N83 running along the Doubs river
The good part of today was riding along the Doubs river on a variety of 'roads' ranging from two rocky tracks to the N83 highway. The bad parts of today were the riding through cities, riding with a strong cross/head winds, and riding in dreary weather with worse weather visible ahead. It wasn't a particularly enjoyable day of riding, but the good parts were quite nice. I stopped after 70 plus, mostly pretty hard, miles when a light rain started. It only rained for half an hour and it never got heavy, but I was ready to stop and it was a good excuse <grin>.
This is what the world looks like from my handlebars when riding in a strong crosswind
The path along the river/canal
which gets pretty rough
and then smooth again
D13 leaving Routelle - that is a Porsche 356
D13 goes through Osselle, a pretty town
Check out the church steeple
Churches here have geometric pattern on their steeples
D13 had more bicyclists on it - at least 30 out for their Sunday ride - than I've seen all week
They were friendly too!
D105 runs from Byan sur Doubs to Besacon
It is a bit hilly, but good riding
Besacon was frustrating! I wanted a French lunch, but, after half an hour of searching, gave up and rode back to the Mcds at the south end of town. My 10 Euro lunch at McDs was good, but I would rather have spent that half an eating than searching for a place to eat. Then, leaving Besacon, I found myself confronted by a series of contiguous cites, all hilly, all with curbs and no bike paths, all with lots of traffic lights. Since it was Sunday, traffic really wasn't a problem, but I did not enjoy that stretch of road which lasted for about six miles. After getting out of the city, I was climbing into a headwind for a long time. It was about a dozen miles, but seemed longer. I met several cycle tourists coming the other way on this stretch, two guys together and a solo tourist. All seemed to be happier than I was, but they were going downhill, with a tail wind and away from the bad weather!
Climbing on N83
Cruising in the gorge - Nice!
The weather looking up the gorge where N83 leaves it - not Nice!
When N83 left the river, I expected a lot of climbing. There was some climbing, but then a great descent back to the river which had turned 90 degrees. That descent took me to Clerval, where the rain started - it has sprinkled earlier - and I stopped for the day. Before stopping, I met yet another couple of tourists. They are Dutch and spoke English well. They were also stopping for the day, but they were searching for a campground while I was looking for a hotel. I saw two hotels, stopped at the second one where no one was home, met that couple on my way back to the first one, and took a room. I just finished a great supper at the restaurant. In addition to simply being very tasty, it was light enough and early enough (7 - 8 PM) that I don't think it will cause me problems. It is a bit noisy here - both the highway and the railroad are nearby, but the host and hostess have been most gracious and I'm very pleased that I stopped here.
My home for the night
View looking down river, across from the hotel