Burgundy holiday home, cottage, chalet, apartment, gite, villa, rent, self-catering, France

La Petite Maison

At the centre of  Burgundy's vineyards  - Mercurey - Rully  - Givry - Santenay - Beaune - Meursault - Pommard - St. Aubin - Volnay - Puligny Montrachet

          Cycling along the Voir Verte         

Brian & Isabel Warshaw                       71150 Fontaines, Burgundy, France                 Telephone/Fax: 00 33 (3) 85 91 47 27                        Send Email

Burgundy is riddled with cycle paths, the best known of which is the Voie Verte.  It passes through Fontaines, alongside the Canal du Centre.  The CduC was once a heavily used commercial canal that joins the River Sâone to the Loire.  In one direction, initially traveling to the north, it goes through Chagny, Santenay, and southward to St-Léger-sur-Dheune, where it joins another pathway before rejoining the Voie Verte and thence Digoin and Bourbon-Lancy.  The other direction from Fontaines is to Chalon-sur-Sâone, and on to Macon.  

We have three cycles that may be available for your use during your stay with us.

 Mel and Nick spent three of their days with us at la Petite Maison cycling on the Voir Verte.  They said:

                      We had three easy days of cycling, doing about 45km each day.                       

The first two days were a mixture of rural roads (some of the other routes marked off the Voie Verte) - these allowed us to do a loop without having to backtrack.
 
Day 1. Rural roads from Fontaines - Mercurey - Aluze - Dennevey and back to Fontaines along the canal.
 
Day 2. Down the old railway line from Givry - Buxy - St Gengoux le National. Back along bike routes 4 and 3 to Givry
 
Day 3. St Gengoux le National - Macon TGV railway station along the old railway line.
We came back on Bus number 7(timetables available from the tourist office in Chalon). The buses have extra- large luggage racks into which you can put bikes - probably have room for about 6 bikes in total.
 
Most scenic and enjoyable part - Buxy - Cluny.

Most interesting  - the tunnel; but the cycle path up from Cluny was squeezed between the main road and the TGV line.

Best value - the bus fare (with bike) 1.5 euros each.
 
One hint - look at the weather forecast, and cycle with the prevailing wind if possible. Made it much easier.

A brochure about the Voie Verte and other cycle paths is available from the tourist office or on http://southernburgundy.com/RSC/documents/0/F/FR-VoieVerte-2010.pdf.  In order to do the side routes you also need a local 1:100,000 IGN map.

Free broadband WiFi connection available