Another day in paradise. This holiday is an amazing privilege, and we are certainly aware of how lucky we are. We woke up in our lovely room overlooking Lake Annecy, and packed while we ate the remainder of the market foods we bought yesterday.
Once we were eaten and ready, we checked out and loaded up the bike, then set off south-bound along the shore of the lake. We stopped for a nice coffee about 15 mins down the road, and then rode another 25 minutes to Doussard, at the landing site of a number of local paragliding clubs.
Lena had booked herself a tandem paragliding experience, and so we found her pilot, and off they went to the launch site. I waited at the landing site, and as they set off it started to rain. Lena texted me to say they were waiting for the rain to stop, and eventually she did her flight but landed at a different field, and one of the school went off to collect her and her pilot – she really enjoyed the flight, and her pictures are amazing.
The rain had pretty much stopped when she got back, so we saddled up and set off north-bound. We rode up the same side of Lake Annecy, and then headed in the direction of Geneva. We got a good view of Lake Geneva before turning westward. We rode through some beautiful scenery towards Nantua, and then slowly turned northward in the direction of Dijon.
Today was a hot day, and even travelling at 130 km/h it was quite warm on the bike. We stopped for fuel and drinks a few times, plus a lunch. Our destination today is Langres. I had seen it on our previous trip in 2011, and had always wanted to visit – see link here. We finally found the small town around 7pm.
Today was their annual food fare festival, and so getting the final few hundred metres to our hotel was a challenge as the streets were closed, and full of stalls. We slowly picked our way through the pedestrians, and got to our hotel without incident. I was in need of a shower, which followed shortly, as did a cool beer. We then went for a walk through this pretty old town, and enjoyed the buildings, streets and views. This was followed by yet another great meal, in the hotel restaurant. The restaurnat is named after Diderot, one of the towns most celebrated sons.
Our hotel, Le Cheval Blanc, is a really old building, It was a church for at least 1,000 years (earliest written records identifying the building date back to 834). After the Revolution, the building, like so many other church or nobility owned property, was sold. A builder called Huin bought the place, and turned it into an Inn, which has been in operation since then.
Just FYI – by the end of today we have ridden 2,993 km.
PICTURES TO FOLLOW – INTERNET TOO SLOW HERE TO UPLOAD ANY.