Although it was a windy and slightly cooler night, we slept great. It was still windy and cold in the morning, so we had our breakfast in the
sheltered washing area – a bit more comfy than outside… We had decided to try
to reach Auxerre in 1 day, which also meant we had to leave Troyes out, despite
several people telling us it’s such a nice town. Visiting Troyes would have
meant a detour, and some time to visit as well of course. It didn’t really fit in our “planning” –
a big word – to meet up with Ellen’s brother near Nevers.
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| In this region (Champagne and Bourgogne) this is the typical traditional building style: timber framed houses, also used a lot for churches and barns. Some of it is dilapidating, but there are many splendid examples of well-kept constructions. |
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| Beautiful spot for a lunch break. |
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| One of the many characteristic French villages. |
So we made our way to Auxerre, a big day of 99km. The route, although on very nice quiet local roads (for those who want to do it: D1, D374, D122 and D124 mostly), went
through endless fields of corn and all kinds of grain crops – to the extent
that we were really getting tired of it. You’d wonder where all this is going…
I’m sure a lot of it is meant for livestock food – as also described in the below
article:
The global scope of the livestock issue is huge. A 212-page
online report published by
the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says 26 percent of the earth’s
terrestrial surface is used for livestock grazing. One-third of the planet’s arable land is
occupied by livestock feed crop cultivation. Seventy percent of Brazil’s
deforested land is used as pasture, with feed crop cultivation occupying much
of the remainder. And in Botswana, the livestock industry consumes 23 percent
of all water used. Globally, 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions can be
attributed to the livestock industry—more than is produced by
transportation-related sources. And in the United States, livestock production
is responsible for 55 percent of erosion, 37 percent of all applied pesticides
and 50 percent of antibiotics consumed, while the animals themselves directly
consume 95 percent of our oat production and 80 percent of our corn, according
to the Sierra
Club.
That is why eating less or no meat, or even going vegan, is
contributing tremendously to a better planet…
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| Leaving the boring crops behind, entering bigger hills with more variation. |
Anyway, by the time we were getting bored with all this
endless agriculture, the hills were getting a bit bigger and the vineyards
started to appear again – much nicer to cycle through. Not that vineyards are
that much more natural, but at least it’s a different landscape. Plus the wine
is not going to the animals hmm… By late afternoon we arrived in Auxerre, and in
Auxerre there is a “camping municipal” just outside and in walking distance
from the city centre. We pitched our tent, took a shower and went for a walk to the
city. Auxerre has a nice old city centre, we enjoyed strolling around, and then
had a very nice dinner in an Italian restaurant; extra nice after 2 evenings of
very simple camp pasta! It was great to have had such a nice evening, after a
few days of a lot of cycling, and the boring landscapes even. Ready for more!
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| More timber work in Auxerre |
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| Auxerre street view, so many nice unexpected corners |
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| View from the river Yonne over Auxerre |
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| This is so annoying! These gates are meant to keep everything out besides pedestrians and bicycles. However, if you have a heavily loaded tour bike, it's a real nightmare to get through. We had very similar gates in Japan on our way to Kyoto as well; really, the people who have come up with this have never thought of tour bikes (maybe also an annoyance for some ebikes)! |
The next day we left the campsite after a bad night with
loud music and ever present traffic noise in the background. What followed was worth it
though: we joined the Canal Du Nivernais cycling trail, which goes all the way
from Auxerre to Nevers. And this was (is) fantastic cycling again! Firstly, it’s
almost entirely on dedicated cycling trails. Secondly, it’s cycling along a
canal, which means: it’s pretty flat, comfortable riding (although there are more than 100 sluices
along the trajectory, so there is some elevation involved). Thirdly, the beautiful surroundings are varying constantly: old villages, farms and castles, wineries, rocky outcrops,
forests, and so on. There are also quite a lot of tourist boats on the canal, going
from sluice to sluice, mooring in between; a different kind of easy going
holiday (probably would be too easy going for us though).
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| It was a morning with very high humidity, and so the tent was soaking wet. Best to get it a bit dry before packing up! |
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| Along Le Canal Du Nivernais (do not pronounce as "never nice") |
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| Lunch break at a picnic site near one of the (colorful) sluice complexes. These sluices are operated by hand! |
After 77km we arrived in Breves, a small village with a very
nice, quiet, remote campsite – a contrast with the Auxerre camping (in all fairness,
the camping was nice, we had just been unlucky with the loud music). As this
campsite is so nice, we decided to go for our first rest day since we left 9 days ago (we
have done more than 700km meanwhile) and Ellen’s brother will join us here for
a day. Nice!
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| Another canal view |
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| There are regularly small castles and big old farms along the way, quite impressive! |
