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11: August 7th, 2001 Darney, France Rest day Total distance traveled: 568.9 km / 352.7 mi |
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to Port sur Saone today…according to Mr. Eikelboom (the author of the
route book we were using) the village and the campsite there are vacation
havens, full of activities. However, we woke up tired, and he of no body
pains (Mr. Lens) had an aching knee. Our bodies, it seemed, were telling
us to rest today.
After cleaning up the dishes, we went back to sleep for a few hours. We thought about doing laundry but a local told us there was no laundry mat in town. We're gambling on the campsite at Port au Saone having one. At around 14h we biked into the village of Darney hoping to find a nice terrace to sit on. In small town France everything closes between 12h and 14h. In addition, in August most shop owners go on vacation, so most small towns are almost deserted. Darney was no exception. Almost everything was closed. We picked a good month to cycle through small villages in France! We biked around the village and found nothing, so we stopped at a bar that was open and had a drink. After that we headed over to our local hangout, the grocery store and bought (too much) food for dinner-Steak, salad and potato pancakes. While eating dinner we decided it was too much and saved the salad for later. The salad came in handy later that evening when we saw a Dutch biker we'd met in Luneville who had arrived late in the day, after the stores were closed (We found out later that he gave what he didn't eat to another pair of Dutch cyclists who arrived after he did, Michiel and Caroline, a brother and sister pair who we ended up biking with for a couple of days later on in the trip). It rained all night. In the morning when we broke down the tent it stopped, but everything was wet. |
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12: August 8th, 2001 Darney, France to Port sur Saone, France Distance of the day: 55 km / 34.1 mi Total distance traveled: 623.9 km / 386.8 mi |
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Today's ride wasn't as bad as the 89km/55.3mi trek before our rest day. There were several climbs, but they were gradual so it wasn't that difficult.
We arrived at the campsite in Port sur Saone at around 15h and immediately did 2 loads of laundry in the tiny washing machine. We basically washed almost everything we brought, all our bike clothes, underwear, t-shirts, socks, etc. And of course clouds, which didn't help to dry them much, covered the sun. Since I was feeling a bit worn out, Lens did all the work. He set up the tent, hung up the laundry and rode into town to get some groceries while I showered and napped a bit. God bless him. Going on a trip like this not only tests your own worth, but the value of your companion as well. I can only hope that during the trip I was as good to him as he was to me. Reading this diary back it sounds like I complained the whole way, but my wonderful husband tells me that I didn't complain more then normal. Wow, I sound like a joy to be around.
To celebrate the fact that we were officially half way (over 600km/372.8 mi) we had dinner at a restaurant next to the campsite. We had a salad, jambon cru, steak and fries and for desert: chocolate ice cream for myself and chocolate mousse for Lens. We also had a local bottle of Pinot Noir and lens had a cappuccino and a digestive (something local). After that we went to bed and fell into a deep sleep. |
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13: August 9th, 2001 Port sur Saone, France to Marney, France Distance of the day: 60 km / 37.2 mi Total distance traveled: 683.9 km / 424 mi |
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It rained a bit last night, good thing we brought in the laundry! We woke up at our usual hour of 7am, showered and rode into town to get breakfast. We figured the laundry would need more time to dry so we would begin our ride a bit later today. While we were hanging our laundry, a late 30ish/early 40ish Dutch woman, who was cycling back towards Holland was packed up and heading out. Lens made a joke about our laundry, and said something like "We ordered sun today but it hasn't arrived yet' And she said, as she walked by 'Well, maybe you won't wash everything at once next time'. I thought to myself 'that was a bitter thing to say to people who are just trying to be friendly. No wonder she's riding alone. No one wanted to bike with her.'
We picnicked on our beach mat (a great buy, purchased the same time as the infamous folding chairs) and read the newspaper (Whatever Dutch paper Lens could find and the International Herald Tribune for me). We finally set off around 11:45.
The ride today lead us through our first sunflower fields. It was pretty, but they're not all in bloom yet so there were more fields of green flowers not yet in bloom then yellow ones. There was the occasional rebellious sunflower that came out early and stood out amongst the green backdrop. It was a nice change to the endless cornfields we've been seeing.
At about 16h, after a series of several climbs we rolled into Marney, a really quaint village where we checked into the campsite. The showers there are the BEST we've encountered so far in a campsite. They are large, clean and contain an endless flow of HOT water, which is a luxury. Most showers at campsites in France/Belgium/Holland require you to either put coins in to get hot water (for a limited time period, of course), or require you to keep pushing a button to get hot water (each button press gives you about 1min of water/hot water). So these showers were great!
Once we set up camp, we walked to a local pizzeria down the street for dinner. The town of Marney is a beautiful village, very picturesque. The river Oignon flows through the middle of the town and the campsite is on the bank of the river.
After some great pizza, a bottle of rose and some conversation with a Dutch couple making the same trip, we crawled back to the tent to sleep. |
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14: August 10th, 2001 |
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We got up at 7:30ish and slowly started moving. Lens went into town and got breakfast and brought me back a pain au chocolate (chocolate crosissant), good boy! The sun was FINALLY shinning again, which put us both in a better mood, and we hit the road around 10:30. Like yesterday, the ride was a relatively easy one. I don't know if the rides are easier or if we are getting better. I'm not walking up hills anymore and seem to be doing better all around.
On the ride today
we passed two major tourist attractions: the 'Grottes
d'Osselle' and the Saline
at Arc-et-Senans
a social experiment in the 1770's. The last one became a lunch stop, the
first one wasn't more than a glance during the cycling .... As usual we
could bring ourselves to venture into the attraction for our impatiance
to ride on was too strong. Next trip we should try to change that for
it could be even better when we are trying to go for the more touristic
stuff and not just general view and surroundings experiences. Hmm we will
see...
We arrived at Poligny around 16h, but went to the supermarket before the campsite. Tonight we had a HUGE Lens and Lori salad and a bottle of Rose. Camp life isn't so bad! |
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15: August 11th, 2001 Polingy, France to Thoirettes, France Distance of the day: 81 km / 50.2 mi Total distance traveled: 833.9 km / 517 mi |
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Today we started our first stage into the Jura Mountains, the range that separates Switzerland and France. We were up at 7am and were ready when the bread truck came at 8. We left Poligny at 9am. Right off our trek began with a 4km/2.5mi climb, not only the biggest one of day but probably the biggest one of the trip. At the top we would reach a height of 602meters/1975feet. It was a tough climb- we started at 305m/1000ft and went up to top, which, as said, is pretty high! I figured out that the more I keep my mind occupied the longer I can continue uphill without stopping. A few days ago I was trying to name all 50 US states (from a song I learned in 2nd grade, Fifty Nifty United States). I some how skipped the states from N to T (something they probably won't be happy about) so I was trying to figure out what the missing ones were. Today my mind was occupied trying to remember passages from Bridge Jones Diary, which I've ready about 15 times, and then the words to some Van Morrison songs. It helps.
The flat tire delayed us for about 1½ hours and then we were on our way again.
As I said before, it was a hilly ride, but we passed some absolutely breath taking scenery, a 'Cirque', a dam, a river (l'ain), mountains, trees, everything it was nature at it's best that day. The area is called Ain. At about 5pm we arrived at the campsite in Thoirette and there was a group there to greet us. In the past few days we began to notice a several groups of Dutch bikers traveling the same distance as us and camping in the same places. There was the couple from Amsterdam (Anja and Simon) the two students (William and Pjoter) and the brother and sister (Michiel and Caroline). We had more or less spoken to each other at the campsite in Poligny and knew we would be meeting up again in Thoirette. Since we were the first to leave Poligny that morning, they were all a bit concerened, as we were the last to arrive at the campsite. They all descended upon us when we arrived and met us with beer and wine and queries into what happened. We set up our tent then joined the group at a community picnic table that had been 'appropriated' by the group.
We went to shower and clean up, then made dinner and ate alongside everyone else while drinking and talking until about 11 (pretty late for us!) when we went off to bed. |
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Copyright 2001-2002 Maarten
& Lori Lens-FitzGerald
The
ride today was hilly. When we finished our first climb we stopped at Pont-de-Poitte
for a drink. As we were riding away from the bar, I noticed I had a flat
back tire. I pumped it up, but it went flat again, so we changed the back
tire, as well as put a band around the frame of the front and back wheels-
a MAJOR problem with the Batavus M-Pact. The spokes poke through the frame
and puncture the tubes. I had already experienced this problems within
1 week of having the bike. If only I'd read the signs correctly…the
ones that said THIS BIKE IS CRAP.
