2009 Euro Tour -- Ride Day 13 — 6 July 2009 — 39100 Choisey (Dôle) to 21850 St-Apollinaire (Dijon)

Today was a day for getting lost both in the town of departure and the town of arrival.  In Dôle, it was like a maze, with one-way street signs forcing us to descend to the river and then back up a very steep hill into Centre-Ville.  In the end, it was over an hour before we were outside the Dôle city limits.<br /> <br />Coming into Dijon we got terribly lost looking for a Fast Hotel and eventually found an Etap.  We probably spent another hour or more during our search.  We met numerous people who also must have been lost as they couldn’t give any good or effective help.  Such is life on the road when spending time in larger towns.<br /> <br />Aside from the beginning and the end, the route was great.  D122 and some unnumbered roads through the vineyards were particularly nice.  This area was just south of Dijon.

During the day, we passed from the Jura Department in the Franche-Comté Region to the Côte d’Or Department in the Bourgogne Region.

<br />Background:<br /> <br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />If any questions, feel free to email me at jeffkadet@netdiving.com<br /><br />Jeff