Europe 2018 - June 30 - Ranchot to Besancon

Saturday - June 30
It was a beautiful morning to go for an early walk along the river.

It looks like it is going to be a very warm day as shorts were plenty fine as we broke camp.

Hotel Le Galoubin is where we had dinner last night and it looked like a good place for breakfast too!

Looks like the perfect place to be on a warm summer Saturday.

One of our sweeties checking out the sweet peas.

There is a house on that hillside.

12 mph.....hmmm....we've only been averaging 8-9 mph these first few days so this shouldn't be a problem.

The downstream end of the Tunnel of Thorace.

Looks like they have been doing a little logging.

The outskirts of Besancon. We made this a short bike day as we wanted to do some more exploring in this city that we had visited in 2011. The wall on top of the hill surrounds the Citadel of Besancon.

After a leisurely lunch, we headed to the center of town.

The doors to the Chapel Notre-Dame-du-Refuge which was finished in 1745. It is part of the adjacent Saint Jacques Hospital.

A bee hotel

We got back to the hotel in time to catch the last half of the France/Argentina World Cup game.

France won that game and we heard LOTS of cheering, honking, and French flags waving as we walked to dinner. We ended up sharing a pizza restaurant patio with a bunch of off-duty police that had gathered there to watch the game. It was fun people-watching.

Europe 2018 - June 29 - St. Jean de Losne to Ranchot

Friday - June 29
It was still pretty windy when we left the campground this morning.

Breakfast is just across the bridge at one of those wonderful French bakeries. This is also the start of following Eurovelo 6 for this trip.

Goodby Saone River

Hello Doubs River. Approaching the town of Dole, our goal for lunch.

Our route to find lunch just happened to take us by the house where Louis Pasteur was born.

It was a very tasty meal!

And a very pleasant place to take a break. The fish were quite entertaining 😊.

It was still very windy but the trees gave us a little shelter from it.

Those are mighty big marshmallows!

Afternoon stretch breaks are a nice routine to share with the daughters.

The campground in Ranchot had welcome shade. We were glad that we picked a spot far from the restaurant since it was a Friday night and the patrons were still going strong at 10 pm as we were doing our going-to-bed routines. The music of the Doubs River was a nice alternative.

Europe 2018 - June 28 - Dijon to St. Jean de Losne

Thursday - June 28
Doug and Donna spent the morning shopping for a tent while Lori and Megan explored Dijon. We took the train out to the Decathlon Sporting Goods store, the European equivalent of REI that we became very familiar with on previous trips to Europe. We found a tent that will fit the bill for 25E. Is this a trend?

Now we just need to send the pole-less tent home.

We asked them to let us check out late at the hotel and we ate lunch there before hitting the road.

This canal bike path took us out of town and sheltered us from the afternoon winds.

It turned to gravel about 7 miles later but we stayed on it until it just go too narrow and bumpy as it was very windy. The heavy crosswind made riding on the  adjacent road a little intense and we didn't do much talking or stopping.

By the time we got to the campground at 4:00, the wind gusts were up to 29 mph. That made for some fun times putting up the tents. The new one is on the left.

We had dinner at the campground restaurant which was next to the Saone River. It was such a nice spot that we just hung out there until 9:00. (This pattern with our daughters continued which is another reason this blog got so far behind!)

We went to sleep to the sound of wind music.

Europe 2018 - June 27 - Villeferry to Dijon

Wednesday - June 27
Dinner was a bargain! It was only 25 euros per person. The hotel clerk also told us a less hilly way to get back to the canal.

We really enjoyed the downhill ride out of the village knowing we had all day to reach Dijon.

Somewhere along this stretch, Doug realized that the tent poles were not anywhere on Lori's bike. We are carrying 2 tents and the other set was on his bike. We aren't sure where they disappeared but called Philippe who promised to look in the garage and apartment this evening. We did a thorough check before we left the hotel in Villeferry so are fairly certain they aren't there.

Our lunch stop in Pouilly en Auxois on the good advice of a local biker.

The Law of Castles is holding true in this part of France too. (They are always at the top of the hill)

Looked like a fun way to spend a warm afternoon.

We stopped for ice cream in Veuvey-sur-Ouche. The little sign says "You can't buy happiness but you can buy a bike and that's pretty close." There were quite a few bikers frequenting her shop, including a local couple we had met at lunch.

Our decision to follow the canal made for a long but beautiful day. We will have a shorter day tomorrow since it will take some time getting to a store to buy a new tent. The tent poles were not in the apartment so now we are pretty sure that they got lost on the train.

Brings back memories of our time here in 2011 when we watched a bike race in Dijon.