April 16, 2018
Day 21: Besancon to St-Jean-de-Losne
The centre of Besancon was still a pretty quiet place, even on a Monday morning. With its miniature Parisian aire it seems like a place one could enjoy visiting for an extended period. We, however, went back to the river and to the tunnel that would take us quickly away. This put us under the impressive ramparts, which one day we ought to go up to for a closer look.
Probably every cyclist takes a picture of the tunnel, and we are no exception, so here it is:
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Once out on the other side of the tunnel we were of course back on Eurovelo 6, which runs to the Atlantic in our direction, and the Black Sea, behind us. We were reminded of the extent of it by a sign pointing to Nantes. Our friends Michel and Aurel and their families live near Nantes. But eager as we are to see them, 729 km would be just too easy. We are going to spin that out to a lot more by turning off EV 6 soon and heading for the Mediterranean.
On connector routes, like this bit of EV 6, we and other Cycleblaze bloggers have passed by, often more than once. So like the Besancon tunnel, there are spots that have come up in a number of photos and that now hold a certain nostalgia. One other such spot is Thoraise, not far from Becancon.
Thoraise has a tunnel that the canal goes through, a Chateau, a Chapel, and a pilgrimage site "petit Lourdes" type grotto. The cyclist photos are usually atop the entrance to the tunnel, where there is also a Mary statue. So here is our latest shot. Kathleen Classen, do you remember?
After the excitement at Thoraise we could return to peaceful canal pedaling for a while. Touring France by rented boat is quite a big thing, but we were not spotting a lot of such tourists this time. It seems like it would be quite boring anyway. Your speed is about 10 km/h and you are tied to the canals in terms of routing. On the other hand there are "haltes fluviales" which may have some good services - like restaurants - and in some places communities of boaters grow up.
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About 40 km down the canal from Thoraise is the rather major town of Dole. Dole is famous in general, and with us, as the birthplace of Louis Pasteur. Pasteur is famous for the germ theory of disease and of course for "Pasteurization", which stems from that. He also developed vaccines for anthrax and rabies. All of which makes him a huge benefactor of mankind. His birth house is preserved in Dole, and it now houses a museum about pasteur. Pasteur's father was a tanner, and the house is part of a row of former tanneries along a piece of canal. That used to be a very stinky waterway, but now it has been cleaned up and I spotted several fish swimming by.
Dole also has a very nice 16th century church. You can read it's story here:
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Sticking to the subject of churches for a bit, we noticed the "Jura" style of steeples thinning out, and being replaced by more "normal" ones. Here are some of the last ones we spotted, plus a view of the cathedral at Dole:
More soon... going out for dinner with famous cyclist Keith Klein now!!
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It was really a pleasure seeing Keith again. This is the third time we have contrived to get together, which is pretty unique for cyclists who have met through their blogs. With a lot of others, we seem to circle around a country and never manage to bump into each other.
We walked over to the line of restaurants that face the river, and were disappointed to find the first ones closed for a variety of reasons. But we came to an open one and it was a lucky choice. I found the entree, the main dish, and the dessert each really super, and the reactions of Dodie and Keith were the same. As is commonly the case with French restaurants, they do not try to overwhelm you with quantity, but rather with quality. Afterwards you find that the quality has had the effect of sending you away feeling satisfied, without the need to feel stuffed.
Here is an idea of what the dishes looked like:
Picking up the day's story, where we were at in the narrative before leaving with Keith - on the canal just before the point where it enters the Saone river, we ran into our first touring cyclist who wanted to stop and talk about touring. This was Claude, who lives near here but who is half way done in cycling the complete EV 6. Last year he had gone from the Atlantic to Vienna, and this year in September he would pick it up at Vienna and continue to the Black Sea.
Claude stopped us when he saw our packs and asked if we had come from the Black Sea. We had to disappoint him, since of course we have only come from the North Sea. Still it was good to talk about how far it was to the Black Sea and about how long the trip might take. Claude particularly mentioned the danger of dogs in Romania, and that gave us a chance to talk about dogs in Louisiana, and what we had done to fend them off.
We tried to encourage Claude to put a blog on Cycleblaze, so we can follow how he makes out from Vienna. Next year we want to return to Vienna, and after talking to Keith tonight, maybe we would carry on at least to Budapest. That will be Keith's destination when he gets around to cycling the Danube.
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I was a little disappointed when we got on the Saone, because I remembered it as being more blue, after the brown canals. But further downstream and in a different light, it looked pretty good:
The towns of Losne and St-Jean-de_Losne are on opposite sides of the river, just about 4 km downstream from where the Rhine-Rhone canal joins in. Losne has a nostalgic meaning for us because that is where we first met Keith as he cycled down from Givrey-Chambertin to meet us three or four years ago. We would have stayed at the Logis where we had lunch together, but Dodie found a place cheaper and with breakfast included across the river.
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The place we actually chose is a B&B called Les Charmilles, 73 euros with breakfast. It's on the main street of St Jean, where the buildings are several hundred years old (and look it). But inside is full of character and there is a very nice back garden and garage for the bikes. The garage has two other pairs of bikes in it. Perhaps we will get to meet those cyclists at the included breakfast. But then, we will not be talking much because we need to make tracks for Chalon!
Today's ride: 87 km (54 miles)
Total: 1,251 km (777 miles)
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| Comment on this entry | Comment | 10 |
How are you finding your batteries after your longer days Mine is bigger than either of yours so have beenwondering how 400watt /h is
Keeps safe
Tricia and Ken
6 years ago
6 years ago
We got Dodie the 500 wH battery, and I have her old 400. The 500 is working out for Dodie. It can do double the distances we are asking of it, on the flat. In hills or wind, it just makes it, though there was that day in Aachen where we decided to give it a one hour mid day boost. We have a (quite heavy!) 4 watt charger for it, and in an hour it gains a fair bit of charge.
Did you say you planned to rent a bike when coming again? Can you tell us again the plan? There was a boat tour in there too, we seem to recall.
Hey, we expect the Bartlett's have now landed in Frankfurt, so we won't feel so lonely on this continent!
6 years ago
6 years ago
So now I'm famous? Sheesh, I'm gonna get a big head if I keep reading posts like that. Not that it's very likely, mind. Anyway, great to see you two again and thanks again for the fine dinner.
Say hi to Léo and Steph and Michel when you see them and let us know how Dodie's knees are fareing.
Cheers,
Keith
6 years ago
6 years ago
Did you enjoy the new but same old view of Thoraise?
Once we get back, we will have to rendez-vous again at Fol Epi!
6 years ago
But hey, it's definitely la clé, eh!
6 years ago