2009 Euro Tour -- Ride Day 27 — 26 July 2009 — 55000 Bar-le-Duc to 88140 Contrexéville

Generally an easy ride along excellent roads; despite the route being all on “red” roads.  There was very little traffic and the countryside got nicer with more hills as we progressed eastward.

Just before Bulgneville, we erroneously got onto D165, which was a limited access freeway not meant for bicycles or even motorcycles. We figured out that the map was slightly faulty and got off at the next exit voluntarily without the kind of incident we’ve had many years ago when some policemen threw us off a freeway in Austria.

During the day, we passed from the Meuse Department in the Lorraine Region to the Vosges Department, also in the Lorraine Region.

Background:

My wife and I have been doing self-supported tours in Western Europe (a majority in France) since 1993.  This series of rides covers our 2009 4.5 month route through parts of France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and then back to France.  Our beginning and ending point is near Chadurie (south of Angouleme) where our friends have a farm with Gites and Chambres d'Hotes.

We rode our Dawes touring bicycles purchased in 1993 heavily loaded with 700Cx32 tires.  All of our riding was on paved roads, mostly with very little traffic.  Pretty much the only unpaved sections were some bicycle paths in Germany and Austria. Sadly, that wasn't so great as Helen fell a number of times on the unpaved paths.  Fortunately, though, no serious injury.

If any questions, feel free to email me at jeffkadet@netdiving.com

Jeff