Besançon

May 25, 2011

I left Cernay early in the morning and instead of heading north to Colmar, which is the last day of the planned ride in my guide I decided I would head south west to Besançon. I knew of a canal going from Mulhouse to Besançon so I went south until I hit that. The canal was easy easy riding and obviously traffic free so I was able to cover a lot of ground. The day was not completely uneventful though. I got my first flat tire... I've been expecting one to come. I'm just glad it came on a nice day and I wasn't tight for time. I haven't fixed many flats so it took close to 30 minutes, but i did it perfect. I then rode on to the city of Montbéliard and camped in a town called Mandeure for the evening which was 15 km south. In total I rode around 90km. 

May 26, 2011

The plan today was to make it to Besançon and prepare for a 6 day ride covering The Jura of France. I started out early and found the canal bike path again and followed that for a while. Following the signs I then changed course and started following the Doubs River. The scenery quickly started to change as I went. Steep lush and rocky hills started jutting up beside me and it was a really nice change from the Alsace region. I rode along the river and was joined by some rain later in the day that wasn't too heavy and arrived in Besançon around 6 pm. As I came into town, a huge fort came up on the horizon. It was perched up on a high hill with two rivers cutting around it. It was a good start to the city, knowing that they had some sights to see. The fort at first glance is one of the most impressive I've seen yet. After finding the tourist office I took off with my new maps to my campground and set up. I'm along the river so that's nice... But I'm also 5km from the city center. I grabbed dinner, read for a bit and passed out. I had covered 109 km and was very tired from the last three rides I've done. 

May 27, 2011

I was tired today, so I slept in and took the day mostly easy. I rode into town around 11 ish, grabbed a bite and decided to check out the fort/citadel that I had seen. It is great to look at from a distance and from inside the walls... But how it's being run doesnt do it justice. After paying admission I climbed up the high walls and checked out the views. It gave me a great idea of what the area is like. After that I decided I would check out museums inside some of the buildings. I went to the Musée de la Résistance et de la Déportation first. The museum focussed on the rise of Nazism and fascism and the French resistance movement in WWII. Much of the information was very interesting and gave a different perspective on the war. However, the museum didn't flow particularly well and I found the self guiding info scattered  and hard to connect to the material. Still interesting though. I then went to the Musée Comtois, whose focus is on local traditions. It was good, but mostly fluff. The rest of the Citadelle was completely cheapened by it being made into a zoo of sorts. There was an aquarium, a noctarium, and an insectarium all of which were largely unimpressive. I realize it's an attempt to make the place family friendly and bring more people in... But I found it cheesy. It took away from some of the sites that could have been seen, such as the citadel as it would have looked during it's prime or more history. Seeing some monkeys from Africa climb around the walls took away the effort that was put in to designing the Citadel and it's true purpose. I felt as if it was disrespectful to the lives that were lost there... Not worth my money. 
Anyways, I then decided to head to a bike shop (because I still hadn't found anything that had worked on my bike, and I could tell my spokes were straining. I went to a shop on the river Doubs and alas... My search was over. I found a nice front bag that worked with my large handlebars. The shop owner was great and I signed his guestbook and he put my picture beside it... Really cool little shop. Some people from Quebec had been there just a few days before. 
After that I decided to head back to camp, eat and get ready to set out tomorrow. I'm itching to see what The Jura has in store for me. I don't know when I'll come across wifi again, hopefully soon. 
Thanks for taking time to read!