August 22, 2017
I'm Keeping Flowers in Full Bloom: Day 15 - Dolé to Baume les Dames
What's to say? Another classic day of cycle touring.
Were now in the Jura section of France, the Far East, up against the Swiss boarder. Both Kirsten and I found the cycling more interesting today. Although we were largely still following canals for most of the day, the landscape changed dramatically.
There are hills everywhere, the rivers and canals wind around them with sheer rock walls along parts of the rivers. We still have the paved paths alongside the canals and the friendly folks on the canal boats raising their glasses in toasts as we go by, so it's not a hardship!
Far fewer towns today too and we are really in the transition between the Loire / Burgundy area and the Rhine. We've got a couple of easy days ahead of us as we've decided to have a little rest and pampering when we get to Mulhouse, about a day and a half easy cycle from here. We've booked a small country hotel ... with a Michelin starred restaurant, for Thursday night. As it turns out, the hotel is not much more expensive than some of the Ibis ones we've stayed at.
Today was more or less a day of really nice riding through beautiful countryside. No dramas, no worries. We're at a quiet and peaceful campground just outside Baumes le Dames which is itself a quiet and peaceful town.
Basic but good dinner in a family filled and run place tonight, with a big cold beer. All good.
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Song of the Day;
The Great Beyond by R.E.M.
There wasn't much bike traffic along the way today, and fairly long stretches between towns, so I broke out the boom and we listened to music for most of the afternoon. I've been self conscious about being an obnoxious boor making a lot of 'noise' along the bike paths, but I was pleasantly surprised today. At one point when I was coming down a hill and approaching a lady pushing her bike up the hill, CCR Fortunate Son was playing (a little loudly, with me singing, very badly) I was about to stop the music (hard to do going down hill) when I saw her start to dance and sing too!
A while later, REM's song was playing (and me singing) as we passed a guy sitting on a bench by the canal. I didn't see the reaction, but Kirsten said he looked up and then had a great big smile on his face. That got REM song of the day (I really like it too and it fits the vibe of the day).
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Today's ride: 98 km (61 miles)
Total: 1,155 km (717 miles)
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