Vesoul to Besancon: We took the bus!

September 14, 2017

What a morning in Vesoul. The wind was blowing, the rain was falling. It was ugly. Certainly the worst morning yet. Keith and I put off our departure until about 10:45 AM, and then decided to head out as the weather wasn't getting any better and I didn't want to linger in our sub par accommodation.

I look a little skeptical n'est ce pas? It was bucketing out there and the wind was blowing in the wrong direction.

We rode into the centre of town, a big 2 km to the train station. We thought we would see how we felt riding before making a decision about bailing, but the express bus to Besancon was sitting in front of the train station as we went by and literally without a word of discussion or even a look at each other we threw our bicycles under the bus. By this I mean in the luggage compartment of course. It was a whole 6 Euro each to get on the bus. It was glorious. We left at 11:30 and were in Besancon at 12:30. Absolutely no regrets. The ride would have been a hilly, wet and windy one. The hills just slow us down so much. The weather was brutal most of the ride, improving somewhat as we got further south. We could feel the wind buffeting the bus. I blew the bus driver a kiss as he pulled out of Besancon and he laughed and blew one back.

This gives you some idea of the weather out there. You can also see one of the many hills between us and Besancon.

We then rode two more km to the hotel. The rain certainly wasn't as bad as it had been further north thankfully. The first thing we did on arrival was have a hot bath. What a bonus to have a rare bathtub in the room. Then we spent the afternoon wandering around Besancon, an old friend. It feels like yesterday we were last here but it was four years ago. We had a great day.

Keith took very few photos. It wasn't a very photogenic day. One of the squares in the city.

In the unusual and unexpected department, young people dressed up and trying to sell trinkets to fund their school trip to London. They were very cute and obviously didn't mind the rain...I am the only one with a hood. We actually had a brief glimpse of a very weak sun in the afternoon before the rain settled in again.

Keith is heading out to find a corkscrew. Time to have a glass of local wine. A very different day, but a fantastic one. That bus driver will be laughing at the way we fell into his bus for years.

The geraniums in our hotel window. The only bright thing we saw all day.

We went for a walk after dinner and you are not going to believe what we saw. Blue sky! The weather forecast for tomorrow is actually reasonably good 😎.

See that clear sky up there? And note all the beautiful old buildings. Keith and I really like Besancon. Such a neat old town, great museums and a castle too.

This busker was amazing and he had help...a local who had had a little too much to drink. It was quite funny.

Happy hour in the bar. We asked our server what 'happy hour' is in French. It is 'happy hour'. I should be able to remember that. We brought the average age in this establishment up by quite a bit.

Today's ride: 4 km (2 miles)
Total: 786 km (488 miles)

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