Yipee – today has been a fab hill day!

Anyone reading my blog has heard me moaning about the hills – much more than on previous trips but today was amazing – in fact I have awarded myself 2 King of the Mountain stages and I just need the polka dot jersey now.

But I’m going back to yesterday first. I left the campsite just north of Besancon later than planned – I got chatting to one half of the Australian tandem team who were in France for 6 weeks cycle touring. I was on route south towards Lausanne on the North shore of Lake Geneva (also called Lac Leman, I’ve just found out) but knew it was unlikely that I would get that far – in fact I didn’t get very far at all!

It had poured during the night but the tent was reasonably dry when I packed it away – the forecast was for rain but the skies looked promising to start – they lied – as soon as I cycled through the campsite gate the heavens opened and it rained on and off all morning.

The route was easy to start, following The Doubs River and then a hideous uphill to Montfaucon that overlooks Besancon from the other side of the river – the road was narrow in places and although not busy there was a wee flow of traffic going downhill, probably on their way to work in Besancon – I ended up pushing Phil uphill a fair bit.

There was a nice wee swoopy downhill on the other side and then we hid from the rain for a wee while in this fab shelter.

Uphill again but more gentle and starting to look and sound more alpine – well the cows did – and the sun had come out as well, although not for long.

Then a nice easy stretch following an old railway line and the La Loue River and took me to the pretty town of Ornans – the rain had stopped again so I abandoned the bike, had a wander and decided to treat myself to pizza for lunch while I pondered what to do with a worsening forecast.

It was still dry when I came out of the restaurant and I was still undecided – do I cycle 10km to the nearest campsite or 64km to the next one – by the time I crossed the square to get the bike my question was answered – the heavens opened and not long after I set off a flash of lightening and a roll of thunder – I pedalled off as fast as I could and as it happened there was a nearer campsite just the other side of the town. It was just a little campsite – wee strip of grass next to the river – cost 5 euros that you popped in an honesty box – I stood under the shelter and waited and waited for the rain to go off before putting the tent up – starting to get cold from the soaking I’d had but not wanting to put dry clothes on until I put the tent up – I was very tempted to put the tent up where I was standing but this turned out to be the veranda of the “chalet” that you could rent.

There was no sign of a let up and I had no desire to put up the tent – I also did not want to spend a lot of money but decided to look up booking-com, looked up cheapest first and there 11km further south there was a room with a shared bathroom and kitchen – only £24 – it was booked as quickly as my wet wrinkled figures could type and cycled there as fast as I could – I had to wait a few minutes for someone to let me – I was soaked anyway so a few more minutes wasn’t going to make any difference. Shown to my room which was upstairs along with the bathroom and kitchen and downstairs he got the log fire going for me and produced an airer for me to dry my clothes – I was in heaven – this place was geared up for walkers, cyclists and canoeists but I was the only one staying that night.

I should have left sharp this morning – everything was packed ready to go and the forecast had changed overnight and looked much more promising but I was too comfy to go but finally made it outside.

When I set off yesterday I had plotted a route between Besancon and Lausanne but hadn’t payed too much interest as to what was in between – transpired that the first uphill of the day was through The Gorges de La Loue – fab road, above the river, that zigged and zagged – lots of stops to take photos but no pushing required – my photos really don’t do it justice.

Later on in the day back into more alpine scenery and cows with bells – and a few goats too – another fantastic 2 uphills and a very long swoopy downhill off the second one – I need to look back at my map to see the names of the area I passed through but feeling very chuffed with myself and a bit more confident with the hills. I also need to check out my front brake though, which seemed to be making strange noises – note to self DO NOT TOUCH THE DISC OF THE BRAKE UNTIL IT HAS COOLED DOWN!

I had hoped to get to Lausanne today but still had over an hour and a half of cycling and that was Googles guesstimate so reckoned it would be more so opted to aim for Camping des Buis in Sarraz which was about 35 minutes away – when I got there the campsite reception was closed but the restaurant staff tracked the owner down who has let me camp for free tonight – I didn’t have to but felt I should give the restaurant a go – it was quite posh, I thought, in terms of menu for a campsite restaurant – I opted for the Spaghetti Noir – black squid pasta with seafood – it was delicious – that and 2 cokes came to £33 – but considering I was in Switzerland and didn’t have to pay for the campsite it could have been a lot worse.

So I’m about to get tucked up in my sleeping bag and tomorrow I’m hoping to get to Martigny and possibly have an attempt on the St Bernard’s Pass the following day but only time will tell and I should do a wee weather check as well. Night folks.