Day 1 - Basel -> Vichy	Day 2 - Vichy	Day 3 - Thiézac	Day 4 - Sarlat-la-Canéda	Day 5 - La Grande Côte (Coast)
Day 6 - Rigny-Ussé	Day 7 - Cosne-Cours-s/Loire	Day 8 - Cosne-Cours-s/Loire	Day 9 - Riel-les-Eaux	Day 10 - Montbéliard

Monday
Riel-les-Eaux -> Montbéliard
Map Link

It was once again under damp, grey skies when we started the day’s ride. Our route took us directly through Riel-les-eaux – I could see it again, this time from the back of my motorcycle. Spoiler: it didn’t look much different.

Today’s goal was Montbéliard, a city sort of near Basel but one that I had never been to before. The goal was to have a short day today, and be home early on Tuesday. And after looking at the forecast I informed Dan that we were done with camping for this trip. It turns out I made a good call.

Stopping to read some historic plaques

It was an easy morning of nice roads that wound through forests and fields. I am constantly amazed at just how much of both of these features France has. It is a huge country to begin with, and when I can ride for hours and see little variation from the forests and fields, it impresses me.

Fancy speed bumps in this town

Around noon the clouds had gotten darker and more ominous. I had started the day with my rain shell on, so I was ready for it. In fact, I was looking forward to it. I really enjoy riding through a proper rain storm (given I have good gear, good roads, and good tires – I had all three today). After playing hide-and-seek with the rain squalls and the curving roads, we finally met up. It rained hard, and it felt good.

It was still raining when we pulled into Montbéliard and eventually found our hotel. It was a weird partnership between the “Ibis” and “Greet” hotel systems. We were staying at Greet, but had to go to the Ibis reception next door in order to check in. Whatever. They had covered parking for us, but it was obvious that no one on duty had ever dealt with the garage situation, so it was even more amusing as the employee hoped that the key they had was the right one. I was inspired by their confidence! The key did work, the garage door opened, and our bikes were tucked inside for the night, hopefully safe and sound.

Entering Montbéliard

Once in our tiny-but-clean hotel room, trying to decide what to do next, we realized that the hotel location was not so great. We were essentially on the edges of the commercial shopping district. Sure, that sounds interesting – until you have to actually walk somewhere. It was hazardous and we found ourselves dodging high speed round-about traffic to get to where we wanted: the old city of Montbéliard. At least the rain had let up for the time being – somewhat.

We crossed the L’Allan River and found the train station – that’s usually a good indication of finding the heart of a city. It was a bustling place and we strolled down street after street to get a sense of the place. And then the rain came back – and this time it was serious.

We headed back to the hotel but again, it was not an easy walk. We decided to follow the river path: it would take us longer, but at least we wouldn’t have to contend with car traffic. So for 3 kilometers we walked in a deluge; what I like to call “a frog strangler“, getting back to the hotel in the early evening and relaxing on our last night of holidays.

Tuesday

There isn’t much to note here. We got up, packed up the bikes, and rode home on dry roads. It was less than an hour and a half, which could have easily been done the day before. But now we were home and had an entire day to unpack and get everything dried out. We had seen quite a cross-section of France, and managed to accomplish the goal of seeing the French coast of the Atlantic.