Day 2: We'll take the freeways next time !!

[Francois_Dumas]

France Day 2: too much!

 

I slept badly, kept waking up with a headache from the beer.

Then at 6 a.m. the alarm went off, and the headache was gone! We skipped breakfast, but had some nice cappucino's.

Then I went to get the bike.

 

Oh, I didn't tell you yet. When I asked for the garage (the Ibis hotel advertised with it), they told me all garages were already occupied. (I counted exactly THREE boxes in the middle of the hotel parking!). But, they gave me a place in the hotel's own garage where I parked the RT amidst sheets, blankets and detergents of the cleaning ladies. But it was sheltered, closed, dry and (as it turned out when paying in the morning) FREE !

 

 

Here is Nina checking the tankbag. On the left the clean linen, on the right a beer barrel !

 

 

We managed to pack all our stuff back on and took off towards Mulhouse, on the free highway. Toll would not start until after Belfort according to my maps. That turned out to be a bit of a stretch, because right after Mulhouse a toll booth turned up. And we went off the highway onto the Route Nationale 83. Highways are nice to 'get places', but I much prefer the Route Nationale's and smaller roads. Less traffic (not always) and nicer views (most of the time). Meanwhile petrol was running out again and we filled up for some 1.46/liter this time, in a small village. I only took some 10 liters.

 

We have a great task distribution. I fill the tank each time.... and Nina pays for it :-)

 

 

Expensive even in France sometimes !

 

 

It was also there that we met with a Danish family. They were on their way to Spain, on an old (1972 he told me) Triumph with sidecar !!! WOW ! And we thought WE were having an adventure! He had a broken fuse and was fixing it.

 

 

 

Then on we went to Belfort...... to lose our way. For the love of George, we couldn't find RN83 again. After filling the tank with 1,37/liter petrol this time I rode through town a few times. Didn't want to go onto the toll route. As it turned out in the end (today, looking at my MapPoint maps) we were about 300 yards from the RN83 when we decided to turn onto the highway after all. And it turned out to be free, the toll started only some 15 km's down the road.

 

There we left the highway and found (by accident more or less) RN83 again, heading further west towards Besançon.

 

Around 10 a.m. we found a bakery shop and stopped to buy some croissants and chocolate sandwiches. Yummie. AND to cool down after heating up while losing our way (Nina and I argue a lot in such circumstances).

 

 

 

In the same village I also found the turn-off south onto D50, towards Pontarlier.

So far all went relatively well, although temps started rising again and bums started hurting already.

 

Truth be told, the roads and views were wonderful and THIS really started being 'vacation'.

We needed a break, but just after Pontarlier the landscape turned into flat nothingness, and no nice places anymore to stop. Just a road as straight as a ruler, cutting through grass lands with nothing on it!

 

So we rode on and on and on and got hotter by the minute.

Until we finally reached Champagnole.

There I stalled the hot engine in clear view of three Gendarmes, guarding a roundabout. Nina poking me in the back.

 

We crisscrossed some suburbs before finding the road into town center. There I just parked the RT in a blue parking zone and left it there. Too warm to bother. We sat down on a café's little terrace in the shadow, along the main street, across from the church, and had an espresso, visited the bathroom and refreshed a bit.

 

The church at Champagnole.

 

 

We re-mounted and I found the route N5 leading south. Good. And then we found D437 to take us further south..... Good! All the time we saw enticing road signs pointing to Lausanne in Switzerland.... but we were not going there!

 

But by then the trouble started. Already we had lost much more time than I had planned/anticipated.

Nina was having trouble sitting.

My knee started hurting.

And patience was running at an end.

Temperatures had been around 3 C again all day long!

 

And now we lost our way.... or I did. At first I could not find the road I had planned in St. Claude. It should have taken us east and then due south straight into Bellegarde. From there it would be another hour and a half to our apartments.

 

No such luck... I couldn't find ANY road sign with names on it that I was looking for. The map on my tank bag was way too small to show road numbers on small roads. So we were basically stuffed!

 

I took the only road out of town that seemed sensible, and we headed on.... EAST instead of west. Grrrr.

And then disaster struck again. Although we had found a beautiful mountain road with wonderful twisties..... we wanted to ARRIVE and stand UP.

No road numbers anymore and only villages with names that did not show up on my stupid map!

 

Then we saw the town of Belleydoux..... not on the map. Then Échallon. Not on the map. Then D13 instead of .... yes, of what !? Yes, D55..... nowhere to be seen.

We were stopped on the road shoulder. Hot, hurting and still a long way from home. With a lousy little map.... my TomTom stashed in the top box. Bright!

 

I decided to ride on for a little longer, hoping to find a road sign with something meaningful on it.

It came 5 minutes later. It said Oyonnax. I KNEW that name. We always pass an exit to that town when driving down on our regular (highway) route.

So I thought 'What the heck, it must be okay'.

 

And we rode on and on, and finally reached Oyonnax. From there we decided to turn onto the toll freeway, to gain some lost time. It would only be 10 miles or so to reach our regular turn-off.

 

It was a little more, but from now on I knew the way home... every turn, every village and every place to pass slower cars..... By now we were REALLY hurting!

 

We had wanted to enjoy lunch somehwere. By now it was already 2:30 p.m. and WAY too late for that. Petrol was running low too.... 2 bars left!

 

I decided to throttle on to Annecy. There we would find cheap petrol at one of France's largest 'hypermarkets' Auchan. And perhaps we could have some late lunch at the mall there.

 

Getting petrol turned out to be 'special'. Nina had to present herself first at the pay booth, before I was allowed to fill up. Apparently quite a few non-paying 'customers' on two wheels in that area!

Then we lost our way on the HUGE parking lot, only to find that lunch was only being served until 2 p.m. everywhere.

 

By now we were ready to start big arguments..... we were lucky. It was too hot and we were too tired for it!

 

After some thought we decided to stop at one of the McDonalds along the route. We chose the one at Albertville, the main town of the 1992 Olympics. It was still an hour riding.

 

We enjoyed a meal in the airconditioned little restaurant. There were 6 customers in total.

Nina had a nice large salad, and I 'absorbed' half a liter of Coca Cola, something I don't drink since many years. We were sooooooooooo thirsty! We topped it off with some ice creams (Nina said her ONLY ONE this vacation) and just sat for a while, enjoying the cool air, while our bike sat in the shadow of a large pine tree in the parking lot.

 

When we got on again it was as if all pain had gone. It would be only 45 minutes more to reach the apartment, up at 1140 meters, and into the cooler mountain air no doubt!

We carried the 6 pieces of luggage down to the main hall and then I parked the bike in the garage.

 

An hour later Nina had unpacked all our stuff, I had laid on the bed for half an hour, and we had both showered.

 

Next time, we'll take the classic route.... racing down the freeways and gaining time, losing pain!

 

---------------

 

This is the view from the balcony last night..... some dark clouds, but today blazing sunshine again.

 

 

 

This is my OFFICE for the next few weeks !

 

 

Which pleases Mrs. Dumas, because now I am not hidden in some dark corner amidts 4 PC's for a while.....

 

Here she can be seen leafing through the umpteenth housing brochure. Although we can't buy anything yet, we continue to check the market here....

 

 

[Bob Palin]

I slept badly, kept waking up with a headache from the beer.

Headache from beer - what kind of Belgian are you?

[Francois_Dumas]

[drodg]

Reminds me of the time my wife and I are trying to drive around Florence Italy. Have you ever noticed the arguments you get into when you are driving and lost! Great trip notes thanks again.

[Timmer]

We have a great task distribution. I fill the tank each time.... and Nina pays for it

 

Can I "borrow" Nina for my next trip to Torrey?

 

 

I promise not to get lost...