September 5, 2022
Nancy to Frizon
A couple of off pistes.
Nancy to Frizon A couple of off pistes.
September 5 Monday
At Apartment City loading our bags and leaving at a reasonable hour is easy. There’s another guest loading an etandem- they must achieve pretty high speeds. All is well on the first part of the trail until we have to change over to the canal du Marne et Rhin. We cross the bridge off the trail and spend some time trying to find the Canal. Eventually with local help, we’re off.
The trail is smooth after that and we admire the apartments along the route which have space for living provided. We arrive at Port St Vincent and realise we’ve come too far west. A local cyclist tells us we need to go back to Messeins. It’s about 3 kilometres but rather irritating. On the way back I meet a wonderful Polish chap. He’s attaching a teddy bear to a sign so that he can photograph it for his nieces back in Poland. He lives in Germany. He’s so laid back with his old Dutch wreck of a bike, as he calls it, and minimal gear, that all our cares quickly evaporate. We find this often happens. He’s also interested in us, having traveled to the Pacific himself. He’s also so reassuring about how to correct our mistake that we feel quite confident. He takes our photo and we’re off again, finding the sneakily hidden sign to Epinal. En route we also meet a German couple from near Munich who we continue to cross paths with over the next few days.
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We stop for lunch on leftovers from our Nancy stay and continue on to Charmes. Ann has a Warmshowers contact at Frizon, off the trail. We find the turnoff for Nomexy and ask directions of a local. He tells us that we must go up and up and up - ‘ like the Alps’.
This we do and 5 kms later we are in Frizon. Ann tells me the are just past the church. Where is the church? I look up, raising my eyes to the hills- 50 metres above us- there it is. Up we go. When we arrive, it’s evident the locals know our hosts because they have no trouble pointing out our destination- a beautiful old stone farmhouse in the village . Veronique is outside waving to us. Our relief is palpable and after a shower we eat with them and discuss all manner of subjects in our limited French and Régis and Veronique’s reasonable English.
It’s wonderful hearing local stories and how people live their lives in a different part of the world. By 8:30 we crash. It’s been a big day and the flashes of lightning and thunder in the distance make us glad we’re not in our tent.
Today's ride: 79 km (49 miles)
Total: 647 km (402 miles)
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