Strasbourg to Dijon
Previous: Across the alps
After farewelling Ella at Strasbourg, our vague longer-term plan was to head west to Bretagne. In the first instance, we aimed for for a short stay in Besançon, where we were able to organize services for our bikes, and a train trip to Lyon to exercise our democratic duty in the Australian elections.
The ride down the Doubs to Besançon was through hilly country and gorges that were so appealing that we decided to turn eastward into the hills to explore the upper Doubs.
That became a cold journey into the high country along the Swiss border, before turning west to the lower and warmer (and beautiful) hills of the northern Jura. We re-united with the Doubs in its lower reaches before the ride north to Dijon for 10 days’ rest.
Day 1. Strasbourg to Markholsheim
21 April 2025 (56 km)
At last, after six blessed months, we struck some less-than clement weather on leaving Strasbourg. Cycling south from Schiltigheim, where we had been staying in the northern suburbs, we found ourselves discovering corners of Strasbourg that we hadn’t seen in our week there. After navigating around the maze of canals in Strasbourg itself, it was a very canal-based ride all day, along the Canal du Rhone à Rhin. It being Easter Monday, there was not much open. The rain cleared by lunchtime, and we had a picnic lunch under a colourful tree in the sun at the delightfully named town of Boofzheim. A short ride off the canal to our chambre d’hôtes in Marckolsheim (Chez Stef), where we thankfully found a restaurant for dinner despite the holiday - avoiding a dinner of fruit and crackers.
Day 2. Markholsheim to Mulhouse
22 April 2025 (67 km)
With finer weather again, we headed back along the canal for 5 km before heading right along another canal to Colmar. Colmar is a pretty town that was heaving with tourists. We had a poke around for an hour or so, and bought a couple of bagels at the market for a picnic lunch once we were somewhere quiet.
The road out of Colmar was fairly busy (but with a decent enough bike lane along it) until we hit another canal toward Mulhouse. The unsealed path along the canal was good, and we finally found a shady bench next to a busy road for our picnic. We practised saying Mullhoooz as we rode into Mulhouse’s busy streets and were welcomed by the friendly staff at Hotel Berti. After a walk around town, and an apero in the square in the afternoon sun, we headed to a spanish restaurant for dinner, where Chris tipped an entire glass of beer into his lap, smashing it in the process. A good, but uncomfortable dinner of tapas followed.
Day 3. Mulhouse to Montbeliard
23 April 2025 (56 km)
Another day of flat canal riding, up to the Rhine/Rhone divide, with a noticeably increasing gradient toward the top, as les écluses became more frequent. We saw lots of storks and their nests along the way. At 25 km we stopped at a bike repair station (with a bookable cabin and a shower/toilet). The pump there was useless, so we ended up using own pump to pump up the tyres and our own tools to tighten some bolts. After a coffee at the cafe next to the station, we headed on leaving lunch until our destination to beat the rain.
Ten km before Montbeliard, the canal meets the Bourbeuse River along some forested hills, and we began to feel we were following a river more than a canal (something of a continuum in France). The threatening rain held off all day until our early arrival at Montbeliard a little after 2. At the Hotel Balance we were greeted at the door to the bike room, and ushered into the lift to our nice room on the second floor. Dinner was a flash French spread at La Pause Gourmande.
Day 4. Montbeliard to Baume Les Dames
24 April 2025 (60 km)
Our earlyish departure was delayed by yet another flat tyre for Chris - very tedious. But once away it was a really pretty ride along the flat river trail, first through hilly country and then along very gorgy country once we hit Le Doubs. We stopped for lunch at a boulangerie at Isle sur Doubs, where we checked out Le Camping that we had been contemplating staying at had the weather been more clement. It would have been a good place to stay.
We struck one particularly heavy rain spell before lunch, and stopped for the first time all trip, to don overshoes as well as overpants.
But after a brief post-lunch shower that we spent sheltering under a tree in Isle sur Doubs, it didn’t rain again for the rest of the ride.
The final hill to our gite at Baume Les Dames was a killer, and we were befriended by Marie Blue, who was climbing the hill on her electric scooter.
Day 5. Baume Les Dames to Besançon
25 April 2025 (39 km)
We were greeted by a cold and drizzly morning when we looked out our window into the large garden of our gite. With the prospect of a rainy day and a late check-in at our place in Besançon, we decided over breakfast to leave our departure until 11, and then to make a short trip into town for morning tea in the hope that the drizzle would pass.
It was still drizzling when we farewelled our hosts, and it was a cold roll down the hill. The drizzle did stop as hoped after 45 min or so sipping coffee in a bar in the old town, and we headed out down to the river. It was quite an atmospheric ride along the gorge to Laissey, where we joined the crowd in a restaurant for a set menu. By the time our leisurely lunch was done, the sun was shining, and we had received a message from our host that our apartment in Besancon was ready. Happy days.
It was a pleasant ride along the river and its gorges all the way to Besancon for a five-day rest. The pretty old town of Besançon, where we were staying, sits in a bend of the river, surrounded by steep hills.
Day 6. Besançon to Nans sous Saint Anne
30 April 2025 (49 km, 460 m climb)
Our five days in Besançon involved leaving our bikes for a few days to be serviced, and a day train-trip to Lyon to pick up our postal votes and send them off in time for the May 3 election (and to have lunch in the sun in Presqu’île with Fred and Jérémie). It was good just to mooch in our flat in the old town of Besançon, but we did have a day walking up the hill to La Citadelle (a bit of a sad zoo and the worst lunch of the trip to date, but great views of the town and impressive buildings and history).
By the time it came around to leave, the weather had turned decidedly beau. Nans sous Saint Anne is a tiny village, which we chose as a destination on the basis of the lovely sounding B&B there (À l’ombre du chateau). The destination, the way there, and the perfect weather, made this day a definite candidate for the top ten days of the trip.
The lower Doubs was mirror still for our final ride downstream, passing sights that we will just have to remember with our eyes for the want of a better camera; like a heron in deep concentration, standing stock still in the shallows among the lillies.
After 10 km we turned left up the hill, including a couple of hundred metres of 19% gradient—we both managed it, which restored our confidence a little after the shambles of that tunnel on the road to Innsbruck. After a couple of rests up that hill we met our first busy road in a long time. After waiting at the intersection for several trucks to pass, the 800 m to the next quieter road was fine. The smaller road was fun - a long downhill roll to La Loue at Chenecy Buillon, where we found a very attractive terrace by the river. The owner of the restaurant, sitting at his computer at a table, kindly made us coffees even though they were closed. We gratefully sat and pondered the river.
Up the hill from there through forest for a couple of km until we hit Charnay, where we had a rest in the shade (the 20\(^\circ\)C sun being too much for us). After a chat with an old local tending his garden, we had another fun roll down another hill to Le Lison. The designated bike route follows the road south over the hill for the last 10 km to Nous sans Saint Anne, but cycle.travel suggested the unsealed river track along Le Lison. It was rocky and steep in places, requiring some walking. But with the time to take it slowly it was a great way to go. We found a beautiful place for lunch by the river under the moss galleries hanging from the riverside beech, watching the masses of darting insects over the rapids.
‘À l’ombre du chateau’ was incredible. Welcomed by Cathie (and their old english sheepdog and their friendly cat) we were shown the grand living room, the dining room and our room on the corner upstairs. Chris had a fresh swim in the pool before a we took a passegiata up the Verreau to the waterfall and a lovely dinner cooked by Pierre.
Day 7. Nans sous Saint Anne to Pontarlier
1 May 2025 (41 km, 720 m climb)
The climb up out of the valley from Nans sous Saint Anne was long and steep in places, but mainly shaded by the forest. We rested at the top, by a book box at Crouzet Migette. From there it was a mix of open alpine meadows and pine forests, still climbing, but less steeply to Levier, where we hoped to find an open boulangerie on a public holiday. Sadly no, so we rested on the stoop of one of the closed boulangeries in the shade before heading off up another hill into more forest.
A section of gravel road marked as sealed on the map was made up for by the perfect new seal on the stretch marked as unsealed a little further on. This made for a lovely ride through the alpine meadows. We settled on the mossy floor of a grove of pine trees at about the 22 km mark for lunch of sorts (some pear cake pilfered from the morning’s breakfast). We then ploughed on to Pontarlier stopping for a couple of rests out of the sun. It was a quiet May Day night in Pontarlier.
Day 8. Pontarlier to Villers le Lac
2 May 2025 (46 km, 650 m climb)
After breakfast chatting with our host Arlette about life etc., we ventured out into another warm sunny day. It began with an easy ride along le Chemin de Train for 15 km down the Doubs Valley. Turning off the bike trail, we dropped down to the river at Ville de Pont, and climbed steadily to the Col sur le Mont. We found ourselves lingering on the pass chatting to other passing cyclists, before rolling down the other side to the valley toward Morteau.
It was a dry argument for lunch options until we found a boulangerie on the outskirts of Morteau, where we stopped for some picnic provisions. We then rode on to the park next to the river for a shady lunch in a picnic shelter.
The ride up from Morteau was fairly steep from the outset, and we chose to take the longer but less steep option rather than following the GTJ cycle route straight up the hill. The highest point was not so much a pronounced pass, as a turn off down the road to Villers. The roll in to Villers was fun, and our apartment was a comfortable place to base ourselves for a day to immerse ourselves in the Australian election.
Day 9. Villers le Lac to Môtiers
5 May 2025 (41 km, 650 m climb)
We postponed our departure from Villers le Lac for a day because of forecast thunderstorms. No lightning as threatened, but it did bucket down for much of Sunday, so we felt that we had done the right thing.
Monday was 7 degrees colder than Sunday, but a fair bit less rainy. Nevertheless, it was an uncomfortably cold day’s riding. Our entry into Switzerland on the other side of the river was somewhat more picturesque than the flat approach from Austria. The steep ride up to the tunnel before le Locle took us through several towns that were noticeably neater than the French ones we had become accustomed to. The echo-ey traffic noise made the tunnels a little scary, but they were pleasingly flat, given that cycle-travel was threating a 46% gradient (presumably going over rather than through).
After donning more wet-weather gear, we turned off the road to Le Locle to head up the hill into beautiful country, which we would have appreciated more on a warmer day. After a careful descent down the steep road to Les Ponts de Martel, it was flat again until the end of the valley where we turned left up the wooded side of the valley, and another long, steep drop down to Travers.
We were really cold and uncomfortable and decided to just get there, so continued along the flat cycle path along the river all the way to Môtiers. No one was in at the inn at 2 pm, so we took shelter in a café/bar around the corner for an hour or so, to get our core temperatures back to normal before check-in time. That evening we needed to make the 3-km ride to Fleurier where there was a selection of restaurants. It was a pleasingly dry (still cold) ride there and back for dinner at Petit Mamie.
Day 10. Môtiers to Frasne
6 May 2025 (56 km, 660 m climb)
Why Frasne? Why Môtiers? Well, accommodation was surprisingly sparse in this part of the world at this time of year. We had thought a night on Lac Saint Point might be nice, but almost the only options were a collection of not-highly-rated hotels in Malbuisson on the south side. We had had a completist notion of reaching the source of Le Doubs near Mouthe, but accommodation was equally sparse further up the valley, so we decided to head for Frasne, a small town that took us toward our ultimate destination of Dijon and toward increasingly attractive warmer lowlands.
The day was cold again, but at least it was dry. Starting the day on the Swiss leg of Veloroute 7 was a ride up a beautiful valley, but our appreciation of its beauty was somewhat dulled by the cold. The climb up the side of the valley was steep but civilised, and we finally emerged out of the forest into more open alpine meadows: in skiing country on a day when it felt only a degree or two away from snow.
We rested in a bus shelter at the top of the hill before the undulating descent to a turn-off where our route left Euroveloroute 7, onto an unsealed road (marked as sealed). After a km or so along this not-bad road (where Maree spotted the first deer of the trip), we reached what the map described as a ‘rough unsealed track’. Indeed, the rocky footpath up the hill for a couple of hundred metres was difficult enough for us both to choose a walk rather than a ride. At the top, we were relieved to find the promised sealed road really was sealed. This took us down the hill to an actual ski station!
A little further down the hill, the first cars we met were all French: we had crossed the border without any fanfare. Through Les Forgs, it was a long downhill roll, which brought us both close to hypothermia. We stopped at another bus shelter at the intersection with the busy N57, next to an epicerie, which sadly didn’t sell coffee. So, still cold, we set off down the N57 for a few hundred metres (having waited for quite a few scary trucks to pass) until turning off onto the quieter road along the valley back to Le Doubs at Oye et Pallets. There we pulled up hopefully at a Boulangerie that had a customer in it, but while we were getting off our bikes all the shutters came down, and we realised it was 1:05.
So, we despondently got back on the bikes for another half a km to Hotel des Sapins et du Lac, where the sign said ‘kitchen open to 1:30’. We stood down on the road in two minds, when a woman stuck her head out the window and beckoned us up. When we got to the entrance, she was coming out having had a slap-up lunch. We went in to ask if we were too late for lunch, and were met with a less enthusiastic welcome, but she did somewhat reluctantly offer us the plat du jour. It was just such a relief to be warm again, and to have fended off hypothermia. We sat there happily for an hour until we had re-reached a semblance of normality.
From there, the cold seemed more bearable. We even took a detour down to the lake at Les Grangettes (lovely but not picture-postcard enough today for a photo). And through to Saint-Point-Lac, where we had considered staying for the night, but for the lack of anywhere to eat. There we turned away from the lake up the hill through more beautiful forest, but we were too focussed on our destination to appreciate it. Once at the top, we met the somewhat busier than desirable D9, which we followed for 6 km until a turn-off onto bike-route back-roads that took us to Frasne. We enjoyed a night of self-catering in our apartment there.
Day 11. Frasne to La Vaudioux
7 May 2025 (47 km)
The ride out of Frasne was along a moderately busy road to Courvières, before turning onto a quiet back road leading into the forest. Here we saw a very big cat, which we later discerned must have been a European wildcat, dash from the road into the forest. After 15 km, we stopped for a rest at an old house with picnic tables in its backyard. While there, it began to rain so we took shelter for a while under its lean-to verandah until the rain mainly passed. A good chance to ponder.
We started the day feeling it wasn’t so cold today, but soon after our rest it was feeling pretty bitter again, particularly as the ride was mainly down hill. We headed to Champagnole for lunch at Chris-croq, which was pretty good, and most importantly warm, allowing us to feel normal again for the last stretch.
Our hotel was in the middle of nowhere (well, near the village of La Vaudioux) on a busy road about 7 km south of Champignole, but we chose the 15-km back-road route, which ended up being beautiful, particularly around Syam with its waterfall and chateau.
The last km up the busy road to the hotel was fine. The hotel (Alberge des Gourmands) itself was fine too. (Dinner in was good, the bikes had a nice garage to get charged in.) We spent a fair bit of the night trying to nut out what the rest of the trip to Dijon might look like. With another Thursday public holiday and a faire-le-pont long weekend approaching, finding accommodation on Saturday back on the Doubs at Dole looked challenging, as it was to host a big bike race.
Day 12. La Vaudioux to Lons le Saunier
8 May 2025 (44 km)
It was with some relief that we found the morning not bitterly cold. After a quick km dash up the busy road from the hotel, we turned off onto quiet backroads all day. Over lovely undulating country, we paused at the top of a hill near Loulle, to look back down to a flat rocky area, where people were wandering around. It was only later that we discovered that we had missed the opportunity to walk in the footprints of some dinosaurs).
From there it was a downhill roll to the big Lac de Chalain at Marigny, stopping on the way down to try out the bench at a rock-climbing cliff. We stopped at le Camping at Marigny to contemplate the lake, having been disappointed at the complete lack of coffee options available in Marigny. Presumably we would have had better luck a little later in the season when, Le Camping opens.
We continued onward to Chatillon in the vain hope of finding a coffee (the bar that open street maps claimed was on the corner in Chatillon was not to be found), From there we joined the Voie PLM, a nicely sealed rail trail for the next 10 km. Cycle.travel didn’t want to send us further down the rail trail when it turned unsealed, but we decided to go with it anyway. It had a good quality surface, and took us along the gorge wall with impressive tunnels and bridges. But cycle.travel’s hesitancy to send us this way was likely because one has to first navigate a slippery/gravelly set of stairs down to it. That was ok. We stopped for lunch between two tunnels, as the rain threatened, but never really eventuated.
It became a bit too cold for comfort through the tunnels, and then on the downhill roll once we left the rail trail toward Lons Le Saunier. A little warmer once we had descended into the valley, it was a very pretty ride into town along a creek through Perrigny to Lons Le Saunier for the night.
Day 13. Lons le Saunier to Arbois
9 May 2025 (57 km, 780 m climb)
The route today took us over some decent hills, and some spectacular countryside. A gentle climb out through the suburbs of Lons up the first hill of the day to Pannessières. A bit of a downhill respite through vineyards. Having copped a faceful of pesticide spray passing one of the vineyards (breathing out, holding breath), we stopped at a well in Lavigny to rinse ourselves. From there, the big climb of the day up the side of the escarpment was not too difficult.
We emerged into a pretty high valley before reaching the turn-off to the steep road down to the Baume valley. At the intersection was another annoying ‘Route Barré’ sign. With flashbacks to being turned round by an impassable barrier at the bottom of a hill, we cavalierly headed down, unsurprised to find not a hint of road works all the way to the bottom.
The roll down into La Peyrouse came with magnificent views of the cliffs of Baume. After the cafe drought the day before, we were relieved to find a a food truck at the very attractive camping ground at La Peyrouse1. The fellow in the food truck was very personable, and we tossed up stopping for lunch there, but we went on a few more km to Chez Janine at Nevy sur Seille for a slap-up lunch instead.
With happily full stomachs (including a glass each of Savignin, our first and likely last) we rode onwards through the undulating countryside, through Poligny (another pretty place below a cliff) and onward to Arbois. Didier and Francine at our Chambre d’Hôtes for the night were very welcoming, and our walk into town to Alimentari il goloso (as recommended by Francine) for the best pizza of the trip (a big statement after our long travels in Italy).
Day 14. Arbois to Verdun sur le Doubs
10 May 2025 (73 km)
We had hoped to wind our way north along the foothills back to the lower Doubs, near where we turned into the hills a week ago. But with accommodation difficult to find on this Saturday night, we decided to head due west for one last farewell to the Doubs at its confluence with the Saone.
It was a day of riding through pretty, rolling hills with lots of wheat fields, becoming flatter as the day went by. After a day of not-bad options for coffee stops yesterday, we were again suprised by the lack of anything in the way of cafes, bars or boulangeries all day. We found one sad boulangerie that only had a few pains-au-chocolat on offer. We bought one and headed off in the hope of finding another Chez Janine for lunch. Sadly no. We ended up eating lunch of half a pain-au-chocolat, a banana and a mandarin each in the shade of some trees in cafe-less Pleure.
The day was warming up, so we stopped for a cool lie on the lawn of the church at quiet Fretterans. And then, a few km down the road, we were pleased to meet the Doubs again. Another hour of riding down the river found us in Verdun sur le Doubs, where we had an attic room in the top floor of a gite. Our host Patricia recommended la Guinguette la Plage at le Camping on the Saone, run by her husband Fabrice, so we wandered down for beers and dinner in the warm afternoon sun .
Day 15. Verdun sur le Doubs to Dijon
11 May 2025 (59 km)
After farewelling Patricia, we headed out into more rolling wheat country. Not much in the way of excitement until we hit the western slopes and the wheat fields suddenly turned into vineyards. We were back on the bike trail that I rode south on 6 months earlier. All very pretty. Much warmer and sunnier this time (and after complaining about the cold so much just a few days earlier, it was remarkable to be feeling a bit too warm). We had lunch in a bar in Gevrey Chambertin, where Chris had the best glass of red he’d had in a very long time (13€).
Suitably fueled, we tackled the last 15 km into Dijon, where we had scored a nice apartment on the edge of the old town for a week. It was a fine, lazy time, that extended beyond a week.
Next: Bourgogne to Bretagne
Footnotes
In fact, Le camping here and the gorge of Baume further up the valley is a place we have noted for a potential re-visit.↩︎