Yesterday I did only a few miles in order to ensure I was indoors before the late afternoon rain set in. Today I had hoped to get more miles behind me even though it is forecast to rain, my thinking being that if I can not avoid getting wet, what difference does it make whether I’ve done fifty or eighty miles as long as I have somewhere warm and dry at the end of the day? However, despite my best intentions, accommodation constraints have limited me to about fifty miles again today.
It was winter cold when I set off this morning. This latest section of the EV6 seems to have an established pattern and this morning it followed the form of the last two days: a statuary canal start and then, within the hour, into hills and countryside. Given that it was not long since breakfast, that my legs were fresh and I was cold, the effort these required was welcome. It turned out to be a heavily undulating section; small lanes through more pasture and crops, hill climbs from isolated farm to isolated farm - the smell of wood smoke, cut grass and animals filling the air - and then steep descents before more of the same.
After the hills my coffee stop at the small town of Saint-Léger-sur-Dheune felt well earned. The route also became easier: from here, for the rest of the day, I was on the flat. Firstly a long stretch on the Canal du Centre, the first north-south canal in France and a canal which historically supported the coal mines of Montceau-les-Mines. Now it seems to carry mostly leisure traffic but the large locks seem to speak to its more industrial past. Then came another long section through countryside, this time pleasantly flat although visually similar to the hilly section earlier, and it was then once again more canal.
The best part of the day was along the beautifully peaceful river Saône, a tributary of the Rhône. Not a soul in sight on the track or the river, just nature and her orchestra of flowing water and birdsong and the wind in the trees. I spent a meditative forty minutes on the river bank, eating lunch and reflecting on the calm - it would have made for perfect camping but I had already booked a room in anticipation of the day's rain that had not come. Eventually, changing weather and thoughts of a warm room persuaded me to tackle the last few miles to Allerey-sur-Doubes, a tiny village with a riverside restaurant where I had planned to eat. Sadly it was closed, so it was once again into the food stock in my panniers.
No comments:
Post a Comment