the first error of the tour (I'm sure there will be others). My map, cut from a road atlas of France shows what should be a winding country route that goes south toward Apremont sur Allier. Except that my eyesight not being what it once was, and the map under the plastic of my map case I don't notice that there is a tiny gap in the road where it should cross the Allier river. I don't find this out until I have gone all the way to where there once was a river crossing, but one that haven't been in service for 30+ years. Damn! I backtrack to the canal and take the canal bridge across the river, then follow the old unused canal to Apremont. Beautiful village, in fact it's labeled as one of the most beautiful in France. I stop for a Perrier with mint sirup, and then continue on down the road to Sancoins, where I find a hotel. I'm still a bit under the weather from sinusitis, so I call it an early day at 68 km total riding time. That includes 14 km from Gevrey to Dijon, and of course the 30 km I spent frickin' around south of Nevers. Oh, well tomorrow is another day!
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Today's ride: 68 km (42 miles)
Total: 68 km (42 miles)
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