Geoff Jones

Inveterate dabbler in business, travel, gadgets & life

Category: travel blog

Day 11 Marnay to Hotel des Lacs

I think I’m going to need a pilot’s checklist before setting out each morning! Today I forgot to turn the Strava app on until I cycled over 6 miles 🙁 plus the cadence meter obviously was knocked out of alignment too, as Strava didn’t record my cadence.

elegant benchA pleasant day for biking although it’s getting really quite cold in the mornings. The Hills soon warmed me up though.  I loved the ultra smart cycleway that abruptly ended at the start of the Jura department. I admired the totally over the top Saline Royale gateway. Plus the rather gorgeous looking public benches in Ranchot. In Mouchard there was a lovely wooden telephone kiosk . I enjoyed a lovely lunch in Arbois. Then the climbing started…..

I gave up when the Hotel des Lacs  hoved into view. The N5road was getting on my nerves plus the 1600 feet of almost continuous climbing  was taking it’s toll.

The Strava data is here (shortened by 6.2 miles):

Strava_Ride___Bluegills._To_Le_Pont_de_la_Chaux

 

The pictures are here

Tomorrow will be the worst in many ways as it will mainly be up & down lots of BIG hills on very busy roads 🙁

Day 10 Chaumont to Marnay

IMG_3347An excellent days riding with the weather now a lot colder in the morning.  Made error Numero Uno when setting off this morning by going down a steep hill to find out at the bottom I was 180 degrees out 🙁 so had to pedal all the way back up.

Varied scenery along the canals, long straight roads, lakes and charming villages. Tomorrow should see my first mountain stage in The Jura where last time I nearly froze to death.

The village names over here are pretty cool, went from Gray to Cult…. The tourist info lady in Gray booked me into the Au Balcon here in Marnay a bit basic but a very friendly landlady who spoke good Franglais  🙂 No WiFi or SFR reception in the hotel, so doing this sat out in the main square freezing to death.

Managed to do over 84 miles some of it over 25 mph in top gear, very cool although I suspect I had a good tail wind in places.

Here is the Strava data:

Strava_Ride___Chaumont_to_Marnay

 

Photos are here

Day 9 Vitry to Chaumont

After a mega snore last night I packed and went along to breakfast. Great spread and uber friendly folks. How can some folks make running a hotel look so easy? Whilst others make it seem so hard.

Todays elevation profile
Todays elevation profile

The day seemed very tough, it was hot and ‘close’ so progress was slow. The villages are very pretty with half timbered houses and seemingly undiscovered, given the number of properties in desperate need of renovation. The lac du der was lovely and I’m sure my twitcher friends would be in heaven there. I now have another favourite French word – Quitéude

The harvesting is now in it’s closing days but I did stop to take some pics of this obviously new New Holland Combine CX8070 in action (Yours for £155,000).

The impressive Chaumont viaductIn a moment of serendipity I took a wrong turn coming into Chaumont and stumbled upon the most magnificent railway viaduct ever,  built in 1857. It’s twice the length of the Ribblesdale viaduct  built in 1874 and 20 metres higher. And to cap it all a slow moving goods train was crossing 🙂  It also has a most gorgeous pedestrian crossing half way up.

Sally has been digging around in my archives and discovered that exactly 4 years ago I had ridden the 647 miles to Dole in only 8 days this time in the 9 days I’ve been riding I’ve only done 551 miles 🙁 The big difference is THE WRETCHED PANNIERS!

Here is the Strava for today.

Strava_Ride___Vitry_to_ChaumontAnd the pictures here.

 

Day 8 – Mailly to Vitry le Francois

After a restless nights nightmarish dreaming I awoke and very carefully made sure I didn’t leave anything. I was at the breakfast table for 8.30 sharp. The Dutch couple & kids arrived a few moments later, enough to cause the landlady a little consternation. He was told immediately, for no apparent reason, to move his car 2 metres away – so that the breakfast came complete with diesel fumes 🙁

A real cycle path
A real cycle path

I raced off after breakfast to a glorious morning with a slight chill to the air & empty roads, apart from groups of friendly cyclists 🙂 It was very undulating to begin with but I had my strength back so it was relatively easy. I was determined to stick to my resolution to only do 50 miles today.

I had coffee in Chalons with quite a few UK tourists, then I discovered the Marne canal with its superlative cyclepath (at least to begin with). However, at la Voie Berger the path disappeared and I was once again on stony tracks (it has to be said The Dawes is superlative as an off road bike even fully laden). I have finally worked out how to stop the panniers jumping off.

I arrived in Vitry 50 miles and 6 hours later from setting off with some very fine riding a lot in top gear.. @AroundMe came up trumps again with the Hotel Tambourin, great place especially in one of the disabled rooms on the ground floor. Proper shower that you can move around in and so beautifully laid out  for ease of access.

The evening meal (and lunch)  at Le Grillardin was excellent especially with a pleasant English couple who are driving back to Henham near Saffron Walden tomorrow. The meal cost about 1/3 of last nights!

A perfect days cycling 🙂

Todays Strava is here:

Strava_Ride___Mailly_to_Vitry_le_Francois

Todays pics are here