Doingt to Ste Foy: 47.2km, 449m ascent (oh, and a train ride!) We have arrived! Not entirely according to the original plan: sadly we have run out of time, as we are returning to the UK for a good friend’s 70th birthday party. So today we cut short our trip a bit with a train …
Annemasse to Duingt: 57km, 607m ascent It was not a promising start to the day. Leaving our hotel in Annemasse, we immediately encountered thick traffic on busy highways – presumably a lot of commuter traffic heading into Geneva. Negotiating the roads carefully, the traffic continued as we began the ascent that would take us some …
La Cure to Annemasse: 52.4km, 340m ascent, plus a ferry ride! Having reached (almost!) the high point of our cycle across the Jura, today was almost all downhill, and a lot easier than the last few days. Although it was cloudy and misty when we set off, the sun soon broke through and we crossed …
Le Vaudioux to La Cure: 37km and 846m climb Today we departed our hotel at the crack of dawn, hoping that the legs along the busy N5 would be quiet on a Sunday morning. Indeed the road was less busy than yesterday but we faced a steady climb of 900m over 35km trying to hug …
Salins des Bains to Le Vaudioux: 38.5km, 886m ascent Today marked the start of our ascent up the Jura mountain range. We chose a short distance and started early to try and get most of the climbing done in the early morning before the temperature rose too much. The day started well and we had …
Gy to Sains des Bains: 71.7km, 748m ascent Today was one of contrasts. We departed Gy, in the Haute Saône and had to stay on small roads as there are no cycle tracks. This took us past ‘potty’ villages and the lovely 15th century village of Marnay. The buildings are beautiful and the central square …
Melay to Gy: 70km and 707m ascent Today was beautiful. Having left the Meuse Valley yesterday, we had continued into the Valley of the river Anger. There are villages every three or four kilometres but all seem almost deserted, and in many almost every other house seems to be abandoned. All around us are huge …
Neufchateau to Melay: 66km We finally seem to have got it right, with a shorter distance and just the right amount of ascent, so had a great day. We had time to stop and enjoy the views, relax at a village tabac for coffee, and stop in a quaint bus shelter out of the midday …
Saint Mihiel to Neufchateau: 88 km Another long day, so we are delighted to collapse into our hotel room in Neufchateau. We planned on 81km of flat terrain, but a combination of our misjudgement and the hopeless software in our sat nav (directing us along a rough, grassy farm track at one point!), meant we …
Mouzon to Saint Mihiel: 114.2 km Oh dear, we over exerted ourselves! After a few gentle days, today we decided to up the cycling distance and plotted a route to Saint Mihiel. The cycling app indicated the distance would be 105 km. In the event, we actually covered over 114 km and on top of …