Woke to more rain. Sigh. I checked the hotel I had until 11 am to leave and the weather report last night was improving weather in the afternoon, so no point rushing. I had a nice breakfast, caught up on email, updated more of the blog and rang home. All very pleasant. Eventually I had to leave, they rang to ask when I was going :)
I eventually left and had a bit of trouble getting to a bike path I planned to use to go up a valley. Eventually I got there which was Ok. What was not Ok was that it was raining quite a bit. Bugger.
The bike path is on an old train line and for part of it there was still track work for a tourist steam train, which I eventually caught up to at its turn around point. I plodded on up the valley. There was not much climbing involved, never more than 1 %, normally less. Eventually I got to the start of the climb proper, around 1.40 pm I think. This section was actually really lovely. There was almost no traffic, the road snaked along the side of a lake, climbed a little and then ran along another lake. Then finally it started a switch back climb for a kilometre or two. I stopped during this bit and had some baguette (from yesterday) and a drink.
Then back to the climb. It had begun in earnest now and did not let up until about 3 K's from the top. There was very little traffic and quite a few bikes around. The best bit was that the rain was off and on and was never more than a light drizzle. The average gradient was about 7 %, max ~9 %. 3 K's from the top there is an intersection and it flattens out here. I was almost completely dry by here.
There was a detour set up because they were remaking the road. I was worried for a bit that the top might not be reachable, but no need to worry as it turned out. After a K or so the road swung around to the right and came out of the lee of the hill I had been riding up. And it started POURING. Within a K I was soaked again. Damn. Then, funnily enough, the road turned again and the rain just stopped. Too late for my shoes of course :(
The last little push to the top was on a completely open stretch of the road, just above the tree line. The wind was blowing a gale and actually blew me off the road at one point. I eventually made it to the top. Just before I got there two cyclists passed going down the hill, they were freezing :) I was actually quite snug in the Goretex and long finger gloves.
Now that reminds me of one other thing. The route I did today, which got me across the Vosges mountains and into the Moselle, is closed tomorrow! There is a car rally on and the road is closed. I would have been completely stuffed if I hadn't been able to get across. I would have had to catch a train. The train goes up to Strasburg, that is the first place where a train can cross, or alternately gone south somewhere. So it is a good thing I left yesterday rather than going over the Grand Ballon today!
The descent was very nice. Out of the mists and drizzle of the top I dropped into clear, rainless and even sunny roads. The descent was pretty good, quite a few switch backs and long windy sections. I was dry again (except the shoes) by the time I got to the bottom!
Once at the bottom I followed the bike path again. In the end I was at another Logis de France. 40 Euro this time. Definitely not as good as last night but still comfortable and with free internet. You know what comes next...
Dinner! Four courses again. An entree of Calves Head. The meat is like Ox Tongue except that there are also these white pieces, they aren't exactly fat but they look like it. By and large quite nice. Then trout, tasty as always. Followed by a selection (i.e. 4) cheeses. One was nice, the other three were all too strong for me. Dessert was a trio of brulee's. Not bad, one of them was a bit odd. Oh and a ¼ litre of Rose.
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