Bike: Roanne to Macon, 69 miles, 4000 feet of climb
Accommodation: Appartement Moderne Centre de Macon (Airbnb); hosts Valentin and Sonia. One-bedroom apartment, kitchen, washer, wifi. Quiet, above quality restaurant. Large, spacious rooms, clean.
Whew. This was a long day. The first 15 miles were pretty flat and mostly in the city and residential areas. The next 25 miles we climbed. Our first serious climb turned out to be a hike up very steep steps to an even steeper grass trail. We carried the bikes up the steps, but decided not to take the grass trail. We found a detour on a pretty busy highway with a bit of a shoulder. The next steep part was about six miles on a grass and rock trail; again, we opted for the highway.
At the top of the climb, we looked for a restaurant for lunch. The first three we stopped at were not serving. About five miles downhill, we spotted a tour bus outside a restaurant with a couple of people standing outside. One of the guys spoke a little English, told us the food was excellent, and went and got the proprietor. We were soon sitting at a table, with the chef bringing out appetizers and the proprietor taking our order. We had an awesome meal, with kind and attentive service.
Then we had another 10 miles of downhill, swooping through corners and taking in the views.
For some reason, we expected Macon to be a small town. It is not. It is a large and pretty busy town--not as big as Geneva, but with high-rise apartments and bustling modern shopping areas.
We found our apartment with no trouble, let ourselves in with our host's instructions and a lock box, and quickly showered and headed downstairs for dinner at the nice restaurant on the ground floor.
Our third long, hard day in a row, done. For the next week or so, we will be biking on the Voie Verte through the Burgundy resion, and our days should be fairly easy and fun.
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| The Rhone Valley and Burgundy region ahead of us, at the top of our last climb. |
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| The ruins of the Vieux Saint-Vincent, a Gothic cathedral built on the site of a sixth-century church. The cathedral was built and rebuilt several times between the seventh century and the 13th century, partially destroyed in the 16th century, rebuilt in the 17th century, and mostly demolished at the turn of the 19th century. |
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| Saint-Vincent at night. |
