International Meeting on the Eurovelo 6: Dannemarie to Baume Les Dames
The much anticipated breakfast was a pleasant surprise. While only a three jammer there were croissants, baguettes, butter, jam and a big pot of coffee. Another surprise, JP has a wife and two Yorkshire terriers who became les chiens of the day. A further surprise, JP has an iPhone and wifi, which didn't reach our garret of course, but was useful in the breakfast room for actually making a reservation for tonight. We both had a good sleep and Keith's bed was excellent while I felt like I slept in a hot dog bun.
We loaded up the ponies and checked out the town bakeries on our way out of town. In a few minutes we were on the Canal du Rhone bike path and it was smooth sailing for most of the day. There were a few short detours away from the canal and a few hills to climb one of which resulted in an interesting international meeting of bike tours, plus nice descents including one to the Doubs River which we followed downriver to to our destination - Baume Les Dames. We turned on our GPS for the last few kilometres to take us to our Chambre d'Hote, a nice contrast to last night. We have a beautiful room and direct access to the pool. We jumped into the pool after our ride...that felt good, needless to say.
Forgot to mention that the day started out with a few sprinkles but by midday the temperature approached 30 degrees C. It was a wonderful ride with all the right ingredients. Weather, scenery and fun. We ended the ride with two km straight up to our hilltop destination. Funny, when we made the reservation I mentioned we were on bikes, but he didn't mention the hill. The view is spectacular from our room though, and we discovered when we walked down to our dinner that the GPS had taken us to the hotel via the mountain goat route.
While at dinner we met the wonderful Sabine, who is staying in the same spot. She researches wine and food for a German magazine and is a lovely person. The three of us reconvened by the pool to drink wine (thank you Sabine) and to discuss wine, culture and languages (she has four, we have one) and it was a wonderful end to a wonderful day.
The decor in the breakfast room at our quaint accommodation. Meow!
We have no idea what this was, but it was attractive as far as industrial buildings go, and massive. Those may be hay bales or recycled metal...there was much activity going on in a discarded metal yard next door.
An international meeting of bike tourers at the top of a hill. From left to right, Denmark, Germany, Germany, Canada, Denmark, Australia, Australia. Lots of conversation, lots of fun.
