Slight problem last night - forgot to take with us the code to get back into the hotel after hours. The place was all in darkness when we arrived back at about 11. Whilst I was contemplating how to solve this little problem, Jackie spotted a returning guest and managed to tail-gate her way in.
After breakfast, looking out over the valley, we watched a few pilgrims start off on their walk. The trail seemed well marked and we walked the first hundred or so metres ourselves. The markings are not unlike a hash trail, with all the wrong trails marked with an x.
Back on the bikes and cycled south into the National Park of Morvan. Our first target was a mountain lake called Reservoir du Crescent. This was a long hard climb in hot and sunny conditions. From looking at the map, Jackie had suggested that we head for the small, lakeside town of ‘Barrage’. Unfortunately, when we arrived, at around 11, we found that the reservoir was empty: just a small stream running through where the large expanse of the lake would have been (pity, it had looked very good on the internet). Undeterred, we carried on climbing further into the hills until we got to another reservoir, Lac des Settons. This reservoir (pictured) was, fortunately, full and very picturesque. (This reservoir also had a place called Barrage.)
The morning had been sweltering. The long hot climbs were followed by interludes of cold descents, as the sweat squeezed out on the climbs evaporated.
After a light picnic at the lake, we started off on the long, long descent only to be stopped by a cloudburst. We had to shelter from the rain in a public toilet.
The afternoon was not as hot as a result of the rain (which didn’t last long) and the fact that it clouded over. Although late afternoon noon gave way to a fiercely hot headwind which made pedalling hard, even when going downhill.
We arrived in the town of Autun around 5pm. Autun was founded by the Roman Emperor Augustus and was the capital of the region back then. In fact, in Roman times the population was many times more than the 15,000 who live here now. There’s a lot of Roman remains here and one of the best Roman artefact museums in France.
We need to decide whether to head more east or more south. Maybe see which was the wind’s blowing...