Itinerary:

Saturday: Pick up at Dijon Rail Station.  Our transfer will take you from Dijon to our first hotel in Montbard, the 3*** Hotel de L’Ecu in the centre of this small town.

Sunday: From Montbard we head directly to the Abbaye de Fontenay, the oldest surviving Cistercian abbey in the world. The Cistercian order was founded by St Bernard as a direct response to the opulence and luxurious lifestyle of the monks at Cluny, and the lack of decoration and pomp at Fontenay is stark. The setting is a beautiful verdant river valley, and the monks were self-sufficient, growing medicinal herbs for their own hospital and mining local iron ore for their own forge. They even managed to invent the world’s first pneumatic hammer. Michelin gives Fontenay the maximum 3*** rating, ‘worth a journey in itself’.

After lunch we follow the Canal du Bourgogne along the towpath to Alise-Ste-Reine. Here, on the top of Mont Auxois, is a giant statue of Vercengetoris erected by Napoleon III. Fleeing the Romans, Vercengetorix and the Gauls made camp on top of Mont Auxois, only to be surrounded by Caesar’s army. But, a far larger Gaul army was on its way from Clermont Ferrand to relieve Vercengetorix. Caesar built two sets of parallel defenses around the hill, the first to keep Vercengetorix in, and the second to keep out the 250,000 strong Gaulish rabble . After six weeks Vercengetorix surrendered, only to be paraded in Rome and subsequently strangled.
We follow the canal for a few more miles before climbing to the beautiful walled town of Semur-en-Auxois. Tonight we stay at the 3*** Hotel d’Aussois where the menu offers a selection that includes several Burgundy classics.
Distance 31 miles / 52 km

Monday: Downhill, and back to the canal at Marigny le Cahouët. We’ll need it today as we cycle through an area that might normally be too hilly to tackle. The Canal de Bourgogne has been described as the most beautiful route in France, and it’s certainly a great trick for tackling hills. The quality of the towpath varies on this section, so we’ll be forced onto the road on occasion, but this is no great hardship as we pass through delightful villages like Braux and St Thibault. At Pouilly-en-Auxois the canal reaches its summit, the highest point on the canal network of France, and by the time we get there you’ll know you’ve been cycling uphill.  At Pouilly the canal disappears into a tunnel, and we have to cycle over the top of the hill that was too high for the canal to go over. But, when we get to the top it’s a simple ride of 3 or 4 kilometres to the delightful 3*** hotel of Château de Sainte Sabine.            Distance 28 miles / 45 km

Tuesday: We start with a detour up the hill to visit the pretty village and old fortress of Chateauneuf. Our route then follows the canal and the river Ouche through beautiful forests all the way into Dijon, the last few miles following a dedicated cycle path. We cycle past delightful canal-side villages and restaurants passing through Velars, which gives us the chance to visit one of the famous mustard factories of Dijon.

Tonight we stay at the Hostellerie de Sauvage where the owners particularly welcome cyclists, and (weather permitting) we eat in their lovely courtyard. Dijon is a fascinating place. Historically the aristocracy of Burgundy built their town houses here, close to the Palais des Ducs. The centre of it all is the Duke’s palace, now the town hall, and also housing the Musée des Beaux-Arts.
Distance 31 miles / 50 km

Wednesday:  And now the wine country!  We leave Dijon alongside the Canal du Bourgogne and head west towards the Côtes D’Or. We follow tiny roads and tracks through vineyards with tastings at Domaine Fougery de Beauclair in Marsannay and in Gevrey-Chambertin, and visit the Clos de Vougeot before we arrive at Nuits St Georges where we stay at the Hostellerie Saint Vincent.

The Chateau at Clos de Vougeot is well worth a visit. Originally built by the monks of the Abbaye de Citeaux, the Chateau has been restored to its former idiosyncratic glory. One room dating back to the 12^th century contains four original oak presses that are truly enormous, each one weighing over 20 tons. The main function room is the old wine cellar. The Château also boasts a ‘spectacular’ 14^th century pitched roof.  A 15-minute slide show starts off with a cleverly illuminated display of the roof. It is spectacular.       Distance 22 miles / 35 km

Thursday: Still in the heart of wine country we explore the Côtes de Beaune visiting the beautiful villages of Savigny-les-Beaune and Aloxe-Corton on our route to Beaune. Here, the wine makers can’t command the sky-high prices of their more illustrious neighbors, but at their best still produce high-quality wines, both red from the pinot noir grape, and whites from the Chardonnay grape.

Today is a relatively short cycling day, so we’ll try to taste wine in both Aloxe and Savigny before we make our way to Beaune in time to visit the amazing Hospice de Hôtel de Dieu. Beaune is dominated by the wine industry. The old town exists still behind its old wall. The highlight is the Hospice, and a visit is a must. We stay about 4 miles out of Beaune in Ste Marie-la-Blanche.
Distance 22 miles / 35 km

Friday: Tonight we’ll be returning to Ste Marie-la-Blanche so no need to pack. There are a series of classic wine villages running south of Beaune toward Macon and the Beaujolais region. Once again we’re on tiny roads winding through the vineyards as we visit Pommard, Volnay and Meursault, home to white wines hailed as the finest in the world. We’ll taste in Volnay, home to some of the finest reds of the Côtes de Beaune.

From Meursault we cycle to the village of Puligny-Montrachet where we taste with Olivier-Lefalive Freres before going onto Chassagne-Montrachet and onto Cagny, where we join the Canal du Centre on a tailor-made cycle path and begin our return to Ste Marie-la-Blanche via tiny roads with the hills of the Côtes D’Or behind us.      Distance 25 miles / 40 km

Saturday: Transfer to Dijon Rail Station at approximately 10.00 am.