After spending a total of 37 days and cycling nearly 1,600 kms (over 29 days) in France, we are now only 30kms away from Germany. We had greatly enjoyed our journey along canals, rivers, re-purposed train tracks and countryside roads. The cycling infrastructure was top-notch all the way. We will certainly miss greeting everyone along the way with “Bonjour”.

2022.06.05 – Dole ==> Besançon (66 kms | Total: 2066 kms)

As we came down to the hotel’s breakfast room, we were pleased to see the tandem was still secured outdoors on a sign post. Exceptionally our tandem was left in the outdoor parking lot as our hotel’s secure bicycle storage was undergoing some renovation. We were totally grateful that the weather pattern had changed once again in our favor. Rain was now only forecast for 5pm instead of leaving our hotel under the rain. After enjoying our hotel breakfast in company of many other travelers, we retraced yesterday’s short distance in order to rejoin our cycling route along the Canal du Rhône au Rhin. Throughout the day, we witnessed the Canal merging into and out of the Doubs river. As it was Sunday, the cycling path was busier than usual and the small towns we cycled through were eerily quiet. Towards our last 10 kms of the day, our hotel sent us an email to clarify our arrival time. We were pleased to hear that they would be waiting for our arrival at 2:30pm as their normal check-in time was 4pm. After settling into our room, we managed to visit one of the few grocery stores in town opened on Sunday. In the evening, we walked to the old city center to eat at a Thai street food outlet chain that we previously tried in Tours and Orleans.

2022.06.06 – Besançon ==> Besançon (0 kms | Total: 2066 kms)

Yesterday evening, we had determined that today would be our sightseeing day in Besançon as the weather was free of rain. We walked over to the tourist office in the old city in time for their 10am scheduled opening. By 10:02am, Jenny was pounding on their door until a local lady walking on the street reminded us that it was a statutory holiday in France today. Although I had the day highlighted on our itinerary, it seemed I had become blind to it. After reviewing our options during a coffee break, we decided to return Jenny’s saddle padding to the local Decathlon store. We purchased a convenient and affordable 24h transit pass to commute to the store. Although we bought the item in the town of Nevers, it was no-hassle to return the saddle padding there. While in the store, I opted to purchase a pair of cycling shorts and another merino t-shirt. We had our lunch in the bakery nearby the Decathlon store. We took a tram back to our hotel. In the evening, we took the tram once again to the outskirt of town for some Asian food.

2022.06.07 – Besançon ==> Besançon (0 kms | Total: 2066 kms)

We were expecting to wake-up to some rain, but once again the weather forecast had cleared up during the night. After a light breakfast in our room, we headed out and bought a combo transit/museum tourist pass at the tram station just outside of our hotel. We made our way, by tram and bus, to the impressive Citadel atop one of several hills overlooking Besançon. We spent a few hours touring the expansive fortress site. We had hope to visit a few more museums afterwards, but discovered that they were closed on Tuesday. After a light lunch break, we stopped at a barber shop for my well needed hair cut. Back at the hotel, we updated our itinerary and booked a few more accommodations. In the evening, we ended walking more than expected to find a pizzeria that was open and had not run-out of food supplies. Later, as we wanted to take advantage of our transit tourist pass purchased in the morning, we decided to take a tram just outside our restaurant and enjoyed the ride until the end of the line. As we returned to our hotel using a different tram line, we kept on wondering how Besançon, with only a population of 300k, could manage to have such an efficient and convenient transit system.

2022.06.08 – Besançon ==> Hyèvre-Paroisse (46 kms | Total: 2112 kms)

After our three night rest in Besançon, we were back to our routine this morning. After a light breakfast in our room, we loaded the tandem and rejoined the EV Route 6 along the Doubs river. It was very scenic riding in a narrow valley with a range of high hills on both side of the river. At mid point of our journey, we stopped at a large grocery store in the town of Baume les Dames for a light lunch. We checked into our hotel at 1pm – just before the rain started to fall. As our hotel was located in a very small community, we opted to have a three course meal (table d’hôte) offering at the hotel’s restaurant. We enjoyed the view, from our room window, of some low rain clouds in the hills across the river.

2022.06.09 – Hyèvre-Paroisse ==> Montbéliard (51 kms | Total: 2164 kms)

As we slowly ate our hotel’s breakfast, we were focused on the rain falling. We were once more grateful that the rain forecast cleared up by the time we were ready to leave the hotel. We encountered a few hills in the early part of our day, but once the route rejoined the Canal du Rhône au Rhin, the cycling was easy for the rest of the day. After checking into our hotel, we walked over to a large supermarket for next morning’s breakfast staples. As we discovered an Asian buffet restaurant near by our hotel, we could not resist the temptation for our evening meal.

2022.06.10 – Montbéliard ==> Mulhouse (58 kms | Total: 2222 kms)

After a light breakfast in our room, we cycled out of our hotel and rejoined the EV Route 6 following the Canal du Rhône au Rhin. To our surprise, our Maps.Me route elevation profile revealed that at mid-journey we would be starting a long descent into the town of Mulhouse. The ride would be even better if we had not been confronted to a light headwind. Along the way, we stopped briefly at a bakery. We checked-in to our hotel by 1:15pm. Later, we purchased some food and drink items for our two nights in Mulhouse. We had some kebab and brochette fast food for our evening meal.

2022.06.11 – Mulhouse ==> Mulhouse (0 kms | Total: 2222 kms)

We had a nice lazy breakfast (pastries and lattes) at a nearby bakery. After some route/itinerary updates for our upcoming segment in Germany, I did some maintenance on the tandem with some assistance from Jenny. In the afternoon, we visited the busy tourist area around the town’s main square. We stopped for some gelato and took a break from the sun before returning to our hotel. We had a great dinner – thanks to Jenny’s internet searching skills with terms, such as “Best restaurants near me”. We walked over 11kms during the day.