Benefits of Dole!

Dole.         liked.richest.monkey

I have been told of another famous Belgian, the cyclist Eddie Merckx who won the Tour de France several times.  I have also been requested to include more beard photos.....all in good time!

This morning Janice woke with a ‘frog’ in her throat...so I told her off for making an inappropriate racial remark.  She went on to get her ‘foot stuck’ whilst getting out of bed which of course is German for breakfast.  We then tried to listen to French radio but gave up, we realise how good BBC Radio 2 is in comparison.  We resorted to listening to Tony Blackburn 60’s music programme on the BBC Sounds app....fantastic.  I used to hate the previous Sounds of the Sixties programme but now it is Tony Blackburn he plays great music and crumby jokes, it suits me fine.  Joke of the day....A TV set and a Satellite dish got married, the wedding ceremony was awful but the reception was fantastic! The world needs more self depreciating people and more silliness....we need to bring back the Monster Raving Looney Party into politics, although some people think they are the current Government!

We did our morning physical jerks outside the van on the cycle path.  Thankfully there were few cyclists at that time.

We drove to the L’Eclerc supermarket in Saint Dizier.  We considered whether St Dizier was patron saint of rascals or blondes or spinners.  I haven’t taken the time to look up the real answer because I like the suggested ones too much and the truth will probably be an anti-climax.

Our fist stop was at Chaumont to see the viaduct at 52 metres high and 600 metres long.  It was worth seeing.

It was built around 1890 so was a bit behind the Pont de Gard built by the Romans but still it was a great engineering feat.  Not a UNESCO site but maintained by EU money!

Lunch was at Langres....

Proper French lunch.  The Camembert cheese is particularly good but particularly smelly.

Langres was a place that I had previously passed nearby but never stopped.  It was a walled town on a hill and had plenty of character.

The funicular had no track and therefore could only be called an ‘icular’...no fun!  We also visited our first church.

Onward we travelled to Dole.  This is a town on Le Doubs River.  I have previously been here on my cycle ride in 2013.

I liked the town on my earlier visit but didn’t like the youth hostel I stayed at.  I checked the blog of that trip...richie0855.blogspot.com...(dated 23/4/2013) and remembered the details.  We walked around the stone built town and the nice waterside walks.  We wild-camped in a large car park in the centre which was very handy, parked next to a red London bus that was converted as a burger van, thankfully closed tonight.  The town was the birthplace of Louis Pasteur, so we can expect some good milk in the morning.  Pasteur is painted in the top left window of the picture above.

You will need to wait for more beard photos!