Cycling trip days 6 and 7
Day 6, woke up refreshed at the hotel at Nesslau, but totally messed up with the laundry. Everything was still wet. And it was still raining hard outside. And based on the forecasts, the rain would continue the whole day all over until Basel.
I was kind of looking forward to the downhill riding into Zürich, and also my plan was to vote there in the EU elections, but spending a few hours riding downhill on wet roads with cars constantly splashing water didn't seem worth it. So, I switched my plan into doing a train day. From Nesslau I got a local train to Watwil, from there a regional to Luzern, where I stopped to do laundry at a self-service laundromat, then another regional train to Basel. The Swiss local and regional trains are really nice, plenty of space for bikes and with easy access too. A tad bit expensive, cost 80€ for these 3 trips with a bike.
Due to extremely wet pavement I slipped in Luzern while trying to make a hasty U-turn while navigating towards the train station. Hit my right knee on the ground, not hard enough to do any damage but hard enough to open a previous wound that had just healed. Camping with a wound on your knee is rather annoying due to needing to crawl around a lot, so went to buy some large patches before jumping on the train.
Tomorrows weather forecast said the rainy area would end just north of Basel, so I reserved a hotel with 24 hour check-in at a place called Wittersdorf, which was a 42km ride into France. The drizzle in Basel slowly turned into dry and it was quite enjoyable riding through the French countryside with at times nothing else visible than the edges of wheat fields. I used to be afraid of the dark still in my thirties, but these days I've learned to like the peacefulness of midnight rides. As long as you have a light with you and it's not pouring down. Saw a badger and some other animals.
I am going to have to stop listening to the Garmin navigation in rainy weather though. This time, a few kilometers before the hotel, it decided that I should take a shortcut through a wheat field. What looked initially as an ok "unpaved road", turned into an outgrown tractor path "unpaved road", with slippery, sticky, gray mud. Probably got Sanna more dirty during the under kilometer of this than the whole 40km before.
The Hotel Restaurant Kuetz was an interesting roadside place. Very old building, lots of statues and pictures of Napoleon. The claimed 24 hour reception apparently meant "call this number and we'll wake up". A somewhat half-asleep employee answered the phone and for a while I had difficulty explaining "I'm at the door". The word "reception" finally hit a bell and I was let in. Google Translate to the rescue, managed to also get my bike into safe storage and happily got into the room and crashed into bed.
Day 6, distance cycled: 44.58km (today), 289.17km (total)
Day 7, had a heavy breakfast at the hotel and headed up towards the Vosges with a plan to cross them and get as far north-west as possible. A large rainfront was on its way and I didn't want to get stuck in it. Things were nice and dry until Belfort, where I stopped for a small lunch and coffee, then drizzle started.
While riding upwards towards the Vosges, I suddenly started realizing the increase in road bikes, and especially groups of them, going in both directions. Soon it became apparent I had ended up on the route of a bicycle race! Got some cheers from other cyclists and their crew on the side of the road. Talking to a few Dutch cyclists, apparently this was a yearly event mostly for fun, riding 80km, including a climb that has also been a part of Tour de France sometimes.
"Unfortunately", I couldn't do that climb, as it would have taken me into the wrong direction, so I parted ways to do my own climb. This was going to be 793m upwards to the peak of one part of Vosges, into 1150m of altitude. The climb lasted 8km or so, and there were more than one time I was just ready to give up and go back down. I demolished probably around 5 snack bars and almost 3 bottles of water just on the single climb. Reaching the top was a bit of an anti-climax. I was literally in a cloud and it started pouring down heavily as soon as I came to the peak.
Riding down was almost as hard as going up. Instead of being able to relax, the extremely wet road and bumpy asphalt required constant concentration, with the breaks being in constant use over the 7km of descent. With the slip in Luzern in mind, I didn't want to test how far the front tire can be pushed with the fork bags loaded on it on a wet road.
The camping site "L'Orée Du Bois" near Le Thillot, which I had called to ensure for availability was super flexible, and when I got there the somewhat tipsy receptionist lady and the rest of the campsite crew were happily enjoying some wine on their restaurant terrace. I was immediately offered a beer and made friends with the campsite dog Spunky. Given I hadn't eaten any large meal and had spent almost 4K kcal during the ride according to Strava, was heartwarming to also get a restaurant place arranged nearby, just before their closing. Quick change into dry clothes and then into a fancy restaurant, which of course had nothing that didn't contain meat. The fish I ordered came with the head and skin still attached - it's been a long long time since I've eaten fish in this way. Unfortunately it wasn't particularly great compared to the €23 price, but at least it was food and I also got to have a few glasses of wine before heading back to set up camp.
I'm really happy about the MSR Hubba Hubba NX2 tent and the way it allows setting up in rain mode. Getting quite good at it due to this stupid weather, the only wetness that got inside was from the drenched bags carried it. This time had to do it in pitch black darkness, but due to my headlamp that wasn't an issue.
Finally, sleep, with heavy rain dropping outside, too tired to even brush my teeth. Today I did both my longest ride ever but also a new climb record \o/
Day 7, distance cycled: 109.73km (today), 398.9km (total)
#Travel #Bikepacking #JasonTravels #Cycling
