The Morvan
Perhaps one of France's best-kept secrets, the tiny Morvan region is easily missed but definitely worth a visit
NEVER HEARD OF the Morvan? It's perhaps not surprising when this area of low, wooded hills shares a country that includes regions such as the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Côte d’azur, the Vosges, the Massif Central, the Millau viaduct, the Normandy beaches… well, you get the picture. There are more famous bits of the country that attract more visitors.
And in a nutshell, that’s what we like about this particular region of Burgundy. It’s not a huge area – it's only about the size of the Peak District – but it is criss-crossed by a network of fiendishly twisty and blissfully quiet roads. It’s possible to put a couple of good, diverse days’ riding together, and that's why it makes an excellent destination for a short break.
Hotel tip: Hotel Vauban (www.citotel-avallon.fr)
OFF THE BIKE CHATEAU DE SAVIGNYLES-BEAUNE
More than just a castle: a vast motorcycle museum, with an aviation museum and a car museum attached. Historic models from every brand you can think of plus many minor ones. An absolute must-see. (www.chateau-savigny.com)
CHATEAU DE BAZOCHES
France is covered with gigantic fortresses designed by Vauban – but he lived in this far more modest chateau (www. chateau-bazoches.com). For a different kind of military engineering, visit the nearby Châteauneuf-en-auxois. (www.burgundy-tourism.com)
TOURNUS
An attractive and vibrant town with a 10th-century Benedictine abbey and a bicycle museum. The Hotel Dieu was originally the city hospital in the 17th-century and the pharmacy is straight out of Harry Potter. (www.tournus.fr/hotel-dieumusee-greuze)
SOLUTRE-POUILLY
This is burgundy wine country and half the houses in this small village are ‘wine caves’. Combined with the scenic vineyards and the Rock of Solutré – a large limestone cliff – which is a prehistoric site with evidence of the Solutrean Paleolithic culture, it’s an ideal ‘taster’ for the
CHATEAU DE LA VERRERIE
This castle in the heart of the old industrial town of Le Creusot has been turned into a museum dedicated to the forges, mines and factories that shaped it. (www.burgundy-tourism.com)