Day 65: Besancon to Dole

September 24, 2015

To get back onto the cycle route we needed to head back through town. This gave the always valuable chance to observe the city in the cold light of day and before the "action" would have started. As it happens, though, Besancon is neither a tourist town nor does it seems to have it s own intense night life. So things this morning seemed much like yesterday evening. The only difference was that we followed a small stream of students and workers who seemed to know a lower traffic way to over the bridge into town.

One thing that was also the same was the issue about the bike lanes and their lack of impact on the cars and busses. In the photo below, the car has clearly hit the cyclist painted on the road. Good thing he was already flattened by a bus!

We also met up again with at least one of our bicycle cop friends. He was busy, though, checking parking tickets. Else I would have asked about how they are managing the bike lanes.

Our friend in the bicycle police is a bit too busy to talk to us this morning.

Back through the tunnel, this time joined by a boat. The tunnel allows boats to avoid following the whole loop of the river

Just out of town we ran into a closure of the bike path. As usual, we only believe these closures when we are right up against an impassable crater or fence.As to keeping you out of a worksite, we think the French are pretty loosey goosey. We asked ourselves what the proper rhyming French term for that would be. Since "goose" is "oie" (which we can not even pronounce in French - ok, it's "wha") there did not seem to be much hope. We settled on just calling it the official "laissez-faire". Anyway, if you look at one of the closure signs, you see that they "invite" pedestrians to take the detour. Yeah, stand back, we're blasting through!

Very polite sign, "invites" pedestrians to take the detour.

After the non-detour, we returned to the path and the river, and settled in to what would be the story for most of the day. The water was glass smooth as there was no wind, so we pedalled a level path with no wind, and the beautiful reflections of the bank in the river. It was not actively exciting, and the canal path mostly avoided villages, so there were few distractions.

One welcome thing is always meeting any cows that may be along the path. In this area they are all white Charolais. These large muscular animals are nevertheless curious and friendly.

There few boats on the river, and we enjoy racing any we do meet - knowing that the many locks give us an unfair advantage. This day we encountered a German excursion cruise. Made us a little homesick for Germany.

The boats carrying the German river cruise

A final distraction was actually a real "distraction". After having passed through the various signs surrounding the trail closure, we were curious about a flashing orange light by the side of the path. "Oh, I wonder what thaaa --- whaaaa!" said Dodie. It turned out that the light was warning of the presence of one of those pylons imbedded in the concrete, that can be lowered by authorized vehicles and otherwise block car traffic. In this case the pylon was down, but it lives in a significant concrete bump in the path. The bump had been cleverly painted white to look like a flat road marking. Dodie overcame the distraction of the flashing light in time to just glance off the bump, without going flying. I laughed and laughed, but it was mostly out of relief. This anyway is one of the advantages of putting Dodie out front. She finds any holes hiding under puddles, loose gravel and sand, etc., before I get there.

Cleverly disguised obstacle, with distracting yellow light

As the afternoon progressed, the river and the path remained beautiful, except for about 5 km on road, which was in fact somewhat scary due to speeders. I made another photo of the river and path, hoping that the different lighting would make it seem like something new.

There is lots of camping around Dole, and the day was warm and dry, but we had already reserved at the Hotel Pourcheresse (55 euros). In doing this, we were copying Wendy Holmes and Dave Morriss ((Spare Tires Head for England and Europe) who are one day ahead of us on this route. We did find that at least one of the campings is closed for the season, but we could see that the meaning of that would mainly be the need to have your own cooking water. Otherwise, laissez- faire.

Closed camping might actually just mean no fees, since the camping area was not fenced or barricaded.

Before going to find our hotel, we had a look at the town. The most obvious feature, other than that it is hilly, is the large cathedral, surrounded by highly picturesque old buildings, with complicated rooflines. This we could see from a distance. Our first stop, though, was the birth house of Louis Pasteur. The area is called little Venice, because a canal passes through it. The water must have been used in the industry going on at the time Pasteur's parents were there - tanning. The house has been lovingly maintained, and this is fitting, because Pasteur was a great benfactor of humanity.

The cathedrale is actually termed a collegial church. I am not sure of the difference. But the building, which dates from the 1500's was probably grand enough to have cathedrale standing. Inside it was a bit plain, but it did have some unique stained glass, one of the main features we look for. It also had good Dole postcards, another key feature.

The chucrch in Dole, with interesting house rooflines around it

The church included a chapel which was a war memorial. I guess it is fitting, but rare.

A sample street in Dole. It basically all looks like this

Look Amelia, a sewing shop named for you!

Holmes and Morriss had found the innkeeper at the Pourcheresse a bit grumpy, but today he was fine. We were happy that we could understand every word he said, making us feel quite accomplished. As described by Holmes and Morriss the place is a bit under construction and a bit funky, but only by European standards. That is, for example, the newly renovated floors are laminate, not marble or tile. The bathroom, as always in Europe, is way beyond ours for the quality of the fixtures. On the other hand, the shower has no curtain or enclosure, and no drain in the tile floor, where water that misses the fibreglass base will end up. Curious.

Even though the villages are not exciting or non existent, we are really enjoying this part of EV6 - the ride along the Doubs. With most of the path being off road and by the water, it is supremely restful. The authorities have provided quite a few rest stops, benches, and info panels, and are clearly treating the cycle way as an important thing. We like that, and feel cared for. We know the rest of EV6 to Nantes will be similar, and with good weather forecast for a while, it should be great. There are lots of interesting towns, and the chateaux still to see.

Today's ride: 66 km (41 miles)
Total: 3,042 km (1,889 miles)

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