Burgundy Auxerre Long Sweep
A 385 km loop
Open this ride in the planner →
Why this ride
A proper escape from Paris with roads worth waking up for. 385 km round from Paris - plan on about 7 h of riding. The stops in between: Cannes-Écluse and Auxerre. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Roadbook
- Paris
start
It is a gift from the ruler of Egypt, about three thousand years old, and it was set up here in 1836 on the spot where the guillotine stood during the Revolution. Louis XVI was executed on this square in 1793, and so, in the Terror that followed, were over a thousand others. Now the square is a roundabout with fountains, ringed by traffic and framed by the Tuileries gardens on one side and the Madeleine church on the other. The banks of the Seine in this part of the city are UNESCO listed.
The honest advice for a rider is to treat Paris as a city to park in. The Périphérique ring road is fast, dense and unforgiving, and central Paris is a web of one-way streets, bus lanes, cobbles and tram lines. Paris also has a low-emission zone, so find out if your bike needs the Crit'Air sticker before you ride in, and look up the latest rules on parking. Motorcycle bays are common at the edges of the centre, and a garage near a metro line is the sanest option. Petrol stations are rare in the middle of the city, so fill up on the outskirts, in Levallois-Perret or Clichy, which are only a few kilometres away.
On foot, the area is easy. You can walk the Tuileries to the Louvre, cross the Pont de la Concorde to the Assemblée nationale, or head up the Rue Royale to the Madeleine and the smart shops of the Faubourg Saint-Honoré. The Champs-Élysées begins at the square's northwest corner and runs gently uphill to the Arc de Triomphe. Early morning, before the coaches arrive, gives you the best light on the stone and the fewest crowds.
If you want a break, take a coffee at a pavement cafe and watch the traffic rotate around the obelisk. Spring and autumn are the best seasons, with soft light and fewer tourists. The metro station at Concorde is a good way to move around if the bike stays in the garage.
- Cannes-Écluse
fuel
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.
- Auxerre
food
Auxerre is best seen first from the bridge over the Yonne. The old town climbs the west bank in a jumble of rooftops, crowned by the Gothic cathedral of Saint-Étienne and the abbey of Saint-Germain, with the river sliding past below. It is one of the classic views of Burgundy, and it sets the tone for a town that wears its history lightly.
The abbey of Saint-Germain is particularly remarkable. Beneath it lies a Carolingian crypt with wall paintings that are among the oldest surviving in France, some dating back to the ninth century. The cathedral has fine stained glass and a crypt of its own. In the streets of the old town you will find half-timbered houses, a clock tower with an astronomical dial and plenty of small squares where cafés set out their tables. Auxerre also has a solid football tradition, thanks to AJ Auxerre and the long reign of its coach Guy Roux, which still comes up in local conversation.
For lunch, Auxerre is a good place to try classic Burgundian cooking: eggs poached in red wine sauce, known as oeufs en meurette, cheesy gougères, jambon persillé and, of course, wine. The vineyards of Chablis lie only about twenty kilometres to the east, and many restaurants serve the crisp local whites. If you are riding on, you will want to go easy, but a glass with lunch is part of the culture.
The riding around Auxerre is varied and rewarding. To the east, the roads into Chablis country climb over limestone hills striped with vines, with long views and gentle curves. To the south, the Yonne valley and the Canal du Nivernais offer pleasant riverside roads, and further on the hills of the Morvan begin, with forests and more challenging bends. Auxerre has everything you might need in terms of fuel and services. Spring and autumn are especially lovely here, with mild temperatures and the vineyards changing colour, while summer can be hot but is softened by the river.
- Paris finish