To Autun

Tuesday 29th September 2015

Sunny and 20C

An easy cycling outing, after yesterdays 24 miles, we cycle to Fontaines, a mere 14 miles round trip.

Then, lie about in the sun.

Wednesday 30th September 2015

Another beautiful sunny day, with 22C by mid afternoon.

First, a shopping trip to replenish our dwindling supplies of food and, more importantly, wine.

Then, we drive the short (less than 30 miles) distance to Autun.

I had joked with Kathleen that Autun was close enough to cycle to, it was meant as a joke, but, when we see the hills we would have had to cross, it is definitely a joke!


Autun is not really "on our way", but, we have been told it is worth a visit, and, since it is such a short distance, there seems little point in missing it,

Autun has a Roman connection, with, we are told, many Roman remains, there is certainly an impressive Roman Gate, much of which is still standing, after 2000 years. Will Mssrs Wimpy, Bellway, Barrett etc be able to say the same I wonder?

I am always impressed by some of the large structures civilisations, like the Romans, managed to construct, with little or no mechanical aids, and or course, no Computer Technology.



The canals, we have spent our time cycling along, although of much more recent origin, are equally impressive to me. There an enormous amount of earth moving (manually achieved, presumably) to construct them. In addition, although I understand the relatively "low tech", but accurate, Theodolite was available to them, how on earth did they survey and plan a contour hugging structure over hundreds of miles?  

Today, we limit ourselves to finding our way from the campsite (Camping de la Porte d’Arroux) to the town, a little explore of available shops and places to eat drink, then, refreshments in the sun.