You are in the Mâconnais, the southern end of Burgundy, where chardonnay vines cover the limestone hills and the villages are built of honey-coloured stone. Hurigny, La Roche-Vineuse and Sancé are small places within a few kilometres of each other, each with a church and a bakery, and Charnay-lès-Mâcon, with about seven thousand people, offers fuel and a supermarket. Mâcon itself lies a short way to the east on the Saône. The label calls this a swim stop, which is optimistic, but the countryside is lovely for a quiet pause.
The great landmark of the district is the Rock of Solutré, a limestone crag topping out at nearly five hundred metres above sea level that rises abruptly from the vineyards a few kilometres to the south-west, with its neighbour the Rock of Vergisson. At Solutré, archaeologists found a huge prehistoric site where hunters, tens of thousands of years ago, are thought to have driven wild horses over the cliff, and the bones of thousands of animals have been found at the base. The rock gives its name to a whole prehistoric culture, the Solutrean, and is among the best known sites of the Stone Age in Europe. A walk to the top takes about half an hour and offers a vast view.
North-west of here, about twenty-five kilometres off, lies Cluny, where in the Middle Ages the greatest monastery in Christendom stood. Its abbey was the head of a network of over a thousand monasteries across Europe, and its church was the largest in the world until St Peter's in Rome was rebuilt. Only fragments remain, but they are impressive. The wines of the Mâconnais, especially Pouilly-Fuissé and Saint-Véran, are the white wines that pair so well with the local goat's cheeses, which come in small cylinders and are sold in every market.
The roads here are made for gentle touring, with rolling hills, vineyard lanes and farm tracks, and the surface is generally good. In September and October the harvest brings tractors and lorries, but also a lovely atmosphere. Spring and autumn are best.