Time to head North, The ViaRhona, The Jura and The Doubs - July August 2015

A relaxing day in St Jean Pied de Port which started well when I discovered the Monday market and roasted baby potatoes for breakfast. Then we sat  under the big shady trees cooling off in the river. We headed off early the next day towards the city of Bayonne, intending to get the train the last 20 km instead of the stress of motorways. 37 km to the train to find the station closed and we needed to take the bus which was coming from where we had left! We got dropped off at the main train station where we figured out where to go. We were at the completely opposite end of France from where we had originally intended to be, in fact quite close to northern Spain where we had left. So we wanted to leave promptly in case we were sucked back into one of the trailer parks never to be seen again!
Arrived in Toulouse mid afternoon and sorted our onward ticket to Avignon for early the next day. The regional trains are good, the bikes go in the carriage with you not in a separate cargo carriage. While I was sorting the ticket a young couple who had just finished - 2 days before - a 15 mth cycle trip started talking to Trevor and invited us to stay the night, so we did. It was really lovely, we enjoyed a shared meal and chatted about routes north and all things French. A bolt back to the station before the rain at 7 am then a nice train to Avignon in Provence.  Stinking hot there and arts festival week so packed out. We found a campground on the outskirts and enjoyed the pool. We have pretty much crossed the bottom of France by train and ready to cycle north. We had planned to cycle some of the alps but it was just unbearably hot, 43 degrees most days. So a day north of Avignon we got onto the ViaRhona, a cycle way along the Rhone river that goes south from Geneva in Switzerland to the Mediterranean, (we are going north)The area around Avignon is not finished but most of the rest is. So it was up and away before 8am each day to get a couple of hours cooler weather then a mid afternoon stop hanging out at the swimming pool or sometimes a river at a campground. Easy riding and nice to get the helmet off and wear a sunhat instead. Quite peaceful, every now and then the trail went above a motorway and it was a shock to see so many cars. The signs are pretty good but they have all these interest loops as well which we often took in error and added kms to the day!  We cut the corner before Lyon and enjoyed a 110km day on rural roads. Alps in the background and lots of corn, sunflowers and more hay making.  We made it to the small quiet town of Les Abrets about 7pm thinking the campground would be the same but it was a 4* (think club med !) with a price to match. We were too late to enjoy any optional extras but got the non- optional ones instead. The teenage kerioke, the eccentric, (in our opinion)  Checz pilgrim on one side of us desperate for our map, the loudest snorer on the other side and the early morning crying baby behind us! We were a little slow getting going the next day. In fairness, it looked an amazing place for families with lovely views and hectares of land for every activity but not quite us.
A much bigger variety of food in France, while Spain is the land of Tortillas, (potato pie) and tapas, Portugal it is salted cod fish, in France it is the baguettes and potato salad, it is everywhere! Lots of prepared food to buy, sliced cucumber in yoghurt, chopped freshly cooked beetroot, salads, dips, we have not had to cook. Dairy products are incredibly cheap, 200 gms of brie or camembert for 1 euro. Yoghurt very cheap too. No big fast food outlets which is fantastic and you can still eat out, sit down, table cloths etc  quite reasonably. Shops, banks etc all close from 12-3 so everyone can have lunch and open again till about 7. We tend to have to shop in the morning and again in the evening as it is too hot to carry much fresh food. One campground had a whole shelf of English books so we stocked up,5, including Eleanor Cattons 800 plus page book The Luminaries , great!
After 350 km along the Rhone river we turned off about 80 km from Geneva and headed towards Belligarde and the Jura mountains. This is a well known ride, 330 km through to Besancon on quiet mtn roads, some steep pitches, deep dark, blue black forests, 40% is covered in forest, plus pastures and gorges and mostly small villages.  We actually only met one other cyclist, they must be all on the river trails. Houses look more alpine, wooden with a Swiss, northern Italy feel and ski fields. Gorgeous fresh cheeses, we bought a different one each day. Slightly cooler which was lovely but a couple of days of rain, one wet day we hardly left the tent, the next rainy day it was Saturday, (absolutely nothing opens on Sunday) and we had nearly run out of food so had to ride in the rain, arrived in Malbuisson, the biggest town on this ride, early evening, eagerly anticipating a hotel but all 10 were full and only a sloping tent site left, pitching an already wet tent in the rain completely soaked was not fun but we survived the night and raced down as the weather cleared to the medieval fortified village of Nozeroy for lunch, through thick fir forests and into the gorgeous wine centre of Arbois, where it was so hot everything dried out quickly. We enjoyed a wander around the town noting the Jura was a hotbed of French Resistance in WW2 and seeing photos of when the town was liberated by the allies.  From Arbois it was a nice ride along the Doubs river to Besancon.
The Jura was a gorgeous ride, easy to recommend, if it is peace and tranquility you are looking for.
From Besancon we continued up the Doubs river valley, enjoying the flat riding along canals and watching the boats go through the locks and weirs and meeting lots of other cyclists. We got lost finding the campground in Belfort and eventually met up with two French families, who we had passed previously, also lost although they had a GPS and they obviously spoke French, it made us feel better!  We joined them in our trek across town stopping for a beer on route. We continued to see them for the few days that took us up to Mulhouse and into the Alsace area. Here we were a bit underwhelmed. It was so hot and the trails were winding through corn fields taking 40km when on the rd it was just 10. We were hoping to get a train to Berlin but trying to buy a ticket  in France was impossible and we couldn't seem to book our bikes on the website so on our way to Strasburg we did a right turn heading for the Rhine river and 84km later were south east in Huningue, the French town across the river from Germany, (Weil am Rhein) and the Swiss city of Basal.
A stroll across the bridge into Germany and we felt like we were in Turkey! Kebab shops everywhere. Big servings, yum. And the most enormous supermarket that the Swiss use...
A tiny campground, mostly cyclists, a couple rode in (French) and immediately came over to talk to us. We had met them some 2000km before in Picos de Europa in Spain where they had been hiking. They immediately noted our bikes had changed colour! Lovely couple, quite uncanny to meet twice.
So next day it was France for breakkie, Germany for lunch, a visit around the Swiss city, (we decided not to change any money here being the most expensive country in the world) and then back through Germany to France.
We managed to get a reasonably priced overnight train (which really means uncomfortable and sleepless!) to Berlin so Au Revoir France, its been a great 5 weeks.