Burgundy (Autun, Vezelay, Auxerre, Gurgy)

23-25 September

The Wanderer(s)

We had decided that this part of the trip would be made up of a few one-night stops and the first was in Autun, which was one of the most important cities in Roman Gaul. But before we found the camp site, we called in at the remains of the Roman Ampitheatre, which is very impressive, and would have held up to 16,000 people.

Camp Municipal de la Porte d'Arroux proved to be a very “relaxed” site, where the reception only opens morning and evening, just find a pitch and make yourselves at home and report to the office later. After a quick lunch, we hopped on our bikes and cycled the 1 km into the town to have a look at the 12^th century Cathedrale Saint-Lazarre, which is famous for its fantastic carvings – on the pillars, depicting Bible Stories and Greek mythology, and a typanum of the Last Judgement.

On the way back through the town, we stopped at a creperie; well, you can't come to France and not eat at least one crepe, can you?

From Autun the next stop was Vezelay, a tiny hilltop village and a Unesco World Heritage Site. The Basilique -Ste-Madeleine sits at the top of the village, overlooking the beautiful countryside. Another impressive typanum shows Jesus seated on a throne, radiating his holy spirit to the Apostles. The relics of St Mary Magdalene are to be found in the crypt, which led to the monastery becoming an important pilgrimage site in the 11^th and 12^th centuries. Today the pilgrims are replaced by hordes of tourists.

A short hop of just 30 miles then took us to Vincelles and Camping Les Ceriselles.

This site is literally yards away from the River Yonne and Canal du Nivernais and there is a 62 km cycle path which follows the water from Auxerres to the north, to Clamecy to the south. We spent two very enjoyable hours cycling here in the sunshine, and being Saturday, there were plenty of other cyclists, walkers and even roller-bladers enjoying it too.

From Vincelles we drove to Auxerre, about 9 miles, hoping it would not be busy on a Sunday and that it would be easy to find somewhere to park. We were right on both counts! There is a large parking area to the east of the river opposite the cathedral, where there were lots of motorhomes parked up (under the trees to the right of the picture).  We assume this was Campertstop Auxerre, although there was no sign to confirm our assumption and coaches and cars were parked there too. But it was free and suited us perfectly.

Abbey

A short walk over the arched footbridge, from which there are lovely views, took us into the town for a wander around the deserted streets, past the cathedral, the abbey and the Tour de l'Horloge.

Clock tower

After a spontaneous lunch stop to sample an ethnic Boeuf Bourgignon we travelled just another 6 miles north to Gurgy, where there is a delightful aire on the banks of the river Yonne.

An unexpected bonus was the arrival of a Frenchman, who sells local wine from a wooden cabin every evening. An impromptu tasting session resulted in Theodora having to accommodate a few more bottles of wine (funny how you can always find space for that sort of thing!) Monsieur was very friendly and although the conversation was in a mixture of French and English it was most enjoyable and instructive.