Day Thirty Seven:Montbeliard to Baume Les Dames: (Year 37: 2004)

October 27, 2017

Flash Back to 2004:

The photos and captions show our lives in 2004. We were working away with farming, crafts, and consulting and reducing any debts we may have had.

There were still good times at the market.

Farm revenues helped eliminate any debts we may have had.

Hilda and Walter helped out financially too. The foundation was laid for our children to have houses and for us to sally off on bicycles.

Sales of preserves were brisk, producing lots of empty cases.

In 2004 Steve still worked as a consulting statistician. Here he is hard at work helping the Cayman Islands figure out their data!

Bobby McFerrin's Don't Worry Be Happy describes our lives at this point. The Caribbean rhythm fits in with my Cayman Island escapade.

Fast Forward to 2017, France:

Breakfast was fun in the old dining room of La Balance. It is the same room as pictured in the photo of the French army brass when they commandeered the place in 1944.

We found Montbeliard a pleasant town, with a fair number of old buildings. Of course, unfortunately as with any modern town, when you leave the protected old core the place is ruined by cars and ugly modern construction.

Back at the canal, another housing option was in display in the form of a large house boat that was for sale. I am not sure if such a place has an advantage in cost per square foot, or maybe it can travel to various towns for a change of scenery, or maybe it is just a funky lifestyle.

The dining room at La Balance had elegance and history.

We were soon back cycling beside the canal, and maybe you are getting bored with seeing the same type of photo - with the path and the water. For us it is not as boring, because we have the physical exercise fun of cranking along. We are also free to talk about anything - without being interrupted by noisy cars, people, or any other signs that we are not alone on the planet.

Our typical path today, just spinning along in a natural environment.

We passed through L'Isle sur le Doubs and had a peek at a little market. There was a BBQ chicken truck, but it was too early for that to attract us. And at the cheese truck I looked for that kind of Compte that has imbedded peppercorns - my favourite - but I did not spot it.

We crossed a bridge on the Doubs and had a view that could have been reminiscent of Little Venice in Colmar, but unfortunately the waterside houses were rather shabby.

The market in L'Isle - not large or very active but you could get BBQ chicken and lots of cheese if wanted.

Eggs at the market look good. They seem to be purchased on an honour system.

This was not exactly "Little Venice" - L'Isle sur le Doub

We have been figuring on still following the idea of Peter Mayle - to join the workers in small ma and pa restaurants at lunch, for the fixed menu offerings of one or two dishes as the "plat du jour". (Just for fun, have a look at this article about villages and lunches Peter Mayle wrote about The costs mentioned seem to be up to 40 euros per person, though. Yikes!) Lunch is from 12 to 2, as we have found to our chagrin when trying to get any other services in that time range. So when we arrived at Clerval at 12:30 we were already "late".

We chose a little restaurant that had the advantage of being in an orange/pink building (gotta be a good sign) and that had lots of little workers trucks parked around outside.

Inside we found a warm, actually steamy, atmosphere, with twenty five men from the same company (and two women) seated at two long tables. That should also be a good sign. But unfortunately things deteriorated from there. We got agreement from "madame" that there was place for us, and we were seated at a table for two. But from there it seemed we were studiously ignored.

We understood that the dishes needed to be brought out to the men, but even allowing for that, nothing at all was happening for us - no water, no bread, no taking our order. Finally I stood up and placed my self in the way of madame and asked if she intended to take our order. So she took it, and miraculously appeared with the two plates thirty seconds later.

That was good, except that the plates got dumped on our table with a thump, and they themselves lacked any touches of presentation. We had ordered one each of the two plates. The first was a venison stew and the second was sole in Bernaise sauce. Both came with a sort of dryish noodle and little else.

I have no photo of the plates to show, unfortunately. Coming in from the cold to the steamy restaurant was not appreciated by my camera, which came down with a violent flickering of the screen. The shot of the men at the table was only taken later when the camera calmed down, but our plates were already eaten. The fact that we were done but the men, who had come much earlier, were still there is just indicative of that long and leisurely lunch France is known for.

Back to the dishes, in each case, there was potential to be great. But though the venison had a wine sauce, Dodie declared its base to be not home made. Both the meat and sauce were strongly flavoured, but the flavour was not altogether pleasant. The fish, similarly, had strong flavours, not altogether pleasant, and a somewhat tough texture.

Even so, the meal had a chance of being saved had there been any hint of service. When we had done our plates dessert would have been nice. But I did not fancy placing myself again in front of the rather large lady. Instead we just paid at the bar and abandoned ship.

This one experience does not mean we will change our game. It's all bloggable anyway, and there is some entertainment in taking the gambles.

In Clerval - the coloured tile steeples are characteristic of the Jura mountain region.

The men at lunch. They are all from an automotive parts factory south of town.

From Clerval we were on road for about 4 km, as we climbed up a ridge overlooking the Doubs valley. We had been having rain intermittently during the morning, with temperatures about 12 degrees. So we felt we needed a fair amount of clothing on, including raincoats. But then again it gets warm and wet inside the clothes if you are climbing, or even normally cycling.

Another example of the coloured steeple.

Eventually the ride resolved itself into a flat scoot along the river, and we began to anticipate arriving on Baume les Dames. We remembered the last time we were in this town, when we toiled up a huge hill to reach a gite. This time, booking at hotel "Le Bambi" we had been assured there was no climb. Not so, and first we had to cross a bridge with a lot of traffic. Then we could begin the climb, also with traffic. It wasn't really all that bad, but with hills and traffic we were also not about to go looking for any possible scenic downtown.

That's a bit too bad, because our room here is about as small as they get,nd internet is fairly weak. We will have to amuse ourselves somehow until tomorrow. We have booked a place in the centre of Besancon. We know that's up a hill too, but we think it could be good.

Today's cycling, despite some on road bits and some rain was really nice. Re-reading the bits above, there may be the impression that it was sort of blah. But we came to pedal, and with beautiful surroundings over most of the route, and good raincoats, we are getting to do that very happily.

Our hotel in Baume les Dames - ok, but small sort of dingy room.

Today's ride: 61 km (38 miles)
Total: 1,368 km (850 miles)

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