Silver Wheel Trek: Sep. 10 Nancy to Dijon

We left Nancy on a sunny morning and the ride was fantastic. We rode on the bike path by the canal all the way to Chavelot. The bike path was built over the old tow path where horses used to pull the barges up and down the canal. The canal tow path and all was built like an aqueduct over top of rivers and roads in some spots and was cool to ride on. We stopped in a little town called Chavelot just before the rain. The hotel manager where we stayed at, had an interesting morning the next day. A couple had stayed in with a pit bull hidden in their room. We were about to load our bikes outside when we saw this dog running around in front of the hotel. We decided not to open the door and waited. The manager was furious at the couple because of their dog and because they didn't have enough money to pay.

When we left the hotel, it was raining hard but we had to leave. We had no worries because we were mostly in the bike path by the canal de Vosges on our way to Bains-les Bains after our usual six hours of riding. This little town is famous for its roman thermal baths and spas and many people come for medical treatment of arthritis or just relaxation. For the night we stayed at at place that advertised as a hotel. As it turned out it was a senior's residence from back in the day. The windows and the locks were very old fashion. A pretty cool place and very quiet with friendly people. There was one menu set at their restaurant and the food was plain but sufficient. We did a bit of a tour of the town and found some bread and fruit for breakfast for the next day and of course we made it to the church.

The next day it was raining again and we rode 60 km on the highway. Well maybe more like quiet country roads. It was nice to ride through the inhabited part of town for a change from the canal. It rained all day and was so cold we could see our breath if the wind wasn't blowing too hard. We had tea in a bus stop to warm up and had to pee a lot because we were too cold to sweat. Normally we never pee. Yoly got chased by a dog it was a boarder collie and Yoly made friends with it before anything went wrong. We were happy to ride uphill because we warmed up against the cold wind. There was a lot of down hill and we were cold all day. We ended up in Vesoul.

My plan was to whine about the rain for the next two days but this day turned into the best cycling day ever. We met another couple who were also cycling and were also going to Gray like us, but they had road bikes and wern't willing to risk bush whacking on some crappy canal path so we bid them bon chance et bon courage. We caught a path right away it was ashphalt covered with moss and wound through the country side from Vesoul to Chemilly. We met a local in Chemilly who set us on the route to Gray. We road a path along the canal de Saöne. We saw the tunel de St Albin, and lots of canal boats. We road through he coolest country side ever and it was cloudy but only rained a little bit. It ended up being 85 km but at the end of the day I felt like I had done what We came here to do, ride through real french part of France. We ended up camping, for 9 euros, across the street from a great cheap restaurant. Best chef's pizza ever in Europe so far.