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After a month on the road on mainly flat or undulating roads, we turned with some trepidation towards the Jura ranges, on the border of the French Comte region and Switzerland, finding our hill legs at last. With visions of having to walk for 3 days, pushing our bikes, or perhaps off loading excess baggage down the side of a mountain, we commenced the climb.
We rode the D437 to Pontarlier, stopping to free camp in a pine forest where we spent the night listening to cows bells, the deep resonance making it sound as if we were across the road from a Buddhist monastery. The enjoyment of riding the stunning road through the limestone gorge after Morteau was only slightly dampened by the pelting rain (unlike our kit, which was thoroughly saturated!). In Pontarlier we holed up in a chalet for a couple of days in an attempt to dry out - our first indoor accommodation for a month and it came inclusive with ‘le chat’ a calico cat which adopted us for two days and sat on our laps on demand, even sleeping on our bed overnight, although the sign on the wall said this was ‘interdit’ (forbidden). With
new brakes and tyres for the impending descent we completed the final climb to Switzerland and were pleasantly surprised at how perfectly graded and maintained the road was, in the event our high point at 1040 m was a non event, we didn’t even realise we had hit the top before we were descending.
On the way down we entertained ourselves by guessing what grade the ski runs were, and were plagued by my back tyre continuously going flat (you could say I (Sonya) rode into Switzerland on a flat tyre!)
And in Lausanne the rain continues, the Swiss mountains are yet elusive, by this large lake which looks like an ocean.
Trip notes:
May 12 Day 28 Mulhouse to Colombia Fontaine 75.5 Km
Moderate gusty head wind
Food 5.00
Post (cuckoo Clock) 72.00
Free Camp in lovely meadow next to Le Doubs river (no camping grounds round here)
May 13 Day 29 Colombia Fontaine to Le Russey 60 Km
Free camp in pine forest next to road
Bakery 2.40
Back tracked 8 Km to join D437 (rd to pontarlier)
Some cloud but hot and strong sw side winds.
Climbed to 900mts from about 400
Have saved almost
enough to pay for cuckoo clock postage.
Everything except restaurants seem to be shut in France on a Sunday.
May 14 Day 30 46 Km
(One month 1780 km, 1672.40 euro, 55.76 per day euro, appx £40.00 per day)
Le Russey to Pontarlier
Very beautiful ride through limestone ravines following the pristine Daubs (Doob) river across plains at 1000 mtrs. Lots of Swiss style farm houses and one ski resort
Steady rain got down to 6 degrees Celsius, Sonya’s bike rear flat tyre (thorn from free camp)
Chalet in camping ground to dry out 54.20
Supermarket 4.00
Greengrocers 10.80
Alphonsos Italian Restaurant 16.00
Total 81.00
May 15 Day 31 Rest Day Pontarlier
Chalet 54.20
Tyres x 2 to replace rubbish Michelin ‘city’ tyres (split after 2000 Km) 42.00
Supermarkets 52.00
Brake pads 2.20
Internet 2.00
Total 152.40
May 16 Day 32 Pontarlier to Lausanne (Switzerland) 67.80 Km
Icy rain on and off, four flat tyres (same problem with two worn tubes), climbed to 1040 mtrs on gentle ascent.
Restaurant at border 8.50 euro
New inner tube (5 swiss francs)
Camping 27 swiss francs
Supermarket 10.50 swiss francs
Total 35.00 Euro with conversion 1.6 for
swiss francs
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George
non-member comment
Save more money...
Hey, great to get an update from the "tour de monde". If you're gonna be buying souveniers did you know you could save yourself more money by doing your own hunting and fishing, and picking wild mushrooms? Don't bother handing anymore of your money to the supermarket megaliths... Just kidding, great to hear you've made it to switz - not bad for a month's peddling!