Tuesday 6 May was arrival day. Various ways of doing the journey. John Scott pottered the 10 km from his house. Ian brought his bike in a bag on the train - 12 hours door-to-door wasn't bad. Frank and Francoise, John Gould, Rob, Mike, Toni were all there by car in time for dinner. Robin and Pam arrived somewhat later - after my bed-time. Luisa and I had had a leisurely journey starting on Saturday with a bit of sight-seeing and cycling on the way. The distance was a bit under 500 miles. The French motorways are so quiet and road-works free that they are a pleasure to drive on. One simply sets the cruise control and relaxes.
The Auberge at Longcochon, which is a hamlet 65 miles north of Geneva, was a bit basic but clean and the woman who ran it and her daughter were charming and helpful. Mike had a problem with the towels - he said they were so enormous and fluffy that they were difficult to manage especially round his private parts.
Wednesday was a lovely day, perfect cycling weather, cool air and warm sunshine. John S's aspiration to a 9.00 start was somewhat frustrated by various people taking a while to get organised. We did start eventually and John S immediately demonstrated his intimate knowledge of the local geography by setting off in the wrong direction! No harm done, and we were soon en route for Metabief for lunch. The first-choice auberge was visited on the way and was judged better than where we were staying, cheaper too. After lunch our departure was delayed by John G locking his bike without the key! Ian's mobile workshop was invaluable to enable the mudguard and 4 spokes to be removed, one after-effect only - the wheel was slightly egg-shaped. As many will know cycling in rural France is such a pleasure: good road surfaces, little traffic, considerate drivers. The countryside in the Jura is lovely, a mixture of alpine meadows, forests and lakes. One section of the ride was by Lac de Saint Point which was picture-postcard pretty. Stats for the day: 51.26 miles, 11.30 mph average speed, 35.39 mph max speed.
Thursday another perfect day. We set off more punctually to Arbois and Pupillin where we had lunch. Our auberge was at 850 metres and Arbois at 300 metres so there was a good deal of easy downhill. One particular quite long section was through a forest where we met not a single car. Arbois is where Louis Pasteur lived for most of his life and his house can be visited. Wine tasting after lunch preceded by a conducted tour of the "factory". Apparently wine from the Jura rarely gets to the UK because there's no UK agent. one of the several hills on the way home took us up to the impressive limestone Cirque du Fer a Cheval, a bowl-shaped dead-end valley with very steep sides that I think are formed at the head of a mountain glacier from cold-climate weathering processes. Dinner a bit indifferent. There was a French walking group who went in for raucous singing, one of the songs involved a rather attractive young woman standing on her chair pulling a scarf backwards and forwards between her legs. The words of the song were an enigma, even to Francoise (or maybe she was too shy to explain!) We tried to compete but our volume was a poor second. Stats for the day: 56.58 miles, 9.35 mph average speed, 34.82 mph max speed.
Friday yet another perfect day. Much discussion at breakfast about the plan for the day ending with a three-way split. The hard men (John S, John G, Mike, Rob, Toni and Ian) went off to some waterfalls. They came back with what sounded like a horror story. Only 55 miles but 500 metres of vertical ascent carrying their bikes and a lot of off-road (one reporter said 5 hours, another two and a half, but I don't necessarily believe either of them!). Frank and Francoise, Pam, Robin walked into the nearby village, had lunch and "chilled out". Luisa and I went back to Arbois by car, treated ourselves to a grande bouffe, had a conducted tour of Louis Pasteur's house and came back via another even bigger cirque - Cirque de Baume. Much discussion over dinner (which was nice, chicken in cheese sauce, pears and choc sauce) about the next day's ride.
Saturday perfect day number four. We all set off to Switzerland. John S, Mike, Rob, Toni and Ian were more ambitious and went to les Rousses for lunch. They reported 77 miles when they got back. Listening to them over dinner one got the impression they hadn't enjoyed it (some problem about Ian and the others doing UDI regarding the route and losing John temporarily) but I suppose they must like it or they wouldn't do it. Perhaps it's the way they tell it! [Maybe they would like to add some explanation to this blog]. The rest of us had a rancour-free day. We cycled round Lac de Joux which was lovely. there was a spectacular view across to the higher mountains with streaks of snow between grey spruce and bright green deciduous trees. Quite a lot of hills. On this occasion it was the other way round, start at 850 metres, up to 1125 metres having been down to 790 metres with hills in between. The hills weren't too bad, for example there was a hill that was 5 miles up and 5 miles down but the gradients were such that you could go at 5 mph without great effort on the way up and whiz down without braking on the way down. There were a lot of raptors on the holiday, today especially. I wished I'd had my bird-book and my binoculars. One of the few drawbacks with the Jura is that there aren't many cafes. It was OK in Switzerland, we had two nice sojourns in an Irish pub and another in a cafe that served us delicious cake. Dinner was OK-ish. Best thing about it was Mike's joke about three simultaneous deaths - too long for my fingers, you'll have to ask him. Stats for the day: 64.08 miles, 10.03 mph average speed, 37.08 mph max speed.
Sunday, our last day although some stayed on, weather started perfectly as usual, but see later. We all set off together (bar Robin whose hip was troubling him so he took himself off to hospital). I went a bit ahead and after waiting for what seemed ages decided they must have gone another way and so carried on. In Champagnole, the nearest small town, the other 10 split. Frank and Francoise, John G, Luisa, looked round the town and had a leisurely and nice lunch. They then cycled back to the auberge. On the way the weather disgraced itself in the form of a thunderstorm. Hailstones as big as cricket balls they said! 25 miles for the day. The others (John S, Ian, Rob and Toni) caught me up on the way. I was surprised by the cycling style of the group. After 25 miles in this desert of cafes we came to a wonderful-looking auberge, I assumed we'd stop and have a drink, but, no, we had "to crack on". We went up to the Cirque de Baume, found the restaurant full, being Sunday, then back to the village Baume-les-Messieurs where we met Mike. He had been delayed because he was praying for us. The restaurants were full here also but there was a stall selling sandwiches and beer so we didn't starve. We looked round the Abbey and set off home. The only hill I had to walk up then followed. At the top was feeling tired so I left the others and went the shortest way home. They went via John's house for tea. As we went along we saw a thunderstorm in the distance (the one that soaked the first lot) with plenty of thunder and lightning but it missed us and we stayed dry. Dinner was good, roesti with ham. By now Ian had fallen in love with Honorina, the manager's daughter, but failed to persuade her to marry him. Stats for the day: 68.15 miles, 10.03 mph average speed, 38.09 mph max speed.The others did 70 miles.
On Monday our journey back was really easy, six and a half hours driving in France on those empty motorways; one snag in England though, the A20 was closed completely.
I think everyone enjoyed it, Luisa and I certainly did.
Regards Bernard
