+1 on the comfort over weight.
My
Batavus Randonneur GL can fit 35mm x 700C tyres with fenders and is not a lightweight either. It's not quite a touring bike but not a road bike either.
What it does have is a relatively low trail, meaning I can ride it no-handed, which helps a lot by the end of the ride as it makes the bike less twitchy and thus less tiresome.
I've used it for touring and 130 km (
80 miles) days and where my riding companion was pretty beat up by the end on his modern aluminum road racing bike I was still pretty comfortable. If I had to replace it with something similar I would be looking at a
Miyata 1000 LT or its Dutch market equivalent the
Koga-Miyata Randonneur Extra as it has lighter tubing than the Batavus and some nice additions.
Then again, I have had a soft spot for Koga-Miyata since working on a couple of them and seeing the nice little details, I've started a thread with some more info:
Show us your Koga-Miyata