Vercingetorix and the Conquest of Celtic Gaul
In 52 BC, in Eastern France a struggle between two war leaders sealed the fate of Celtic Europe. The victor, Julius Caesar, needs no introduction, but his opponent, Vercingetorix, a leader of Celtic resistance to Rome, is mainly known today through his comic alter-ego: Asterix the Gaul. Statue of Vercingetorix at Mont Auxois Four years ago, I cycled across Europe, visiting Gergovie, in southern France, where Vercingetorix won the first round of that struggle. Caesar’s troops were forced to flee, but that wasn’t the end of the story. The next chapter played out further north, on the hilltop settlements of Bibracte and Alésia. A long-distance footpath runs between the two, crossing the Morvan Regional Park, a sparsely-populated mountainous area I knew many years ago. The official path goes through the middle of the mountains, with few places to stay or find food. So I designed my own route: 164 km, still with a lot of climbing but stopping in ten s...