Day 48: Moret-Sur-Loing to Villeroy

October 24, 2022

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I always seem to write about places as if they are all new and wonderful to me, which is in fact generally the case, even if I have been there before. That's because there is always something new to observe, and also a lot that has been forgotten. A strange companion viewpoint is that places are new and wonderful to everyone else, including people who live there. This applies to all places, including ones with thousands of years of history.

So yesterday I was saying to Dodie, "Moret sur what?", and later "Oh wow, is this place ever neat, who knew?". Well guess what, our room last night in Moret had lots of Moret history and picture books. And our hostess, Maia, had moved to Moret two years ago from Paris, buying the building we were in. Moret had been no mystery to her, of course.

Maia in front of her building. I turned out she had only bought the building where the famous candy had been made, and was not the producer herself.

This building by the river is serving as a barley candy museum.

Islands in the Loing make for a lot of channels and water flowing this way and that around the bridge.

To top it off, we got a message from Tricia Graham, mentioning that Moret is where she finished her 2019 tour, where her niece lives, and where she left her bikes.

Tricia had come to Moret along a canal from Nemours, a route she highly praised. When we got to the canal, cycle route signs also seemed to encourage us to go to Nemours. But the track we had selected at home, called the Tour de Bourgogne, did not recommend going that way, but rather taking the road, initially the D302, I think.

My faith in D roads had been severely eroded in the past days, but ok, here we go again! I think the problem must have been proximity to Paris, more than anything, because it was swell. We quickly found ourselves in a beautiful pastoral countryside, with no harassment from cars at all. We switched fluidly from this D road to that, and passed through a long chain of extremely pleasing villages, with great stone houses and ancient looking churches.

We were almost always among wide open fields, giving a feeling of space all around, and also straight sight lines on the road.

Small road, no traffic, great visibility.

I was not so fond of this road, with the 90 speed limit. But the two cars in the shot were probably the last ones we saw.

It was a dramatic place, in a low key sort of way.

We learned from a sign board at the Mairie in Voulx that at Diant one could find a neolithic standing stone, that is 3.5 meters high. While not Stonehenge, it is something. It is called locally the "knife stone".

The way to Diant looked like this. We loved it.

Dodie, of course, was the one to spot the stone, off in a field. No signage around.

The patterns of the fields are always entrancing. This shot could be used as a wallpaper.

A lot of apple trees were standing about, in small open orchards. We felt it our duty to sample the various colours and varieties. No one else seemed to be paying any attention to them, and lots of fruit was falling.

We had set an easy target for today, eager to log a success and return a sense of joy to the cycling. The hotel at Villeroy is standing alone by the road, and is probably only there because of the proximity of the A19 highway. The village of Villeroy itself has about six streets and nothing of note in it. We got to Villeroy really early and found no one about the locked hotel. A peek inside the breakfast room window did reveal a nice looking space and a full bowl of fruit.

After a phone call and a bit of a wait, a woman did appear from within the building, and while a bit bumbling did acknowledge that she knew about us and our Booking. The hotel has some nice grounds, and a secluded back area, where we are sure the bikes will be ok. There are many rooms, but it seems we are the only residents, other than the lady. She gave us the keys to the front door and the room, asked what time we would like breakfast and did we like omelet, and disappeared, leaving us to it for presumably the next sixteen hours.

Sixteen hours of rest may seem like a lot, but I think Dodie especially can benefit from it. Continuous pain is tremendously tiring, and also if one can be asleep, then there is no pain for that time. We tweaked her handlebar angles today, allowing her wrists to lie much flatter. It may be a better angle, or at least just as a change it may help things.

We don't know what the D roads will bring, but tomorrow we are shooting for a bit greater distance, to Auxerre. We found an Ibis Styles there. The last one had one of those machines that makes fresh orange juice, and we are hoping for a repeat! Auxerre is at the top of the Canal de Nivernais, where we are hoping for a nice flat, boring ride!

Today's ride: 45 km (28 miles)
Total: 1,905 km (1,183 miles)

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Tricia GrahamWhen we rode to Nice in 2015 Louise was livingin Fountainbleu (close to Moret) and we rode D roads to Auxerre and then the Canal de Niverne it was a lovely ride. This canal actually has quite a bit of climbing but easy climbing as the boats go through a tunnel at the top. IF we get to ride again we wil start from Moret and from Migennes ride the Canal de Bourgogne something we haven’t done before
Have you thought of having a steroid injection in your wrist Dodie. I was having really bad problems with mine and the Othopaedic surgeon suggested a. CT guided steroid injection. It was like magic and surprisingly I have had little trouble since
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1 year ago

Suzanne GibsonWe stayed at an Ibis in Auxerre, too. But I think it was the Ibis budget. Looking forward to what you experience in Burgundy. You will probably be cycling some of the same routes that Susan, the Andersons and Janos and I were on in May.
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1 year ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Tricia GrahamInteresting about the wrist injection. Dodie will have to see the doctors upkn return home and see what they suggest. It sure takes alot if the fun out of things to be in pain all the time!
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1 year ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Suzanne GibsonWe have decided we really enjoy the Ibis Styles. Bigger rooms, goid breakfasts, all good! Going to review your routes and see if we can pick up some hints.
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1 year ago

Tricia GrahamTo Steve Miller/GrampiesYou will find that you have to go to a surgeon specialising in hand and wrist surgery. Quite a bit of initial investigation as it is important the injection is in the exact right spot hence when you get it it is CT guided
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1 year ago