Itinerary:

Day 1 - Saturday

Our tour starts in Montbard, north of Dijon. The best way there is via Dijon, TGV from Paris  We arrange transfers to our first hotel in Montbard, the 3*** Hotel de L'Ecu. Our host, Gerard Coupat, is a wonderful chef offering gourmet food and and a wine list to match it.

Day 2 - 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 luxurious lifestyle of the monks at Cluny. The setting is a beautiful 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.

We then follow the Canal du Bourgogne to Alise-Ste-Reine, where there is a giant statue of Vercengetorix erected by Napolean III. Fleeing the Romans, Vercengetorix and the Gauls made camp on top of Mont Auxois, only to be surrounded by Ceasar's army. A far larger Gaul army was on its way from Clermont Ferrand, so Ceasar built two sets of parallel defenses around the hill, the first to keep Vercengetorix in, and the second to keep out the Gaulish rabble . After six weeks Vercengetorix surrendered, only to be paraded in Rome and subsequently strangled.

We follow the canal again before climbing to the beautiful walled town of Semur-en-Auxois. There is some irony in this name as Semur derives from the Latin "sine muros" (without walls).

The town is surrounded on three sides by steep cliffs carved by the river Armancon, and is a truly beautiful little town. Tonight we stay at the 3*** Hotel d'Aussois where the menu includes several Burgundy classics.   27 miles / 44 Km

Day 3 - Monday

Downhill, and back to the canal at Marigny le Cahouët. The Canal de Bourgogne has been described as the most beautiful route in France. 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, 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 continue our  tour over the top of the hill and down the other side to the delightful village of Chateauneuf.  34 miles / 55 Km

Day 4 - Tuesday

Returning to the canal we can reflect that having passed the summit point it must be all downhill to Dijon. Our route now follows the canal and a cycle path through beautiful forests all the way into Dijon. Today we cycle past more than 50 locks, and as well as delightful canal-side villages and restaurants we pass through Velars, and 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 can eat in their lovely courtyard. Dijon is a fascinating place. Historically, Dijon was the home of Burgundy 's aristocracy. Anxious to be within the protection offered by the city walls, they were forced to buy existing plots of land and buildings to build their townhouses, which has led to the fascinating juxtaposition of grand town houses shoe-horned into strangely shaped plots alongside the housing and shops of ordinary Dijonais. The centre of it all is the Duke's palace, now the town hall, and also housing the Musée des Beaux-Arts.   46 miles / 74 Km

Day 5 - Wednesday

Wine country here we come! Now we visit the Côtes D'Or and the famous vineyards of Nuits St George and Beaune.

Today we leave Dijon alongside the Canal du Bourgogne before heading west towards the hills of the Côtes D'Or.  We follow tiny roads and tracks through vineyards, visiting vineyards in Marsannay and in Gevrey-Chambertin, as well as 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 beautifully restored. One room dating back to the 12th century contains four original oak presses that are truly enormous, each one weighing over 20 tons. Once a year one of these presses is still used when the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin kick off Les Trois Glorieuses on the eve of the Beaune auction.

The main function room is the old wine cellar. It isn't actually a cellar - the monks replicated the attributes of a cellar by building a vast low-ceilinged room with tiny windows and a roof of soil several feet thick. The Château also boasts a 'spectacular' 14th century pitched roof. 16 miles / 26 Km

Day 6 - Thursday - More Wine Tasting in the Côtes D'Or

We stay in the heart of wine country but today has a different feel to it. Yesterday our cycling holiday led us through world-famous vineyards, producers of wines that most of us will never taste. Today, as we explore the Côtes de Beaune, we tackle some more challenging cycling and visit 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 neighbours, but at their best still produce high-quality wines.

Today is a relatively short cycling day, so we should have time for wine tasting in both Aloxe and Savigny before we make our way to Beaune.

Beaune is dominated by the wine industry. The old town exists still behind its old wall, and the centre is filled with the premises of négociantes as well as the wonderful Athanæum shop, a serious threat to the wallet of any wine-lover, and featuring books and artefacts as well as its fine wine shop. The highlight, though, is the Hospice, and a visit is a must. We stay about 4 miles out of Beaune in Ste Marie-la-Blanche.  16 miles / 26 Km

Day 7 - Friday - Probably the Best White Wines in the World

We're staying at Ste Marie-la-Blanche again tonight. There are a whole 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. The name derives from the local name for the valley that divides them from Beaune, the Rat's Leap.

From Meursault we cycle to the village of Puligny-Montrachet where we'll do some wine tasting with Olivier-Lefalive Freres. After wine tasting, we go onto Chassagne-Montrachet and then to Cagny, where we join the Canal du Centre on a tailor-made cycle path. We then begin our return to Ste Marie-la-Blanche via tiny roads with the hills of the Côtes D'Or behind us. 25 miles / 40 Km

Day 8 - Saturday

Morning departure to Dijon Rail Station from where one can take a TGV train to Paris.