Dijon to Gray to Baulay to Epinal

June 5, 2023 to June 7, 2023

The past three days have been a mix of river and canal side cycle paths, quiet farm roads, and some main roads. The Voie Blue follows the river, but the river meanders making for a longer route, so we shorten it by cutting onto the roads at strategic points, or when we are tired of the bike path. This is rolling farmland with fields of barley, wheat, mustard, hay and corn; lots of cows in the fields and a few sheep and goats. Interspersed are small wooded areas where trees are being selected with care to be cut for firewood and two extensive forest areas with lumber logs (looks like oak) piled and being trucked, but no clear cuts in sight. The further north we get, the farms look bigger with more huge machines and fewer people than in wine country. Hence, the villages are smaller and farther apart than in the more populated Provence and Burgandy, and much quieter with only a small church, empty buildings and often no shops at all.

On day 2, fortunately one of us thought to look ahead and Google accurately showed there was no grocery store near our destination, Baulay, so we stopped at a small épicerie 15km ahead to be sure of something to eat. This is another kind of perfect touring: peaceful, pastoral and hot.

On day 3 we rode beside the Rivière Coney and then the Canal de L'Est that joins the Saône and the Moselle basins. The engineering that went into designing and building these canal systems is on a par with building cathedrals or palaces, except the canals made money.

From Epinal it should be downhill all the way to Koln.