Cannes-Écluse is a small town on the Yonne, just upstream from where that river joins the Seine at Montereau-Fault-Yonne. The name has nothing to do with the film festival on the Riviera; écluse means lock, and the town grew up around the river traffic and the locks that controlled it. Today it is a quiet residential place, and for riders it is mostly a convenient fuel stop on the way south into Burgundy.
The neighbouring town of Montereau carries a heavier load of history. In 1419, on the bridge at the confluence, John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, was assassinated during a meeting with the future Charles VII, an act that pushed Burgundy into alliance with England and prolonged the Hundred Years' War. Nearly four centuries later, in February 1814, Napoleon won one of his last victories here against the Austrians and Württembergers, and there is an equestrian statue of him near the river.
The landscape around Cannes-Écluse is a mix of river valleys, gravel pits, farmland and woods. The Yonne valley road south towards Pont-sur-Yonne and Sens is pleasant, with gentle curves following the river and views of barges and willows. To the east and west, the plateaus are more open, with big fields and straight roads. The surface is generally good, though some minor roads can be patched and bumpy, and the valley can collect morning fog in autumn.
Cannes-Écluse itself has fewer than three thousand inhabitants, so services are limited, but Montereau, a few minutes away, has supermarkets, fuel stations and plenty of food options. This is not a place to linger long, but it is a useful hinge in the ride: behind you lie the woods and plains of the Île-de-France, ahead the long sweep into Burgundy towards Auxerre. If the weather is warm, a few minutes by the river, watching the water slide past, is a pleasant pause before the next stretch.