Distance: 96.2 km
Ride time: 5:38:34
Average: 17.1 km/h
Max speed: 47.2 km/h
Total: 56514 km
According to the weather forecast the rainy clouds that have been hanging over Switzerland for the last week was supposed to clear this morning. We still got a fair amount of rain during the night, but luckily things cleared up as I was climbing towards the Swiss/French border post at the mountain village of Vallorbe.
I had done the same climb a couple of times when I lived in Lausanne 10 years ago, and I somehow still recognized the turns. I especially remember one winter afternoon I was riding up into the snow at full speed – my way of dealing with a broken heart. Oh well, those young student days 🙂
Today I was feeling more relaxed as I made it to the border at 1000 meters above sea level – the last real mountain on the way back to Denmark. From here on things will stay reasonable flat up towards Luxembourg and Belgium, and then The Netherlands, Northern Germany, and Denmark will be true lowlands. The end is getting closer, another two weeks to go…
The temperature had stayed below 10 degrees the whole morning which was when I decided to make a stop at Decathlon, a big French outdoor store. I came out with a new jacket, new pants, a hat, gloves, and a bicycle helmet – yeah, those French drivers are really that bad. Now bring on Northern Europe!
To finish the day I found some very small country side roads on the way towards Besançon. Tomorrow I will be visiting an organization where my sister used to be a volunteer when I lived in Switzerland. I also stopped by for a visit several times and got to know the people there. Cycling through this part of central Europe has really turned into a trip to visit old friends – how great is that!
France is a great place to wild camp – plenty of space in the form of fields and forests to hide in. I just need a bit of sunshine tomorrow to dry my stuff. I’m down to the last pair of socks…
What a wonderful town Lausanne looks!