Curious Jeff Rides A Bike: 8 July

8 July

Left Bern with a majorly wet tent (rain fly anyway)…thankfully I stayed dry throughout the night; crazy wind and rain storm. After I had gotten back to the tent last night, the wind really picked up and I decided about midnight to cover my bike with a tarp. It was well balanced upright against a tree, but by morning the wind had blown so hard it had almost completely shifted to a laying down position.

Nonetheless, I’m dry, so is my gear and I’m on my way to Neuchatel, Switzerland…40+ miles away, and possible on to Besancon, we shall see.

No GALS for Kozy!

A little climb out of the valley in which Bern sits, and then some nice rolling hills on the way to Lac de Neuchatel; pretty uneventful, though it looked as though the skies were once again going to open up and dump some major amounts of rain…got lucky though.

Could it be rain?

Stopped into a Coop (grocery store) and picked up the usual lunch supplies: salami and bread; addition this time, Swiss chocolate in the form of Mars bars.

As much as I hate relying on technology, I'm really enjoying the Garmin!

Made it! Now to navigate to the lake.

The 'Old' Centre Ville


Same ol' lunch, but very good :)

Rolled into Neuchatel hoping to snag a nice lakeside seat for lunch…and that I did!

My view at lunch...just miss sharing it with Jen

I was going to eat on the huge green park bench on the left but it was occupied when I arrived.

After lunch, time to climb out of the valley…and climb, and climb some more.

A horrible reminder that I must someday return to work.

A beautiful climb!

....into the 'hills' again

looking back at the lake.

A very long tunnel on the descent...was flying!

I came from the tops of those hills.

A little chocolate break on the climb.

Another nice view

Finally made it to the Swiss/France border and again, no passport check of any kind; kind of funny.

Switzerland/France Border

France check point.

back in France

Another castle

The end is in sight

After making it to Pontarlier, France I decided I might just take a train the rest of the way home as it was getting later in the afternoon, about 1700. But…Pontarlier doesn’t have a train stop. I thought it a bit odd being that Pontarlier is fairly larger…oh well.

Thought I’d roll on but quickly changed my mind as I hit the northwest corner of town. I was in need of food and water and called on the Garmin for some help…nothing nearby…back to town. As I started rolling I made an executive decision to hang it up for the day…and at a hotel…all campgrounds were at least 15km away and I was done.

Campinile it was, and it was a great stay with a great buffet, of which took full advantage. Before eating I had the chance to pick up the wireless at the hotel and chat with Jen via Skype. Was a nice treat! Tomorrow is going to be a relatively short day, approximately 50 miles tops. Looking forward to getting ‘home’ to see Jen.

Got back to the room around 9PM, chatted with Jen again and off to bed. Hoping to be on the road by 0730 after breakfast.