Europe 2018 - June 26 - On the Road!

Tuesday - June 26 - Paris to Villeferry
We were up at 5:30 and ready to hit the road by 6:30 saying a fond farewell to our cozy Paris abode. Thank you so much, Philippe, for sharing it with us.

This train ride also was planned to avoid the strike days. We had to split up for boarding as there were only 2 bike racks in each bike-compatible train car. We ate breakfast on the train and took in the scenery, glad that we didn't have to navigate our way out of Paris.

And 2 hours later, we are in Montbard, about 150 miles from Paris.

Packed up, Burgundy Cycling map in hand thanks to Megan's visit to the Tourist office behind us. There is a bike path that leads out of town going our way, sort of. This is the only night that we have a reservation and this route takes us along the Canal of Burgundy and puts us on the other side of a hill from Villeferry, our destination.

We decided it was worth the effort.

About an hour after lunch we reached our connecting road.

We are definitely in farm country now.

Of course, going up meant we got to go down too! That is Villeferry tucked in the trees in the distance. It's population is listed as 30 people.

We just wonder how old this building is.

There was a Zoo Park at the bottom of the hill where we stopped to cool off and had some peach tea. The place was packed with kids of all ages.

Then it was another mile all uphill to find our hotel, which consists of a couple of houses that have been converted to hotel suites.

It was delightful and totally worth the extra hills.

We had the whole house to ourselves and so took advantage of the back yard to air out our bike clothes.

The restaurant was about a quarter mile uphill walk from the hotel.

Along the way we met Jean Francois. He grew up here and is visiting his brother. He was full of local stories and had just delivered a bucket of cherries to the restaurant.

Our host totally spoiled us from our first beverages.....

....through 5 courses of farm to table deliciousness, including dessert.

He described each course for us but did not tell us how much this very French gourmet feast would cost us. He said it would be added to our hotel bill and we could pay for it all together in the morning. We were afraid to ask, thinking we had blown our budget on the first night on the road.

We were tired but very happy bikers that night.