May 31st
Osselle to L’Isle sur Doubs 87kms
A day spent entirely following the course of the very lovely
river Doubs. Some minor campsite frustrations prevented us from leaving as
early as we would have liked but by 9am I was humming along by the river, and
especially impressed by the tunnel at the village of Thoraise which cut off a
large meander of the Doubs. This phenomenon was repeated in Besancon where the
neck of the meander within which the city is tightly situated is pierced
through with a very impressive tunnel for the canal which, unlike the one at
Thoraise is usable by cyclists, thus avoiding what I had expected to be a
difficult passage through the traffic. Unfortunately the Relais de Velo, just
before arriving in Besancon is closed on Thursday. I had been looking forward
to calling in since I had read that the proprietor was keeping a book in which
he invited cyclists who were traversing Europe to note their itineraries. I
would have been very interested to have read about others’ journeys. But today was Thursday and despite the many
attractions of Besancon, of which the muse de Beaux Arts is certainly one of
them, I had no time to wait until he
opened on Friday.
So, through the tunnel and back on to the river on the other
side. The Eurovelo guide book editors describe the next 50 or so kilometres as
being perhaps amongst the best, in terms of scenery, of the whole French
section of the route, and they may be right.
The cliffs are quite spectacular, the river is remarkably
wide and stately, its calm being broken only occasionally by short rapids
circumvented by modernised, efficient-looking locks and the voie verte is so
well maintained that t he cyclist has no difficulty in looking around. Baume
les Dames, however, was a disappointment. Reputably, I thought, a handsome
town, it is not a patch on Baumes les Messieurs near Lons le Saunier, in my
opinion, even though its situation beneath limestone cliffs is similar. We were
obliged to eat lunch next to an ugly faded blue iron bridge which was as out of
place in this beautiful river valley as it could possibly have been. So quickly
on, back into the countryside proper and the ever present calmly curving Doubs.
I felt strangely tired though this afternoon. Perhaps nearly a month’s riding
with only four rest days was getting to me a bit and I was irritated by a small
but unexpected climb up to the very insignificant village of
Roches-les-Clerval, where, to my astonishment, in front of a unprepossessing barn there stood a clump of
banana trees. I was suddenly uplifted as I recalled why I was doing what
sometimes I was tempted to think was a bit of an irrelevance, and continued on
my way with a smile.
A very pleasant campsite, some blackish clouds and an
incipient tiredness, persuaded me to stop at L’Isle sur Doubs, especially as it
now seems that if things continue as they are we should make our objective, the
River Danube, within the next three days, which would be a day ahead of
schedule.
87 kms. Total since
Galway 1693 kms.
Katherine's post:
Churches,bridges
,locks….. what do they have in common? The arrangements we need to make each
day centre round the meeting up points, for perhaps 11ses,lunch, coffee breaks,
or to check that we’re on the right route and very occasionally a visit to a
site. And that’s where the churches etc.
come in and churches are the best. Even the smallest village has one, the
spires or towers make them visible from a distance and there’s nearly always a
little square or open space nearby to park the car and wait for Richard .The
almost castellated spires in Brittany have given way now to the domed and
richly patterned Burgandy towers ,with many a variation on the theme in
between. Of course being on canals and rivers a lot of the way has made bridges
a good second rendezvous point, but the
churches are my favourites as they also give me the chance to see some superb
villages and their names are always of interest; I never knew there were so many saints. Katherine
