Digoin 673km ttt. (+10 because I forgot to put my computer on)

After a luxurious night's sleep and paying the none campsite type bill, I departed. 

I wasn't entirely sure where I was but as I was heading for a canal at the bottom of the hill then turning right, I was fairly sure I'd find myself. 

The weather was kinder, although there was still a head wind. It wasn't until I turned into that that I realised how tired my legs were. Luckily the locks at least were facing the correct direction. There weren't many of them but, little victories. 

Cycling through France on 14th July is eerily silent. Everything is closed (apart from a handy McDonald's at lunch time) and the roads are almost silent. Were it not for the people fishing I'd have been totally alone. 

I kept to the same road all day. I cycled on through the wind, which didn't seem as bad as yesterday and managed to average a reasonable pace. I was even able to freewheel occasionally. 

I came upon Paray-le-Monial and was rather surprised. It was busy. Turning when I could I found a beautiful small medieval town. I remembered then reading about this as a place of pilgrimage on the way to Lourdes. I locked up my bike, slipped on my handy 'decent' trousers and went to explore. 

I looked into the Basilica and then moved onto a chapel. There, in contradiction to the air of quiet contemplation being cultivated by visitors, a nun was busily scrubbing the staircase. Finally I visited another church, this time the home of a contemporary mosaic exhibition. Throughly cultured I headed back to my bike. 

I had been mulling over the relative benefits / detriments of 2 campsites througout the day. I have also composed a list of top 5 worst weather conditions; a post about why this was so and, early on in the day stopped to help a distressed touring bloke who had brought the wrong sized pump. He said that until I came he had been crying. So it's not just me. I composed a post about that too. I'll regale you with these at another time. 

Back to the sites. 

One site was in Paray-le-Monial. The other was here in Digion. The only real difference was distance and my tired legs. Digion has the psychological advantage of being on the Loire, my final river. As I'd seen most of what there was to see in Paray-le -Monial I decided to go that extra (5) miles. 

I'm not sure Digion really has much to offer. So far I've seen a supermarket (closed) and a swimming pool (closed). But, the site is friendly and I'm knackered so I'm staying an extra day. 

Lowering the tone 

Sacre Coure, Paray - le - Monial