Why this ride
A 387 km round trip from Dijon - roughly 5 h 28 in the saddle. It goes by way of The Climats, Saline Royale d'Arc-et-Senans, From the Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bai and Lac de Chalain. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Les climats du vignoble de Bourgogne - Dij and Lac de Chalain
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 387 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 28
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Burgundy Grand Cru Route
For about 43 km this is Burgundy Grand Cru Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it — expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 43 km
- Named road
- Burgundy Grand Cru Route
From the Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bai → Lac de Chalain
Water arrives beside the road and stays for 41 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go. Slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 35 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Les climats du vignoble de Bourgogne - Dij
Dijon sits at the top of the Côte d'Or, where the Burgundian plain meets the long limestone escarpment that carries some of the most expensive vineyards in the world. The UNESCO listing called the Climats of Burgundy covers those vineyards and the towns that grew around them, and the label's last word, cut short, means Dijon itself, the old ducal capital where the Valois dukes ruled a territory that rivalled the French crown. The Palace of the Dukes and Estates, now a museum and town hall, still dominates the central square, and the pedestrian streets around it are full of half-timbered houses and fine stone doorways.
Read the complete Les climats du vignoble de Bourgogne - Dij write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Les climats du vignoble de Bourgogne - Dij is where the day begins. Next is The Climats.
2. The Climats
The Climats of Burgundy are, in plain terms, the vineyard plots of the Côte d'Or, each one with its own name and character, worked and described by monks and growers for nearly a thousand years. The word means little parcels of land with a specific soil, slope and exposure, and the idea is that two vines a few metres apart can yield wines that taste different. Near Ladoix-Serrigny and Beaune the slope faces east and south-east, and the great hill of Corton rises above the villages, covered in vines and crowned with woods.
Read the complete The Climats write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Climats comes up about 43 km into the recorded legs. Next is Saline Royale d'Arc-et-Senans.
3. Saline Royale d'Arc-et-Senans
Claude-Nicolas Ledoux wanted to build an ideal city, and he started with a salt factory. The Saline Royale at Arc-et-Senans was built between 1775 and 1779 on the orders of Louis XV's administration, to boil brine into salt, and Ledoux designed it as a perfect half circle of buildings around the director's house, with the workers, the boiling halls and the management all arranged in a geometric order meant to express reason, hierarchy and efficiency. It never grew into the full circular city he imagined, but what was built is astonishing, and it was listed by UNESCO in 1982, later joined by the great saltworks at Salins-les-Bains.
Read the complete Saline Royale d'Arc-et-Senans write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 139 km into the recorded legs you reach Saline Royale d'Arc-et-Senans. Next is From the Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bai.
4. From the Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bai
Salins-les-Bains lies at the bottom of a deep, narrow valley in the Jura, squeezed between two forested ridges, each crowned by a fort, and its wealth for most of history came from beneath its streets. Deep underground, salty water flows through layers of rock salt, and for over a thousand years the people of Salins pumped it up and boiled it in great pans to make salt, a precious commodity before refrigeration, used to preserve food and taxed heavily by the crown. The Grande Saline, the great saltworks, is now a museum, and you can walk through its underground galleries, where a huge hydraulic wheel and pump from the nineteenth century still turn, lifting brine from the depths.
Read the complete From the Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bai write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
From the Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bai, about halfway. Next is Lac de Chalain.
5. Lac de Chalain
Lac de Chalain is the largest natural lake in the French Jura, a long, green-blue lake set in a valley among forested limestone cliffs, and its shores were home to farming villages built on piles thousands of years ago. The remains of these villages, preserved in the lake bed, are part of the Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps, listed by UNESCO in 2011. In the 1900s, when the lake level was lowered for a hydroelectric project, a dugout canoe and the remains of houses were found, and excavations since then have revealed a remarkable picture of life in the Neolithic.
Read the complete Lac de Chalain write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Lac de Chalain sits at 196 km, about halfway. Next is back through From the Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bai.
6. back through From the Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bai
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete From the Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bai write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through From the Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bai comes up about 229 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Saline Royale d'Arc-et-Senans.
7. back through Saline Royale d'Arc-et-Senans
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Saline Royale d'Arc-et-Senans write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 245 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Saline Royale d'Arc-et-Senans. Next is back through The Climats.
8. back through The Climats
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Climats write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through The Climats, late in the day. Next is Les climats du vignoble de Bourgogne - Dij.
9. Les climats du vignoble de Bourgogne - Dij
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Les climats du vignoble de Bourgogne - Dij write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 387 km.
Leg by leg
Les climats du vignoble de Bourgogne - Dij to The Climats
Les climats du vignoble de Bourgogne - Dij → The Climats is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Climats to Saline Royale d'Arc-et-Senans
The Climats → Saline Royale d'Arc-et-Senans is 96 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Saline Royale d'Arc-et-Senans to From the Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bai
Saline Royale d'Arc-et-Senans → From the Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bai is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
From the Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bai to Lac de Chalain
From the Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bai → Lac de Chalain is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Lac de Chalain to back through From the Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bai
Lac de Chalain → back through From the Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bai is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through From the Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bai to back through Saline Royale d'Arc-et-Senans
back through From the Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bai → back through Saline Royale d'Arc-et-Senans is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Saline Royale d'Arc-et-Senans to back through The Climats
back through Saline Royale d'Arc-et-Senans → back through The Climats is 96 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through The Climats to Les climats du vignoble de Bourgogne - Dij
back through The Climats → Les climats du vignoble de Bourgogne - Dij is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.