May 28th
Paray-le-Monial to Verdun-sur-le-Doubs
122 kms
It was with some regret that I left Paray-le-Monial so early
this beautiful Sunday morning because I had the impression that there was a lot
to explore in this surprising town. But if I was to get to Verdun and a welcome
two day rest I had to get my skates on. Which was exactly what I did, humming
past the only other people about, the many fishermen, some of them hunched
morosely over one line, others scurrying from line to line, arranged most
professionally along the side of the Canal du Centre. The D974 was almost
completely free of traffic and I was past the elegant Chateau de Digoine in no
time and on to Genelard, the first of the industrial mining towns along today’s
route. A coffee in the working man’s L’Estimat, by the railway crossing, and a
glance into the foyer of the probably very interesting museum dedicated to the
Ligne de Demarcation with its signs in
French and German “Anyone failing to stop at this line will be fired on”, and I
was back on the extremely friendly D974 which even through Montceau les Mines and
the amusingly named Josy O’Quay’s Pub by the side of the canal remained
remarkably empty. An easy to miss sharp right in the town onto a short section
of pave in Blanzy and there was still only myself and the fishermen as far as
Montchanin. There the hitherto friendly D794 became very aggressive for a
couple of kilometres so I took an interesting detour around the bassin bringing
me back within a four or five kilometres
to the beginning of the seven locks which takes the Canal du Centre down
quite steeply to St Julien sur Dheune . This section, and the next seven or so
kilometres was one of the most enjoyable of the day, the road, still the D974,
and now again quite traffic-free, dropping smoothly to the pretty port of St
Leger and the beginning of an easy voie verte all the way to Chalon.
In fact, I circumvented the city of Chalon by leaving the
Canal du Centre at Fragnes and cutting across to the D5 which brought me easily
to the next main river system of my journey, the confluence of the Saone and
the Doubs at Verdun.
Looking back on the first 1500 kms of the ride I realize I
made two good decisions. One was to
change my saddle and use a much more comfortable old Brooks, and the second was to carry a spare pair of
wheels so that I could interchange slicks and VTT tyres very easily.
122 kms.
Total since
Galway 1503 kms.
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