July 8, 2012
Day 50: Verdun sur le Doube to Dole, France: In Search of Louis Pasteur
The night brought intense thunder storms with heavy rain, thunder, and lightening (orages avec le foudre et des eclairs - not chocolate ones, either). One lightening flash was so intense it woke me out of a sound sleep. However our tent remained snug and there is actually a satisfaction about being safe under shelter when there is such a commotion outside.
In the morning the rain was gone, and we crawled cautiously out of our hole. Since the Camping had no service of bringing in early morning bread (lame!) we choked down two Pain aux Raisins from yesterday and headed for the open road. Our way lead first through town, where people had already set up for a garage sale in a square. Antique tractors and diesel machines were also being assembled, but we only saw a few:
Out on the road, we were greeted by acres of sunflowers. Actually, we were not really greeted. The sunflowers were all looking the other way, more interested i the Sun than in two multicoloured Grampies creaking along. I was a bit put out by this reception, but then Dodie says I wrongly expect everyone (and thing) in France to be happy to see us.
The pleasing scents and sights of the road kept coming, as we now know will happen every day.
With the flat road, the kilometers slid by and soon we were at St Jean de Losne, or at least across the river from it. We could see some sort of party in progress, so over we went. It turned out to be Dragon Boat races!
As we sat on stone steps by the river, eating our quiche loraine and chausettes de pommes, I scrabbled in my bag for something to read. Out came a map of cycle routes in Burgundy that had been picked up somewhere. I idly glanced at it. Sure, sure, cycle route here, vines in the hills there, four day itinerary laid out for families with kids, and so forth. Then it struck me (as it has many times in the past 50 days). This is super. This is far beyond anything we have at home. Who at home puts out a map of cycle routes like that - like ones that are safe for kids over three nights and four days of cycling? Nobody, that's who. And we are here, sitting by the Saone River, eating Quiche Lorraine, getting ready to pedal down the Rhone to Rhine canal, just up river, and to arrive at Dole, the ancient capital of Burgundy. Wow!
So guess what, we went ahead and did it, back over the bridge and sharp left.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
A quick note here for EuroVelo 6 fans. Normally you need to watch the map and the road signs, staying current with where you are on the map and double checking that the signs you follow make sense. But north of Tavaux a pile of very clear and explicit signs turned us east, in to Damparis, completely contrary to what the map said should be happening. In fact, without the GPS we would not have known where we were being lead. We decided to play along, and in due course the signed route did bring us back to the mapped route. At the intersection of the two, we could see that the former route (mapped route) had been sealed off. It looked like a nearby chemical factory situated along the canal might have had something to do with it.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
So it ended well, and we were on our way to Dole. Only one glitch. For about 9000 km now I have followed along behind Dodie, with thousands of sudden stops and starts and slowdowns and radical turns. There have been some close calls in term of bike to bike contact, but never a problem. This despite the fact that at any given time I could be looking through the camera sideways, drinking from the water bottle, studying the map, programming the GPS, or all of the above. The odds caught up with us at Tavaux, when I looked down to turn off the GPS just as Dodie stopped. The panniers front and rear cushioned any impact, but I sent her flying quite convincingly. Quite an impressive tangle of bikes and bags and legs. We had a hard time convincing two concerned passers-by not to call an ambulance, because despite all appearances there were no injuries.
Dodie seemed to maintain, though, that I am trying to kill her. She had to modify that, though, to everyone is trying to kill her, because at the next corner a lady and two kids on bikes appeared on our side of the track. The lady wobbled apologetically out of the way. No harm done, nor by the guy at the next corner, zooming along on the wrong side with his Tour de France wannabee machine. Maybe it's safer on the Autoroute!
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
At the campsite, though three were not a ton of cyclists, there were a few. These included Jo, who we knew would be here, and the pleasantly named Amelia, from California, who had cycled down from Amsterdam and who is headed to Milan. It was fun to speak English with Amelia for a bit, but her French and Spanish is also very good. She and Jo had a good conversation in French about the Spanish countries they had visited in the Americas.
Today's ride: 71 km (44 miles)
Total: 2,023 km (1,256 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 1 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |