Day 4: Tonnerre to Migennes to Auxerre
Today was a fun day and a longer ride than normal!
I officially finished the Canal de Bourgogne. It ends in Migennes and I rode it till there was nothing left. About 10 miles outside of Tonnerre the nice paved surface I’ve been on disappeared and was replaced by chunky gravel. Luckily that only lasted a few miles and then it was smaller gravel and dirt. The ride was a lot bumpier than I’ve had but doable. I really enjoyed the canal path and it was nice to be sandwiched between a beautiful river and a canal.
From Migennes I used a gpx file I downloaded for my Garmin bike computer to get to Auxerre. Eventually, this region is trying to connect all these paths… but for now, you have to make some directional leaps yourself. I don’t love the Garmin but it got me to where I needed to be better than anything else (longer view coming later – I want to try a phone app that can load gpx and see how it does). The path it routed me on was nice, a few small roads but mostly dirt path next to the river. Auxerre is bigger city than I’ve been in and I am glad to have arrived on a Sunday when things are calmer.
What did I see on my route today?
– About 50 fishermen with huge huge poles. I had to stop my bike so they could move them as the poles were a good 25 to 35 feet long in the path.
– A lot of houseboats like normal.
– 3 river otter things, or possibly river rats? They had rat tails but also whiskers and were swimming all over the place.
– A big 2 foot long fish in the water.
– A lot of beautiful landscapes, bit different than the canal route.
Auxerre is a really cool town, about a year ago I listened to the Hardcore History podcast on Caesar’s gaul campaigns. Cool to be here :). I am hoping in maybe 5 to 7 days to visit one of the most famous sites of a big battle.
Ride stats?
45 miles / 72 km
Time: 3 hours 34 minutes
Avg MPH: 12.7
Average heart rate: 122
Elevation gain: 351 feet
Elevation drop: 344 feet
Average temp: 79F
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