The easy way out.
To get from Noyers sur Serein and southwards could be accomplished in several different ways, one was southwards through the hilly and rather wild Parc Regional du Morvan, in the direction of Autun or possibly to somewhere even further west. The problem with that is that the Morvan is rather empty, accommodation would have to be planned in advance, and also if the weather turned really bad, Morvan was perhaps not the place I would like to be if that happened.
Instead I decided to go in the SE direction, in order to get over to the valley system with the Saone and eventually the Rhone, the valleys that eventually would be my main route down to Aix.
Left at 9AM, and spent the first 4 kilometres climbing about 150 meters up to the ridge between Noyers and the Bourgogne canal. I then followed that ridge in the SSW direction for about 20 km down to the main (yellow) road that goes west - east to Semur en Auxois. Conditions were very good, it was a little hilly, but also slowly downhill most of the way and with wind from the right direction, about force 4 from NNW. I came to Semur after about 2 hours and 45 kilometres.
I had never heard about Semur before, and did not really expect anything but a normal French town on the plains (whatever that is), however Semur turned out to be medieval treasure of a city, quite astonishing. I spent about an hour bicycling around and had a look at the place, also had a quick lunch when the restaurants opened at 12, and was on my way again at around 12:45.
Conditions were very good, if a bit cold. The wind kept blowing a steady force 4 from NNW, and the road was fairly easy, a bit uphill, a bit downhill, average speed was kept at about 22 km/h. After about 15 kilometres from Semur the road joined the Bourgogne canal. I decided to follow the canal all the way to Dijon, and to drop any climbing in order to follow a more direct route over the hills in the direction of Beaune.
It was quite a long way, with very beautiful scenery along the canal. As the canal turned north a bit, I had for a while the wind blowing in the face, but the ride down the canal (or the Ouche as the river is called) was most enjoyable. A bike path along the canal that rivalled even the best bike paths I have seen in Holland or Belgium even materialised the last 10 kilometres before Dijon.
I arrived at the centre of Dijon at about 17:45, after 142 kilometres on the road (by far the longest any day so far), with an average speed of 22 km/h.
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