Abandoned Building in Just the Right Spot!: Baume les Dames to Besancon
We had a slower start to our day today, lingering over excellent coffee and chatting with Sabine. We made the decision to do a shorter day and visit Besancon, so there was no need for an early start.
We really enjoyed our stay in Beaume les Dames and highly recommend the 'La Colline Aux Yeux Doubs'. Lovely people, lovely accomodation, lovely view. We made the obligatory pastry shop visits on our way out of town and were rolling down the bike path in no time. The scenery was beautiful and we really enjoyed the ride. Unfortunately, the camera battery died at an inopportune time. Keith's pony was herding a flock of chickens and a rooster down the bike path. It was quite a sight. He whipped out the camera to record the moment, and nothing. We discovered later it was because of the multiple pictures of his front tire. Out came the iphone again, but the chicken herding incident didn't get recorded, much to his dismay.
We stopped briefly in a small village park for lunch and that is when we noticed the threatening very black cloud in the distance. We kept rolling and when the heavens opened up we were remarkably lucky. We stopped under a tree to get out the goretex jackets but almost immediately it was raining so hard there was no wet gear in the world that would have kept us dry. Unbelievably, just off the path, was an abandoned building with a sheltered area and we could get completely out of the rain. Thank goodness because it was quite the weather bomb that included thunder so under a tree was not the place to be. The rain was the type that bounces back up a foot after it hits the ground so while it didn't last long, it was intense. That was it though, one big blast, some cloudy riding after and then the sun came out.
We are relaxing in the Hotel Florel in Besancon at the moment and will head out to see the sights shortly. Keith's flaky GPS has meant we have already seen a fair amount of the town, trying to find the hotel. We have decided to stay here for a second night as we haven't had a day off the bikes for awhile and feel a rest day is in order. Since we walk miles on our rest days, I am not sure how much rest we will get!
Keith loves the bakeries here. He was particularly taken with the marzipan pigs to the left of the picture. Who did they remind him of? He said something about his hockey team.
Thank goodness for shelter when you need it. If the rain had started five minutes earlier or later we would have been very, very wet. You can't tell from the picture how incredibly hard it was raining.
The scary tunnel on the bike path in Besancon. It was built by prisoners in the late 1800's and runs under the citadel. It was 360 M long. We turned on our lights.
