If you're one of Travel Notions holidaymakers from Australia and you'd like to share your experiences with other aussies simply send us your story and favourite photos, or a comment, or an anecdote and we'll put it up in our 'holiday stories' page.  Here's one from our holiday with friends last year.

 

Le Tour de Burgundy    June 6, 2009

...how four master travellers, and passionate foodies, tested the delights of Cycling for Softies in the heart of premier French wine country.
Robyn Attuell of Travel Notions explores.

We faced the most difficult test to date of our beloved cycling holidays in France – we'd agreed to take two close friends, one a connoisseur of fine food and fully involved in the international Slow Food movement and the other a wine guru with an exceptional palette, on a 10-day holiday in the renowned Burgundy region between Lyon and Dijon. Then there was my cynical, action-oriented husband, a travelled sailor, skier and now, slow cycling. How would our raves about the gourmet meals, comfortable hotels and outstanding restaurants stack up to this intense scrutiny. Susi Madron, the founding (1980) UK-based entrepreneur and I looked over the possible itineraries to cover the best wine areas in the Burgundy valley and the most outstanding cuisine establishments. Then refine, refine, refine.

The four of us met in Lyon and after a short train trip north past the ancient capital of Macon we alighted at Fleurville; met by our friendly, knowledgeable Cycling for Softies assistant Frank who drove us just a short way to our base hotel - a chateau in stunning grounds. What a picture with the gardens in bloom, smell of lawns just mown, trees with new spring growth, tennis court and pool nestled into the background. Impressive, stately.

We had a 12 km warm-up during the afternoon along the banks of the Saone River to test the bikes and stretch the legs. And now for our first meal... butterflied prawns sitting on a spring salad of fresh garden herbs followed by three more courses of delicately served local fare then the finale - the cheese trolley, with three cheeses already on the plate, "just a little bit more, you must try the chevre", says Helene our well proportioned maitre d' who had an in-depth knowledge of every vintage we consider. How will we survive ten days of this indulgence? Pedal harder of course!

After a largish breakfast of fresh juice, eggs, croissants, jams and fruit... and of course several coffees we set off for Tournus to visit the renouned Cathedral and really get our bike legs working. We cross open fields, wind through small forest paths, pedal alongside canals and spillways, a quick pression (draft beer) reviver at La Truchere and we are there, 17 km on the flat. The crypt is an amazing, cool, sub-terranean slice of medieval history. It's raining lightly and after a few more heavy bursts and we decide to catch the train back to Fleurville. With only a couple of minutes to board, causing a slight panic and scuffle we are directed by the conductor to a compartment where we can hang our bikes by the front wheels on large hooks (tip for the NSW Minister for Transport). Luxury, and we are back at Fleurville in 8 minutes, already anticipating another gourmet experience and a dip in the heated swimming pool.

Tomorrow it's off to Cluny west of Fleuville, a three-hundred metre rise to a plateau system. Our supplied maps are very helpful, plus tips to beat confusing signage from Frank, a well-liked French speaking Yorkshireman. It's a gentle climb, but we're walk the bikes or take in the views on the steeper sections. And we soon expunge one of the great myths of Gaulic unfriendliness at Clessey in a small village supermarket. About to close for lunch, as is the tradition, we sweep in, find fruit and local country terrine - but no bread... Madame surrenders from her son's clutch, one of her freshly baked bagettes already packed into their basket for lunch. After we settle with a few euros and the shutters are drawn we were suddenly faced with a torrent of rain. Madam quickly adjusted the canvas awning outside so we could take shelter. Shortly, across the courtyard and stepping between puddles she returns to generously offer to drive us all in their van to Cluny - we graciously decline, all this in French – such a sweet gesture.

The skies clear, we press on and soon find the beginnings of a well marked Voie Verte, a cycle path formed from an abandoned railway link, hence the low gradients, that connects Cluny in the to Nuits St George in the north through the Valley of The Grands Crus... home of the top vintages of Burgundy's five main grape varieties and regarded throughout France as those in the premier class. The Voie Verte is dedicated for cyclists, walkers and families groups... no motorised vehicles of any kind, so it's cyclist heaven meandering through countryside surrounded by acres and acres of carefully pruned vineyards.

We cruise past rolling green fields with chateaux and fortresses set on hills and then through the amazing 1.6 km Tunnel du Bois Clair hewn through a mountain and now exclusively for cyclists; it's cool enough in here to store quite a massive cellar for decades and so eerily quite except for the trickle of water down the walls. On reaching Cluny, which is centred around one of the largest Abbeys in medieval Christendom, we leave our bikes at Hotel Bourgogne, which is right next to the Abbey, we wander through the narrow streets and find some local colour - a student procession on their muck-up day... one of the Abbey buildings is now part of the National Art Academy, so learning of a different kind continues here centuries later. Tonight's restaurant at the hotel is in an elegant, welcoming room with exquisite vases of blooms on each table for another classic five-course meal to be sampled and savoured. The local wine is outstanding according to our resident guru. And after all, having cycled 37 km today we feel any amount of traditional food and wine will do no harm... but it was just 4.5 hours on the bikes and much fun along the way.

Day 4 and we are on the road again - normally our holidays have two evenings at each hotel so there's the option of spending the second day walking, exploring nearby sights, museums, vineyards or just sitting about. Of course if you want to cycle a 100 km on your day off, out and back, that is fine too. But we have chosen to continue the pilgrimage north to the holy grail of wines, and justifying our rewarded appetites each evening. From a distance we can see the impressive Chateau de Cormatin dating from Louis XIII and set in beautiful and extensive gardens, including a potager and a massive maze, lush and green after the unseasonal gentle rains we are having. "Unprecedented" is the word on all the locals lips. Lunch, outdoor at a small café, was a fresh panini dripping with chevre and a pression. And we find a roadside stall in the village where we add several bottles of Pinot Noir and cheese to our panniers, which have special compartments to hold what we need for our ten days on the road. In reality all we really need is a pair comfie shorts, a few tee-shirts, long black trousers and dressier shirt, blouse or jacket for dinner. Most of our luggage is securely stored back at the base hotel. Life is so simple!

We arrive with hours of light to spare at our next hotel, Le Cherval Blanc in St Boil, the only guests in this grand four-storey classic French house; the large central spiral staircase has just a slight slope to accelerate you down to the dining room. Madame spots us from the restaurant, which is on the other side of the road, and she comes across in a flurry welcoming us like a character from 1936, an absolute delight fussing over us and settling us in. So we spend time on the rear terrace, chatting, sipping our purchases and admiring a beautiful Linden tree as the shadows lengthen across the fields next door. With the skill and enthusiasm of the husband and wife team, our meal in the enclosed courtyard amongst pots of flowers and lush herbs was just perfect - Claude the chef was beaming from our praise or maybe a few glasses while he had been gently caressing the sauces for our courses. We climb the sloping stairs happy for sleep to descend over us.

Around 10am we start moving towards our bikes - there's no hurry because we don't have a group to keep up with, or an enthusiastic organiser banging on the door at five to seven with instructions to meet in the foyer in 15 minutes. Cycling for Softies is designed so that you travel at your own pace, leave the hotel when you wish after a comprehensive breakfast or just coffee and brioche if you prefer. The maps and guide booklets fill in all the details, so there is always something interesting to see and do. Today we are heading for a vineyard we know by reputation, Puligny-Montrachet - through a forest, several small villages, a little confusion and much discussion in Chagny, and finally with great relief we see the Montrachet sign – our longest cycle yet at 47kms. But again we are rewarded with a very comfortable abode with great ambiance, large rooms with high ceilings, floor to ceiling drapes on windows overlooking the town square, ultra modern bath rooms, and two whole nights here to relax! Just so easy having a fine restaurant only a minute away downstairs where immaculately groomed young staff know their profession - how everything is cooked, the local vegetables, where the hare and fish came from, the breads... great detail and enthusiasm.

The bikes are safely tucked away in the wine cellar across the street (they needed a rest too). Next morning we took a taxi to Beaune, considered the capital of the Burgundy wine trade with its comprehensive Wine Museum and famous for its medieval buildings and patterned roofs – especially the Hotel-Dieu a hospital till 1971; after a little wine tasting at La Cave des Cordeliers our taxi driver arrived at the appointed time in the square to ferry us home.

On our way to Morey-Saint-Denis the next day, we stopped at Nuit Saint-Georges for coffee in the pedestrian-only town centre, cobbled together a picnic lunch at Pommard continuing along through vineyards. The traditional Hotel le Castel de Tres Girard, surprised us with our modern, spacious rooms, another top hotel with an truly innovative chef - fresh new flavours and interesting combinations. Probably more to the style Australian diners experience... oyster starter in a shot glass, a noodle salad entrée with sesame sauce, succulent veal main, and hot chocolate cake dessert! While here we ventured to the Chateau du Clos de Vougeot – somewhat famous and home to an international monastic-like wine club, and also used for The Three Musketeers movie. The unusual thatched, low roofline building houses a massive kitchen and wine presses; the faint aroma of a recent banquet was evident in the wonderful banquet room - or perhaps imagination was at work with tonight’s dinner approaching.

By now we had reached the most northerly point of our wine journey, just short of Dijon, sampling the classic varieties and vintages on the bon route du Grands Crus through a string of villages including the village of Chardonnay, in a shallow valley with a 400 metre ridge line to the west and a gentle limestone slope providing the perfect sun trap, and running parallel to the Swiss border, not that far away. In fact at our stay in Brancion you can see Mont Blanc on a clear day; it was a two day diversion on a small mountain (meaning walking the last few kilometers) in a luxurious modern hotel tucked into a hillside. This fortress hill has a complete medieval walled town from where advancing armies could clearly be seen on the green, brown and gold patchwork quilt below. Now it's time to head back to Fleurville and it's down hill almost all the way. But first a glass of crisp Marconais Aligote and another delicious fresh raspberry soufflé.

The verdict? Our friends are still good friends rating this sojourn amongst their most memorable and enjoyable. And the bonus for all of our indulgences was not a kilogram gained as they headed off to a Slow Food annual conference in Lucerne to spread the word about what is means to be a softie who cycles. Now where will the next cycling holiday in France be?