The best MTB trails around Guillon

Crescent Lake owes its name to its crescent shape. It is popular with local fishermen and also with swimmers who can visit its beach to cool off. Camping is also permitted. This lake, with its exceptionally bucolic setting, was chosen as the location in 2015 by Michel Gondry for filming his movie Microbe and Gazoil.

Beautiful wild spot that can be partly explored by mountain bike on the northern part of the lake.

There is no possibility of touring the lake by mountain bike along the banks, but rather by taking the road. However, check that the road that passes over the dam is open (temporarily closed until June 25, 2025 for us!).

Great place to take a break!

As in probably every other profession, there are a few so-called “black sheep” among the many honorable millers in the milling trade. The popular children's book author Otfried Preußler tells the following short episode in “The Flight into Egypt”: “And they didn't even get all the way to Klostergrätz that evening, but there was a mill on their way, the monastery mill - they stayed there until the next morning. At first the monastery miller was almost shocked when the k.k. Gendarmerie knocks on his door: There had been a certain dispute with a customer last week about a few sacks of milling material which had disappeared in the mill here in a completely inexplicable way […] but it could have been that he had been reported for it anyway – and now they’re coming to pick him up… then of course all the disputed milling sacks had immediately fallen from his mind, the monastery miller, just as [sergeant] Hawlitschek was now simply asking him for a place to stay for the night.”

The current church dates from the 16th century, enlarged in the 18th century. It is in the center of the village next to the town hall. A few steps away, in the main street, are the village shops, café, pizzeria and others.

Located on the border between Yonne, Côte d'Or and Nièvre, the Lac de Saint-Agnan is an artificial lake created in the 1980s. With its air of small Canada, it symbolizes the Morvan Regional Natural Park . It is a very popular site for fishermen, but you can also swim and practice water sports. Note the presence of an inn that can allow you to get water (as was the case for me) and to eat, the opportunities to do so are not legion in the region.

Moulin Cadoux dates from the mid 1700s. Many of the mills in the Morvan have disappeared, but this one has been lovingly saved and restored.