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Day 6, Sens to Joigny - 71 kilometers (35k with no mistakes!)

Route: Very easy flat riding through small villages on low to medium (sometimes heavy) traffic roads. Directions: South on the D72 from Sens through the villages of Gron, Etigny. Continue south on the D272 to Villeneuve. South from Villeneuve on the D3 through St. Julien and Themes where the road changes to the D 182. Continue on, the road turns into the N6 before crossing the river into Joigny.

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    We awoke early, ready to ride to Joigny on what was supposed to be a relatively short ride of about 35k. We had decided not to partake of the breakfast offered by the Hotel Brunnes, instead choosing to find a patisserie and buy some quiches and croissants. When we loaded up the bikes, Roxcie noticed that her gloves were missing from inside her helmet.  We had chained the bikes to a fence inside the hotel parking lot the day before but people walking by could have easily reached inside the fence and taken the gloves, new and Fox brand. We rode to the Tourist Information booth and asked about a bike shop close by. They gave us directions and we rode to the shop where Roxcie bought a new pair of gloves and I picked up breakfast at the patisserie next door. We found a pretty park in front of the train station and ate our breakfasts on a bench in the midst of a flower garden

    We had to ask directions several times to make sure that we were riding the right road out of town. After about 20 minutes we found ourselves on the D72, a medium traffic, two lane road, riding towards Villeneuve le Roi. The road ran alongside the River Yonne and when we reached the town we crossed the road and rode into the village to look around and eat lunch.

    We walked around town and bought supplies for a picnic lunch, pate, cheese, and a bottle of wine, a soft drink for Roxcie. We figured we'd stop along the route at a nice spot along the river and eat our lunch. We rode down to the river and saw what looked like a bike trail right at the water's edge and decided to follow it until it ran out. 

    We rode along for a short while and the road turned to packed dirt and gravel. We continued on, the road getting bumpier and bumpier until it finally turned and merged with the paved road. Roxcie yelled to us from her bike that her compass was pointing the wrong way. I didn't think much of it until we came upon a road sign and found that we were heading the wrong way, back to Sens and on an A road! We thought about it and then realized that we had crossed the river to visit Villeneuve and in doing so, had lost our sense of direction. 

    We backtracked to the village and ate our lunch at the place where we had started off course, a bench sitting along side the river. We figured that we had added between 16 and 20 kilometers to our trip and made our rears sore from riding on the bumpy gravel road. We crossed back over the river and got back on track, following the signs all the way to Joigny.

    Joigny was a pretty little village on the side of a hill. We stopped at a park along the road in the middle of town and I walked up the hill till I found a small grocery store and bought some soft drinks. The three of us sat in the park, admiring the town for a while and then got back on the bikes since we were booked into a hotel in Migennes, a ride of 10 more kilometers. We rode the distance in fairly brisk speed and reached the center of the village of Migennes only to find that our hotel, L Escargot, was only a bar and not a hotel at all. The Tourist Information booth was right down the street so we went in to check on where we went wrong.

    The staff called the phone number and it turned out that our hotel was in Joigny, only about 100 yards from where we had taken a rest. Even worse, the few hotels in Migennes were full. We mounted the bikes and rode back to Joigny. The hotel was owned by a couple, Sabrina and Luigi. They had two children, preteens, a boy and a girl and also owned a really big dog. Sabrina took the dog in tow and had us put the bikes in the garage. The dog lived in the yard in front of the garage so we knew the bikes would be safe.

    We were tired from our ride and not really interested in re-exploring Joigny so spent some time just sitting in the restaurant at Le Escargot. Sabrina explained that she and Luigi had bought the hotel a year ago, having moved from Paris. They were working hard to make improvements but it was tiring and while the hotel was doing well, the restaurant could be doing better. I had  a couple of beers and Jeanette had several Kirs, a wine and liquor mixture. Roxcie stuck with her Coke Lights.

    Sabrina made us an excellent three course home cooked meal and Luigi asked about California music, the Beachboys, jazz and the blues. He had CD album covers around the restaurant and was excited when we told him of the Sacramento Jazz festival. After dinner we went up to our room to catch up on the Tour de France. Volker was still in the lead. The room itself was worn but clean, not something to write home about but Sabrina and Luigi made us feel at home. We had no complaints.

Accommodations and other recommendations:

L'ESCARGOT DE SAB, Sabrina and Luigi, owners
1 av. Roger Varrey, 
89110 Joigny
tél. 03.86.62.10.38
E36 for three, breakfast not included

Day 7, Joigny to Auxerre - 38 kilometers

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