Planning your cycling holiday in Burgundy

Burgundy Special feature

The French region of Burgundy conjures up images for most of us of wine and good, hearty Gallic fare. While this is certainly a just association, there is far more to do in this central territory of France than wine and dine. It is blessed with some of the picturesque scenery in the country and cultural heritage, especially in terms of architecture, is amongst the finest there is. One area in which it really excels is the provision of cycling paths, especially along its eponymous canal. Burgundy was the first of France's regions to implement a dedicated network of cycle paths, taking their lead from the UK and the US. In total there are 500 miles of voies vertes, principally following the water, set aside for non-motorised activities such as cycling, jogging, roller-skating and even horse riding. As well as being mostly flat (for the paths often take the same routes as former railway lines or towpaths, they also pass through beautiful landscapes via quaint towns lockkeepers' cottages. One of the classic cycling routes is that between Dijon, the capital of both its départment (Côte d'Or) and of Burgundy, and Auxerre, the capital of the Yonne départment. Easyvoyage headed over to Burgundy to complete (most of) this stretch of the canal and here are the highlights of what we saw.