September 8th, 2008
9:30 am
Burgundy, Company, Cycling, France
Bike, bike tour, Biking in France, Burgundy, cycling, Cycling in France, Dijon, france, Gourmet food
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A few weeks ago we had an incident in Dijon with a very funny ending. I hope Sasha will forgive me, as he’s the butt of the joke, but he’s such a nice bloke I think we’ll be OK.
They’ve tried hard to make the centre of Dijon an attractive, pedestrian area. And it works – in front of the Palais des Ducs there is a huge semi-circular piazza (that’s Italian isn’t it? What’s French for Piazza?) lined with bars and cafes. We were heading for one of the bars for a well-earned beer after a lovely bike ride from Chateauneuf.
A central feature of the piazza is a pair of water features. There are 2 strips of glass paving set into the pavement, and out of the glass erupts perhaps 20 little fountains of water. So if there was no water, you could cycle straight down this strip of glass paving slabs. But there is water, lots of it.
The fountains are on a cycle, so at times they’re enormous, 5 foot high. At other times they barely reach your pedals. I thought, if I timed it right, I could cycle straight down through the fountains and only really get my feet wet. It was a roasting hot, beautiful day so I’d soon dry off. I was wearing my favourite cycling top, a black ‘Santini Italia’ number which, naturally, doesn’t quite fit me. Anyway, with the rest of the group behind me, and an audience lining the piazza, the temptation to show off was too much, so timing my run I cycled straight down the middle of the fountains.
The water is just about holding off
I must have timed it pretty well because my feet and legs got pretty well soaked, but nothing much above the knee.
OK so I did get a bit wet
Pete, a keen snapper, had positioned himself at the end of the fountains and persuaded Ian Benton to try his luck. But with Pete kneeling down at the end of the run, Ian was faced with a terrible dilemma as he approached the end of the fountains. Luckily for Pete he took the honourable option, and had a bit of a spill avoiding Pete. He also got a bit wetter than me.
Ian is definitely getting wet
But then Sasha decided to have a go. Is it possible that Sasha didn’t realise that the fountains were on a timer? He seemed hell-bent on taking a bath right there in the middle of Dijon – we couldn’t believe our eyes as he careered through a tidal wave of water in the main pedestrian area of Dijon. It was hilarious, and Pete managed to get it all on camera.
You can just about make out Sasha underneath that wave of water. Forgive us our moment of schadenfreude Sasha, but it was pretty funny.
Somewhere under that tsunami is Sasha
Click here to see a gallery of these photos, and more from The Chain Gang on the Chain Gang Flickr page
Square in Bordeaux
A Tour for Lovers of Wine
This was the 2nd tour that we designed. Running the Dordogne tour in 1997 awoke my interest in wine, and inevitably I started reading about the wines of Bordeaux, the greatest wine producing region in the world.
My first plan was to visit the main regions of Bordeaux wine production, namely, St Emilion, the Médoc, Haut Médoc, Graves, Sauternes and the vast but unsung vineyards of Entre Deux Mers.
Stephane and I set off driving around, stopping at hotels, reading wine books, buying armfuls of maps and visiting every Office Du Tourisme we could find.
Our original plan encountered problems. There’s nowhere to stay in Entre Deux Mers. All the roads that lead to Sauternes are too busy and horrible. And the biggest problem of all - Bordeaux’s in the way! It’s too big, there are bottlenecks caused by the Gironde and the two rivers of the Garonne and the Dordogne, and it’s just not nice to cycle there.
So we ended up going back to the drawing board. Stephane knew the area around Bergerac and Ste Foy as far as St Emilion. One look at St Emilion and I was hooked. It’s such a beautiful and atmospheric place, surrounded by very picturesque vineyards. And then we discovered the ferry that crosses the Gironde from Blaye to Lamarque in the Haut Médoc, and the whole route came together.
The Cleverest Bike Tour - The Best Wine Tour
Vineyards in Bordeaux
Of all of our tours, all 7 of them, Bordeaux is the cleverest - the one which took the most work, the most calculation and measurement, and the most visiting and organising.
And in 10 years I don’t think I’ve seen a better ‘wine’ tour anywhere.
Walking vineyard tours are no good for me, you just can’t travel far enough. And coaches really don’t do it for me! And on our trip we meet such a variety of winemakers, and taste such a variety of wines.
Bergerac
In Bergerac, the wines are simple, everyday wines, red, and white and rosé. But even within Bergerac, there are special nuggets to explore, like Pécharment, and the beautiful, deliciously sweet wines of Monbazillac.
The Outlying Vineyards of Bordeaux
Further down the Dordogne we stay in the Bastide of Ste Foy la Grande, home of Bordeaux Ste Foy, the most outlying of all the ‘Bordeaux’ vineyards. We cycle through Montravel, with its white and red wines, and more beautiful dessert wines, then through the Cotes de Castillon, again ordinary wines where the surprise is just how good some of the wines are, and how skilful and dedicated the vignerons, the winemakers.
Castillon is literally a road-width from St Emilion - it should be no surprise the wines are good, but they can’t put ‘St Emilion’ on the label - that means bargain time for you and me.
St Emilion
Then we’re on the climb to St Emilion and Pomerol, whose wines need no introduction.
Next we cycle through Fronsac, a historic pocket of quality on the right bank of the Dordogne, before cycling through the emerging appellations of Côtes de Bourg and Côtes de Blaye (if you’re interested, Bourg is usually considered slightly upmarket, but I prefer Blaye because I like Blaye and know some of the growers - so choose Côtes de Blaye!).
A shop in St Emilion
The Haut Médoc
By now we’re among the historic clarets of the Haut Médoc, the real heavyweights of world wine. People talk about Burgundy, and New World wines, but to paraphrase my Dad, no vineyard owner in the Haut Médoc ever woke up and wondered what it might be like to own a vineyard in the Napa Valley.
And finally we come down the quality scale a little with a day in the vineyards of the Médoc, historically known as the ‘Bas Médoc’, or low medoc, but they didn’t like the connotations, so simple Médoc it is.
A Totally French Wine Experience
It’s such a fabulous exploration of styles and prices and techniques of wine. Every single time we run the Bordeaux Winetrail it’s an education - and can you imagine a nicer classroom than the vineyards and tasting rooms of the Dordogne, St Emilion and the médoc? No, me neither.
